The Weapon Shops of Isher

A short book in three parts. A mysterious weapon shop appears in the present, and only lets certain people in. One man finds himself in the future. A young man there finds out he has superhuman luck altering powers. The third section involves a man who has made himself immortal, and is out to save society via his weapon shops and other schemes. Weapon Shops of Isher : 1 The Seesaw - A. E. van Vogt Weapon Shops of Isher : 2 The Weapon Shop - A. E. van Vogt Weapon Shops of Isher : 3 The Weapon Shops of Isher - A. E. van Vogt Cosmic balance sucks if it is you. 3.5 out of 5 An incontrovertible supply of bang and zap is important. 4 out of 5 Put me in charge, I do old really well. 3.5 out of 5

Sounds like a blurb from the NRA, but in fact this slogan is one of the lynch-pins of one of the most complicated and headlong adventures that van Vogt (often called the master of the re-complicated story) ever wrote. The Weapon Shops, like many of his stories, was actually written and published as several stories before being collected and somewhat edited into book form. In this case, the major portions were published as "The Seesaw" (Astounding, July 1941), "The Weapon Shop" (Astounding, Dec 1942), and "The Weapon Shops of Isher (Thrilling Wonder Stories, Feb. 1949). It is important to note the age of these stories, written as they were during the so-called `Golden Age' of science fiction, when ideas were far more important than character or great prose style. This book is absolutely replete with ideas, but the prose, dialogue, and character development certainly leave something to be desired when compared to modern novels. While reading this book you need to let the story line and ideas overwhelm you, and ignore some of the more blatant excesses in writing style. It starts with a Weapon Shop magically appearing in a 1950 neighborhood. When a policeman attempts to open its door, he finds it locked - but when a newspaperman tries it just a minute later, it opens - and the newspaperman finds himself in the Isher Empire, which has been around for 4700 years, and where the Weapon Shops effectively form the `opposition' to this government. This is plot thread number one. The second thread is that of a young man wishing to leave his provincial village and make his fortune in the big city - where he finds that he is a `callidetic giant', able to beat any game of chance, and ends up amassing a fortune so large that he can upset the economic stability of the Empire. Thread three involves the world's only immortal, Robert Hedrock, who was instrumental in establishing both the Empire and the Weapon Shops, the first to provide a stable form of government, the second to ensure that the Empire can neither stagnate nor become an unopposed dictatorship. Stir in invisibility, time travel, and the secret of faster-than-light propulsion and you have an explosive mix that will keep you turning pages as fast as you can (and don't you dare think about the plausibility of any of this!). I think I first read this book around 1960, when I was about twelve, and many of the images of this book made a large impression on me: the casinos and their very futuristic gambling machines, the giant computer that kept track of all the vital statistics of every person in the solar system, the idea of waging war by shifting in time, the `brothels' of the day, even the `energy weapons' that the Weapon Shops sold. Reading it today, these same items still fascinate - and the ending is still an explosive bang. The thematic point of the right to have weapons strong enough to protect the individual from any government excesses is a major one, and certainly was very topical when it

I have read practically everyone in sci-fi and to me, there are a few standouts, like: Robert Heinlen, Andre Norton, Murray Leinster, and A.E. Van Vogt. This is a great story if you appreciate early sci-fi circa 1951. I would also suggest his book, "War Against The Rull". If you are going to look for this book, "Weapon Shops of Isher", try to get the Ace Double-D version with Murray Leinster's "Gateway To Elsewhere" included. A two books in one issue. Pretty rare and you'll pay for it.

This book and its sequel "The Weapon Makers",together make up one of the best old sci fi series. It's astonishingly inventive, especially politically. The tale is smoother and better told than some of van Vogt's work- on the whole, I'd say that only "The War Against the Rull" comapres to it. It's only weakness is that it is a bit old fashioned - this was written before the computer revolution. But it still is creative technologically.

This book contains little if any violence but it serves,to remind one and all. of why the second amendment exists, to allow the populace to defend it'self against the G'ovt.