A E van Vogt  Master science-fiction writer who brought
psychology to bear on his tales of aliens and inter-galactic
struggle  The author AE van Vogt, who has died aged 87,
spearheaded a golden age of science fiction - along with such
writers as Isaac Asimov and Robert Heinlein.  In his early
writing, van Vogt displayed a wild talent, creating stories of
vivid imagery and sudden, dream-like twists of plot and
perspective that found an appreciative audience in a genre
trying to shake off its image of rockets and ray guns.
Encouraged by editor John W Campbell, van Vogt brought his
interest in psychology and language to traditional science-
fiction themes such as alien contact, interstellar war, time
travel and its paradoxes, immortality and the superhuman.
Although critics often found his plots complex, others saw him
stretching the possibilities of the field while retaining the
sense of wonder vital to imaginative fiction.  AE van Vogt was
born in Canada, and educated at var ious schools in Manitoba,
graduatin