Alfred E. Van Vogt; Science Fiction Writer

Alfred E. Van Vogt, 87, an award-winning science fiction writer who penned more than 85 books in a long career. Born in Winnipeg, Canada, of Dutch parents, Van Vogt was an introvert as a child reading voraciously. He discovered the science fiction journal Amazing Stories at the age of 14 and became hooked on the medium. At the age of 19, he became a civil servant, working for the Canadian census in Ottawa while taking a course in creative writing. Initially a writer of true confession-type stories for women’s magazines, Van Vogt found that medium boring in his mid-20s and turned to radio plays, writing 60 of them. Four years later he turned to science fiction. His “Vault of the Beast” was called “one of the most remarkable science fiction” stories ever written and contained themes that popped up time and again in his later writing. Van Vogt came to the United States in 1944 and was naturalized in 1952. A convert to Dianetics, Van Vogt was the co-owner of the Hubbard Dianetics Center in Los Angeles from 1953-61. Donations can be made in Van Vogt’s memory to the Alzheimer’s Assn., 5900 Wilshire Blvd. Suite 1700, Los Angeles, 90036. Funeral services will be at 10 a.m. today at the Callanan Mortuary Chapel, 1301 N. Western Ave. Los Angeles. Burial will follow at Holy Cross Cemetery, 5835 W. Slauson Ave., Culver City. On Jan. 26 at a convalescent home in Los Angeles.