Slan by A. E. Van Vogt
"Slan" is a science fiction novel that explores the complex dynamics between humans and a mutant race known as Slans, who are distinguished by tendrils in their hair and possess telepathy, enhanced strength, and superior intelligence. The narrative follows nine-year-old Jommy Cross, whose mother is killed during a government-led effort to exterminate Slans, a policy driven by fear of their genetic advantages and long life spans. As Jommy escapes, he is taken in by an elderly woman and coerced into a life of petty crime. The human society is governed by the tyrant Kier Gray, who orchestrates mass killings of Slans while maintaining a complicated relationship with Kathleen Layton, a young Slan girl raised in his palace.
The story unveils a broader conflict, revealing a hidden network of "tendrilless" Slans who, despite their differences, share a mutual hatred for true Slans. Jommy's journey becomes one of self-discovery as he seeks to understand his heritage and the truth about Slans, contrasting the violent stereotypes with his own compassionate nature. With themes of identity, oppression, and conflict, "Slan" raises questions about prejudice and the nature of humanity, culminating in a critical moment where Jommy must navigate interplanetary tensions to uncover the reality of his people and possibly avert a war.
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Subject Terms
Slan
First published: 1946 (serial form, Astounding Science-Fiction, October-December, 1940)
Type of work: Novel
Type of plot: Science fiction—extrasensory powers
Time of work: An indeterminate time in the future
Locale: Earth and Mars
The Plot
Slan opens with nine-year-old Jommy Cross and his mother being hunted by government forces with orders to systematically kill slans, a mutant race identified by tendrils growing in their hair. Slans are telepathic and possess strength and intelligence superior to most humans. Their genetic advantages, compounded with long life spans, give them claim to being the new dominant life-form on Earth and have led to the human policy of genocide against the mutants. Jommy’s mother is killed, but he escapes the mob and is taken into hiding by a drunken old woman, Granny, who coerces him into a life of petty thievery.
Humans are governed by Kier Gray, an absolute dictator who ruthlessly enforces his will on the people, even to the extent of having his entire inner council murdered and pinning the action on his chief of security, John Petty. Gray routinely kills thousands of slans each year but has an apparent affection for a young slan girl, Kathleen Layton, who was captured as an infant and allowed to grow up in his palace, a monumental jewel of slan architecture that has been taken over by humans.
The novel parallels the lives of the two slan children. Jommy’s quest for the elusive slans takes many twists and turns before he inevitably becomes involved with Kathleen. Through a hypnotically planted suggestion, he uncovers his father’s ultimate weapon, an atomic ray gun so devastating that the elder Cross preferred to die rather than unleash it. Jommy also discovers a vast network of slans without tendrils who are smarter and stronger than humans but who lack the ability to read minds. This secret network controls air transportation in every Earth city and has covertly established outposts on Mars and the Moon. Jommy reveals himself to these “tendrilless” slans and discovers that, like humans, they hate true slans and will kill one on sight.
At the palace, Kathleen must constantly dodge assassination attempts by Petty, whose hatred of her is linked to his lust to overthrow Gray and take his place as dictator. Compounding Kathleen’s misery, as she matures, one of the powerful young politicos wishes to use her in a human/slan breeding experiment. Facing a death sentence, she flees the palace and meets Jommy in a chance encounter at a secret slan hideout.
Much of the hatred against slans is based on the belief that they are machine creations of Dr. Samuel Lann (S. Lan) and that slans continue to turn this machine on human babies in order to create more mutants, sometimes succeeding but often creating horribly disfigured monsters. Jommy cannot reconcile these stories of slans’ ruthless disregard for life with his own experiences: His mother and father died rather than take human lives, he feels that same deep compassion, and Kathleen, too, has a nobly nonviolent disposition. Jommy’s search for the true slans is as much a search for his own history and nature as for their location.
Eluding a planetwide hunt for him, Jommy hijacks one of the tendrilless slans’ ships. He takes it to Mars and discovers the truth, barely in time to prevent a three-way interplanetary war among the disaffected races.