Books like The Empire of Isher: The Weapon Makers / The Weapon Shops of Isher

Having a personal mission, set over decade ago, to read all of A. E. van Vogt's work, I'm not entirely sure why I have been putting this one off, knowing it was one of van Vogt's most popular fix-up novels... I suppose the title and premise didn't interest me much. His work is typically clunky, and the idea of a weapon shop as a medium for a story line of the right to bare arms, seemed to me, in his hands, a disaster waiting to happen. It seemed something more appropriate for the likes of Heinlein, and he being a superior writer, this is true, yet van Vogt managed here to pull it off in spite of his bizarre unusual writing style.It was to my surprise that it turns out to be one of his finest works. In interviews, PKD has often mentioned van Vogt as a major influence for his own work. and as far as I know, he had never mentioned this title in particular, but "Weapon Shop" is probably the most 'Dickish' work in van's catalogue.The Weapon Shops of Isher was first published in 1951. It is cobbled up from three previously published related short stories: "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)The inclusion of the "The Seesaw" story to the Weapon Shop stories makes it a compelling whole.I admit I have a weird bias for this unusual author. And, naturally, it did suffer from the odd or even poor quality of his writing style - anyone who ever read his work would point that out - Yet, I found this one to be a notch above much of his other works.My edition is a combo of "The Weapon Shop of Isher" and it's sequel, "The Weapon Shop". Though I am looking forward to reading the second segment, to be honest, I am not optimistic it will live up to its predecessor.