In the 1940s, the Golden Age of science fiction flowered in the magazine "Astounding." Editor John W. Campbell, Jr., discovered and promoted great new writers such as A.E. van Vogt, whose novel "Slan" was one of the works of the era.
"Slan" is the story of Jommy Cross, the orphan mutant outcast from a future society prejudiced against mutants, or slans. Throughout the forties and into the fifties, "Slan" was considered the single most important SF novel, the one great book that everyone had to read. Today it remains a monument to pulp SF adventure, filled with constant action and a cornucopia of ideas. This edition has a new introduction by Kevin J. Anderson.