The Weapon Shops of Isher

1951 novel by A.E. van Vogt

The Weapon Shops of Isher

Dust jacket of the first edition

Author| A. E. van Vogt
Language| English
Genre| Science fiction
Publisher| Greenberg

Publication date

| 1951
Publication place| United States
Media type| Print (Hardcover)
Pages| 231
OCLC| 1626099

The Weapon Shops of Isher is a science fiction novel by American writer A. E. van Vogt, first published in 1951. The novel is a fix-up created from three previously published short stories about the Weapon Shops and Isher civilization:

* "The Seesaw" (Analog Science Fiction and Fact, July 1941)
* "The Weapon Shop" (Analog Science Fiction and Fact, December 1942)
* "The Weapon Shops of Isher" (Wonder Stories, February 1949)

## Overview

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The Weapon Shops of Isher and its sequel The Weapon Makers detail the workings of Isher civilization and the adventures of Robert Hedrock, The One Immortal Man, as he keeps it in balance in the face of attempts by the Weapon Makers, who have forgotten their purpose as a permanent opposition, and the strong government of the Empress, Innelda Isher, with its intimate connections to a network of financial institutions, to undermine each other. The Weapon Shops provide the populace with defensive weapons and an alternative legal system.

The Isher/Weapon Shops novels are rare examples of Golden Age science fiction that explicitly discuss the right to keep and bear arms, specifically guns. Indeed, the motto of the Weapon Shops, repeated several times, is "The right to buy weapons is the right to be free".

The political philosophy of the Weapon Shops is minimalist. They will not interfere with the corrupt imperial monarchy of the Isher government, because men always have a government of the type they deserve: no government, however bad, exists without at least the tacit consent of the governed. The mission of the Weapon Shops, therefore, is primarily to provide a mechanism to prevent an unjust government from oppressing the people too much. Van Vogt says, “[The idea of the founder of the Weapon Shops] was nothing less than that whatever government was in power should not be overthrown. But that an organization should be set up which would have one principal purpose—to ensure that no government ever again obtained complete power over its people. . . . What counts is that many millions of people have the knowledge that they can go to a weapon shop if they want to protect themselves and their families. And, even more important, the forces that would normally try to enslave them are restrained by the conviction that it is dangerous to press people too far. And so a great balance has been struck between those who govern and those who are governed.”

The novel was published by Greenberg in New York in 1951. It was also published as a paperback by Ace Books and in 1969 by New English Library in the U.K.

## Reception

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Boucher and McComas praised Weapon Shops as "a fine excitingly involved melodrama.".[1] P. Schuyler Miller reviewed the novel favorably, reporting that "It will take agile wits to know just what is happening, or why, at any given time."[2] New York Times reviewer Basil Davenport found the opening segment "begins well enough," but as the novel progresses, the reader's attention becomes "badly divided."[3]

## In popular culture

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* The Weapon Shop slogan, "The right to buy weapons is the right to be free", is often approvingly cited by supporters of the National Rifle Association and other advocates for gun rights.[4]
* The Market Anarchist Center for a Stateless Society has referred to WikiLeaks as "Our Weapon Shop of Isher".[5]
* The fictional government think tank created by Stephen King in his novel Firestarter is colloquially known as The Shop. It is stated that this is a direct reference to the Van Vogt novel.[6]

## Publication history

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* 1966: JAPAN, Tokyo Sogensha, 286pp.[7]
* 2016: JAPAN, Tokyo Sogensha, 334pp.(revised version)[8]

## References

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1. ^ "Recommended Reading," F&SF, December 1951, p.88
2. ^ Miller, P. Schuyler. "The Reference Library," Astounding Science-Fiction, October 1951, pp.143-144.
3. ^ "Spacemen's Realm", The New York Times, August 5, 1951
4. ^ "Miscellaneous Gun Quotes". Buckeye Firearms Association. Retrieved 30 December 2017.
5. ^ "Wikileaks: Our Weapon Shop of Isher". c4ss.org. Retrieved 30 December 2017.
6. ^ King, Stephen. Firestarter. Simon & Schuster. pp. 135–136\. ISBN 9781501192319.135-136&rft.pub=Simon+&+Schuster&rft.isbn=9781501192319&rft.au=King,+Stephen&rft_id=https://books.google.com/books?id=LJZ5DwAAQBAJ&dq;=%22weapon+shops+of+ishtar%22&pg;=PA136&rfr_id=info:sid/en.wikipedia.org:The+Weapon+Shops+of+Isher" class="Z3988">
7. ^ "イシャーの武器店". Tokyo Sogensha. hmv.co.jp. Retrieved 2020-01-17.
8. ^ "イシャーの武器店 【新版】". Tokyo Sogensha. Tokyo Sogensha. Retrieved 2020-01-17.

* v
* t
* e

Works by A. E. van Vogt

Novels|

* The Book of Ptath
* The House That Stood Still
* The Voyage of the Space Beagle
* The Mixed Men
* The Universe Maker
* The Mind Cage
* Rogue Ship
* The Silkie
* Quest for the Future
* Children of Tomorrow
* The Man with a Thousand Names
* Supermind

Series|

| Null-A|

* The World of Null-A
* The Pawns of Null-A
* Null-A Three

|

Slan|

* Slan
* Slan Hunter (with Kevin J. Anderson)

The Weapon Shops of Isher|

* The Weapon Makers
* The Weapon Shops of Isher

Clane|

* Empire of the Atom
* The Wizard of Linn

Rull|

* The War Against the Rull

Collections|

* Out of the Unknown
* Masters of Time
* Destination: Universe!
* Monsters
* M33 in Andromeda
* More Than Superhuman

Stories|

* Vault of the Beast (1938)
* Black Destroyer (1939)
* The Weapon Shop (1942)
* The Search (1943)
* Far Centaurus (1944)
* A Can of Paint (1944)
* The Rulers (1946)
* The Monster (1948)
* Dear Pen Pal (1949)
* Enchanted Village (1950)
* The Sound (1950)

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