this 1970 edition (the original story was serialized in 1945) includes a long-overdue response from the author to a scathing criticism written in 1956 by a young damon knight. knight, who would go on to become a great science fiction writer, critic, editor and anthologist (his best-known story is "to serve man," one of the most famous episodes of "the twilight zone"), had bitterly described van vogt as a "cosmic jerrybuilder" and a "pygmy who has learned to operate an overgrown typewriter."

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