Short, sharp and fun, like a good joke
I liked this one very much, it took a while to settle in at first, with all of the differing points of view, though it was worth the pay-off at the end.
It's interesting that despite making a point about Modern Politics, the story doesn't have a Political bias as such, I should think that's a rare thing, isn't it?
As to the introduction, I feel that SF stories (and, indeed, stories in general) have always had a problem with balance. In the 40s and 50s, the emphasis was entirely upon ideas, with characters often being sketchily drawn (Asimov, etc) which can be seen as a problem of course, especially to non-SF fans.
Now, though, there seems to be the opposite problem, the emphasis is often *purely* on the characters, with the ideas being sketchily drawn. More specifically, the emphasis is on *emotion*, as if feeling strong emotion is the only way to assure good characterisation.
Case in point: the new Doctor Who series, every single episode features characters displaying stong emotion throughout, and the villain of the week is often just killed off Deus-ex Machina style in the closing minutes.
I don't think it's a case of the audience becoming 'more sofisticated' either, if anything, the literacy rate has been slowly declining over the years, stories now tend to be far simpler in terms of content and writing style than those 50 years ago.
The telling point of good fiction, I think, is the ability to find a balance between these two story aspects: fully emplore an interesting idea while still portraying the characters realistically (without descending into melo-drama, that is).
One other thing, I may well be wrong on this, and if so I hope someone can set me right, but isn't 'Van Vogt' pronounced 'van VOH't'? This is the way I've always heard it, though I've no idea how the man himself said it.
Simon Painter
Shropshire, UK