Canadian · 1912–2000
A. E. van Vogt was a Canadian-born science fiction writer who became one of the central authors of the genre's golden age. Born on a farm in Manitoba, he worked in a variety of jobs before selling his first story, "Black Destroyer," to Astounding Science Fiction in 1939. Editor John W. Campbell published much of his early work. His novels include Slan, The World of Null-A, The Voyage of the Space Beagle and The Weapon Shops of Isher. His plots were fast, dense with ideas and often dreamlike, and they shaped later space opera and stories of superior humans and hidden conflict. Parts of Voyage of the Space Beagle are often said to have inspired the film Alien, and he later settled a suit with Fox over it. He moved to California in the 1940s and lived there for the rest of his life. The Science Fiction Writers of America named him a Grand Master in 1995. He died in Los Angeles in 2000.