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Jack Vance

1916-

Reviewed by Kat Hooper

John Holbrook (Jack) Vance wrote science fiction, mystery, and fantasy under several pennames. He has won several Hugo, Nebula, and World Fantasy Awards. In 1997 he was named a Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America (SFWA) Grand Master.

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The Dying Earth — (1950-1984) Publisher: One of Jack Vances enduring classics is his 1964 novel, The Dying Earth, and its sequels — a fascinating tale set on a far-future Earth, under a giant red sun that is soon to go out forever. Here, in one volume, is Hugo, Nebula and World Fantasy Award-winning author Jack Vance's classic Dying Earth saga: The Dying Earth, The Eyes of the Overworld, Cugels Saga, Rialto the Marvellous. Travel to a far distant future, when the sunbleeds red in a dark sky, where magic and science is one, and the Earth has but a few short decades to live...

fantasy book reviews Jack Vance The Dying Earth, The Eyes of the Overworld, Cugels Saga, Rialto the Marvellous

Omnibus:

Related story collection edited by George R.R. Martin & Gardner Dozois:

Songs of the Dying Earth: Stories in Honor of Jack Vance — (2009)
Edited by George R.R. Martin & Gardner Dozois. Publisher: In Songs of the Dying Earth, we have called on one of the most distinguished casts of authors ever assembled — including Dan Simmons, Neil Gaiman, George R.R. Martin, Paula Volsky, Mike Resnick, Robert Silverberg, Lucius Shepard, Tad Williams, Tanith Lee, Liz Williams, Glen Cook, and eleven other famous writers — to write stories in honor of the genius of Jack Vance, stories using the bizarre and darkly beautiful far future setting of the Dying Earth, near the very end of Earth's lifespan, where mighty wizards duel with spells of dreadful potency under a waning and almost burnt-out red sun, and adventurers and cutpurses strive to hoodwink and out-trick each other in haunted forests full of demons and monsters strange almost beyond comprehension.

fantasy book reviews Jack Vance The Dying Earth The Dying Earth (on audio)

The Dying Earth is the first of Jack Vance’s Tales of the Dying Earth and contains six somewhat overlapping stories all set in the future when the sun is red and dim, much technology has been lost, and most of humanity has died out. Our planet is so unrecognizable that it might as well be another world, and evil has been "distilled" so that it's concentrated in Earth's remaining inhabitants.

But it's easy to forget that a failing planet is the setting for the Dying Earth stories, for they are neither depressing nor bleak, and they're not really about the doom of the Earth. These stories are whimsical and weird and they focus more on the strange people who remain and the strange things they do. Magicians, wizards, witches, beautiful maidens, damsels in distress, seekers of knowledge, and vain princes strive to outwit each other for their own advantage.

What appeals to me most is that The Tales of the Dying Earth are about how things could possibly be in an alternate reality. All speculative fiction does that, of course, but Jack Vance just happens to hit on the particular things that I find most fascinating to speculate about: neuroscience, psychology, sensation, and perception. These are subjects I study and teach every day, so I think about them a lot. One thing I love to consider, which happens to be a common theme in Vance’s work, is how we might experience life differently if our sensory systems were altered just a bit. I find myself occasionally asking my students questions like "what would it be like if we had retinal receptors that could visualize electromagnetic waves outside of the visible spectrum?" (So bizarre to consider, and yet so possible!) They look at me like I'm nuts, but I'm certain that Jack Vance would love to talk about that possibility. And even though The Dying Earth was first published in 1950, it doesn’t feel dated at all — it can still charm a neuroscientist 60 years later. This is because his setting feels medieval; technology has been forgotten. Thus, it doesn’t matter that there were no cell phones or Internet when Vance wrote The Dying Earth.

I also love the constant juxtaposition of the ludicrous and the sublimely intelligent. Like Monty Python, Willy Wonka, and Alice in Wonderland. [Aside: This makes me wonder how Johnny Depp would do at portraying a Jack Vance character…] Some of the scenes that involve eyeballs and brains and pickled homunculi make me think of SpongeBob Squarepants — the most obnoxious show on television, yet somehow brilliant. (Jack Vance probably wouldn't appreciate that I've compared his literature to SpongeBob Squarepants. Or maybe he would!)

Lastly, I love Jack Vance’s “high language” (that’s what he called it), which is consistent and never feels forced. This style contributes greatly to the humor that pervades his work — understatement, irony, illogic, and non sequiturs are used to make fun of human behavior, and I find this outrageously funny. As just one example, in one story, Guyal has been tricked into breaking a silly and arbitrary sacred law in the land he’s traveling through:

“The entire episode is mockery!” raged Guyal. “Are you savages, then, thus to mistreat a lone wayfarer?”

“By no means,” replied the Castellan. “We are a highly civilized people, with customs bequeathed us by the past. Since the past was more glorious than the present, what presumption we would show by questioning these laws!”

Guyal fell quiet. “And what are the usual penalties for my act?”…

“You are indeed fortunate,” said the Saponid, “in that, as a witness, I was able to suggest your delinquencies to be more the result of negligence than malice. The last penalties exacted for the crime were stringent; the felon was ordered to perform the following three acts: first, to cut off his toes and sew the severed members into the skin at his neck; second, to revile his forbears for three hours, commencing with a Common Bill of Anathema, including feigned madness and hereditary disease, and at last defiling the hearth of his clan with ordure; and third, walking a mile under the lake with leaded shoes in search of the Lost Book of Kells.” And the Castellan regarded Guyal with complacency.

“What deeds must I perform?” inquired Guyal drily.

If you want to find out what three deeds Guyal had to perform, you’ll have to get the book!

I listened to Brilliance Audio’s production of The Dying Earth and the reader, Arthur Morey, was perfect. He really highlighted the humorous element of Vance’s work. It was a terrific production and I’m now enjoying the second Dying Earth audiobook (which is even better than this first one!). By the way, I want to say that I’m extremely pleased with Brilliance Audio for publishing these stories!

Jack Vance is my favorite fantasy author. His work probably won’t appeal to the Twilighters, but for those who enjoy Pythonesque surreal humor written in high style, or for fans of Lewis Carroll, Fritz Leiber, and L. Frank Baum, I suggest giving Jack Vance a try. If you listen to audiobooks, definitely try Brilliance Audio’s version! —Kat Hooper

fantasy book reviews Jack Vance The Dying Earth 2. The Eyes of the Overworld The Eyes of the Overworld (on audio)

I’ve already said, numerous times, how much I love Jack Vance, so I’ll skip all that this time. You can read other reviews on this page if you missed that.

The Eyes of the Overworld is the second part of Tales of the Dying Earth and the main character is one of my favorite Vance characters: the self-titled Cugel the Clever. Cugel is not the kind of guy you want to have dealings with — he’s clever, sneaky, completely selfish and remorseless. He is always trying to figure out how he can take advantage of other people in order to make his own circumstances better.

In The Eyes of the Overworld, Cugel decides to burglarize the house of Iucounu the Laughing Magician so he can sell some of Iucounu’s thaumaturgical artifacts. But the magician catches Cugel and punishes him by setting him on a quest to procure a lens which allows the wearer to view the overworld.

Cugel is clever, but as clever as he is, he often finds himself facing a foe who, at least temporarily, manages to outwit him (which invariably surprises Cugel). This time his quest leads him on a series of misadventures in which he: gets captured by rat people… is forced to be the watchman of a village… steals more than one person’s inheritance… deals with demons… trades a woman for information… impersonates a god… and travels a million years into the past. Wherever he goes, Cugel, sometimes purposely and sometimes unwittingly, leaves sorrow and destruction in his wake. He deprives people of their hope, their faith and, often, their lives.

This doesn’t sound like it should be very entertaining, but oh, it is! That’s because the story is written in Jack Vance’s singular style: high language, bizarre occurrences, and Vance’s characteristic humor. I hate to say it again, but the best comparison I can make is to Monty Python. If you’re a fan of that type of strange dark humor, then this should be your thing.

I listened to The Eyes of the Overworld in audio format. I can’t express how excited I was to learn that Brilliance Audio was producing these, and I’m pleased to report that they did an excellent job. Arthur Morey once again brought out all of the nuances of Vance’s humor and he made a perfect Cugel. In fact, The Eyes of the Overworld was even better than The Dying Earth, probably because it follows the same main character rather than being divided up into separate short stories. I loved it. —Kat Hooper

Cugel's Saga (on audio)

Cugel “the clever” is one of the scummiest, nastiest, lowliest rogues in all of fantasy literature. He’s got no morals and no respect for women, he’s often a coward, he’s not good looking, nor is he particularly good with a sword. In the words of one of Cugel’s acquaintances, “who could imagine such protean depravity?” The answer, apparently, is Jack Vance. And that's why Cugel is one of my favorite “heroes” — because he belongs to Jack Vance.

Cugel’s Saga, book 3 of The Dying Earth and the direct sequel to The Eyes of the Overworld, begins ironically — with Cugel again fallen afoul of Iucounu, the Laughing Magician, who has now banished Cugel across the dying earth to exactly the same place he had sent Cugel before and from which Cugel had just returned to seek his revenge. Thus, Cugel begins another long journey back to Almery to get even with Iucounu, and of course it’s another series of hilarious misadventures. These usually involve Cugel entering a village, pretending to be a gentleman and getting involved in some profitable scheme, and eventually having to flee or being run out of town.

During each of these episodes, Jack Vance uses his characteristic humor to highlight absurd human behavior. For example, in chapter 3, after penniless Cugel has just narrowly escaped a man whose ship, wife, and daughters he kidnapped, he happens upon a town in which the men spend their days sunning themselves atop columns of stone while their wives work to pay Nisbet the quarryman to add additional stones to their husbands’ towers, thus elevating them, both literally and figuratively, above the other townsmen. Cugel, noticing how eager the women are to please Nisbet, sees this as an opportunity not only for monetary gain, but also perhaps to score benefits that Nisbet may not have imagined… Yes, Cugel is a scoundrel, but it’s hard to think too badly of him when most of the people he encounters are equally corrupt. Cugel himself explains it this way:

I am not one to crouch passively with my hindquarters raised awaiting either the kick or the caress of Destiny! I am Cugel! Fearless and indomitable!

Cugel’s various adventures do not become predictable and they never get stale — each is unique, fresh, and delightfully funny. Besides the sheer entertainment value, Jack Vance’s voice is consistently a pleasure to read. Nobody writes just like Vance and I never tire of it.

I listened to Brilliance Audio’s version of Cugel’s Saga, which was read by Arthur Morey, who has narrated their other Vance titles. He is excellent as usual — one of the finest audiobook readers I’ve ever listened to. He and Jack Vance have entertained me for many an hour as I commute back and forth to work. I’ll bet my colleagues wonder why I’m always chuckling wickedly when I pull into the parking lot. —Kat Hooper

Rhialto the Marvellous: "Flagrant and wild!"

If you’re a fan of Jack Vance, of course you’ve read, or plan to read, Rhialto the Marvellous, last of the Dying Earth books. If you’ve not read any of Mr. Vance’s work, you can start here — it isn’t necessary to have read the previous installments.

Rhialto, who has earned the cognomen “Marvellous” (this has something to do with him being a bit of a dandy) is one of the last of Earth’s magicians, a small group of selfish and unscrupulous men who sometimes work together and sometimes oppose each other as it suits their individual inglorious purposes. The other magicians don’t care too much for Rhialto because he is aloof, popular with women, arrogant, and generally unflappable. Rhialto the Marvellous contains three stories which feature Rhialto working with and against his colleagues.

Rhialto is more passive than Cugel the Clever and not as dastardly, so he doesn’t drive the plot or leave a swath of destruction in his wake like Cugel does. Plus, he has to share the stage with several other strong personalities, making him not as vibrant as we’ve come to expect from Vance’s main characters.

Nonetheless, this novel is still chock full of the ludicrous circumstances and strange humor that Jack Vance fans love. The first story, “The Murthe,” introduces my favorite made-up Vance word: “ensqualm” — which means to turn a man into a woman. That story was hilarious as it seemed to poke fun of feminine behavior while actually ridiculing men. Arthur Morey, who narrates Brilliance Audio’s production and has become one of my favorite audiobook readers, is at top form here as he narrates Vermoulian’s dream (AXR-11 GG7, Volume Seven of the Index) in which Vermoulian meets a group of ensqualmed men and describes their behavior:

I found myself in a landscape of great charm, where I encountered a group of men, all cultured, artistic, and exquisitely refined of manner… ‘We dine upon nutritious nuts and seeds and ripe juicy fruit; we drink only the purest and most natural water from the springs. At night we sit around the campfire and sing merry little ballads. On special occasions we make a punch called opo, from pure fruits, natural honey, and sweet sessamy, and everyone is allowed a good sip… Ah, the women, whom we revere for their kindness, strength, wisdom and patience, as well as for the delicacy of their judgments!...’

He had me laughing out loud already, but when he read their answer to Vermoulian’s questions about how they procreate, I nearly spit my Starbucks onto the steering wheel. I went back and read this in my print copy — it was funny, yes, but Arthur Morey made it even better.

Rhialto the Marvellous is the last of Brilliance Audio’s Vance collection so far, and that makes me sad. I sincerely hope they’ll soon be adding more Vance titles to their catalog and that Arthur Morey will be reading them. If so, I promise that I’ll be reviewing them! —Kat Hooper

Songs of the Dying Earth: Stories in Honor of Jack Vance

Please find our review of Songs of the Dying Earth: Stories in Honor of Jack Vance on our George R.R. Martin page.

The Demon Princes — (1964-1981) Publisher: Kirth Gersen carries in his pocket a slip of paper with a list of five names written on it. Theses are the names of the five Demon Princes who led the historic Mount Pleasant Massacre, which destroyed not only Kirth's family but his entire world as well. He roams the universe, searching the endless galaxies of space, hunting down the Demon Princes and exacting his revenge.

Jack Vance The Demon Princes 1. The Star King 2. The Killing Machine 3. The Palace of Love 4. The Face 5. The Book of Dreams

Omnibus editions:

The Star King

When he was a child, Kirth Gersen's village was raided and massacred by the five Demon Princes. He and his grandfather escaped and, at his grandfather's encouragement, Kirth has spent his life training and preparing for revenge. Now it's time...

Jack Vance's DEMON PRINCES saga consists of five short science fiction novels which each tell the tale of how Kirth Gersen tracks down and deals with one of the evil men who killed his family. In the first installment, The Star King, Kirth is looking for Attel Malagate, aka Malagate the Woe, who may be masquerading as a university academic. Along the way, Kirth must get past Malagate's henchmen, including the memorable Hildemar Dasce, also known as Beauty Dasce or Fancy Dasce:

Into the hall stepped the strangest human being of Gersen's experience.

"And there," said Teehalt with a sick titter, "you see Beauty Dasce."

Dasce was about six feet tall. His torso was a tube, the same gauge from knee to shoulder. His arms were thin and long, terminating in great bony wrists, enormous hands. His head was also tall and round, with a ruff of red hair, and a chin seeming almost to rest on the clavicle. Dasce had stained his neck and face bright red, excepting only his cheeks, which were balls of bright chalk-blue, like a pair of mildewed oranges. At some stage of his career his nose had been cleft into a pair of cartilaginous prongs, and his eyelids had been cut away; to moisten his corneas he wore two nozzles connected to a tank of fluid which every few seconds discharged a film of mist into his eyes. There was also a pair of shutters, now raised, which could be lowered to cover his eyes from the light, and which were painted to represent staring white and blue eyes similar to Dasce's own.

Yikes!

Kirth Gersen is the type of hero who was popular back in the 1960s when this series was written: a single unattached worldly man who's clever and brave, but only slightly more clever and brave than his enemies — a James-Bond-type hero. His enemies are James-Bondish, too (Beauty Dasce reminds me of Jaws from The Spy Who Loved Me and Moonraker). In fact, these are the kind of books that would make great movies because they're short, the plot is tight, fast, and action-packed and there's plenty of violence, but it's not gory. There's even a bit of romance and mystery.

But what sets these stories above most novels and movies of this type is Jack Vance's succinct, perfect prose and the scope of his active imagination. In his science fiction novels, he's got an entire fictional universe to work with and he makes the most of it, offering us fascinating and ever-changing vistas, races, and cultures. —Kat Hooper

The Killing Machine

After successfully dispatching the first of his lifelong enemies in the previous novel, The Star King, Kirth Gersen now takes on the second of the five demon princes, Kokor Hekkus, aka "The Killing Machine." The Killing Machine is even more fun than The Star King. It's full of diverse characters, exotic venues, hilarious fashions, weird food, awesome architecture, and bizarre machinery. Nobody outdoes Jack Vance for sheer inventiveness. The plot moves rapidly and contains plenty of action and suspense.

As with many of his novels, at the beginning of each chapter Vance imparts small amounts of background information in the form of excerpts from government documents, textbooks, popular sayings, magazine articles, planetary travel guides, etc. This is a clever way to give us knowledge without relying on the much maligned "info-dump" that's often endured in speculative fiction. Sometimes these excerpts are just a fun way to let us know about some interesting aspect of a planet's environment, history or culture; sometimes they're just an excuse for Jack Vance to say something smart or witty about politics, economics, biology, astronomy, or psychology; sometimes they give him a chance to give a nod or a jab to one of his SF friends ("Frerb Hankbert" was quoted in The Star King and "the dean of modern cosmologists, A.N. der Poulson" was mentioned in The Killing Machine). But occasionally, though they may seem irrelevant at first, they give us clues for solving a part of the plot's mystery.

In The Killing Machine we get to know Kirth Gersen a little better. We already knew he was clever, driven, and almost ruthless. Now we start to see a bit of remorse and melancholy as he muses about what his life would be like without this goal to take revenge on the five demon princes. And, more importantly, he begins to wonder: after he's finished, who will he have become? —Kat Hooper

The Palace of Love

Two down and three to go… In order to exact revenge on Viole Falushe, the third Demon Prince, Kirth Gersen must first discover who Mr. Falushe is, and then find and infiltrate his famous Palace of Love.

The actual plot, while just as brisk and fun as usual, isn't the most entertaining aspect of The Palace of Love. This volume is particularly charming because of Jack Vance's exquisite characters — three in particular:

Vogel Filschner was rejected by the prettiest girl in school when he was a pimply 14-year old geek. His retaliation feels just like what school psychologists are warning us about these days. He's a fascinating villain!
Navarath is a washed-up poet who lives on a houseboat. We're not sure if he's a genius, a fake, crazy, or just drunk. Whatever he is, he's amusing and Vance has lots of fun with Navarath, giving him an eccentric artist personality. He talks dramatically and emphatically, gestures extravagantly, seeks attention, drinks a lot, and broods. When he got on a spaceship for the first time he "simultaneously became afflicted with claustrophobia and agoraphobia, and lay on a settee with his feet bare and a cloth pulled over his head." He even constructs absurd (but somehow ingenious) poems, including one whose stanzas end with lines such as "But Tim R. Mortiss degurgled me" and "But Tim R. Mortiss peturgles me."
Zan Zu, the girl from Eridu, is a dreamy dirty adolescent misfit with no name. (Since Kirth asked for her name, Navarath introduced her as "Zan Zu from Eridu.") Vance can't help but use her entire title nearly every time she's mentioned (and I can't either), so Kirth thinks of her as Zan Zu, the girl from Eridu, and we regularly encounter the words "Zan Zu, the girl from Eridu" in the text. It just trips off the tongue so nicely and somehow made me smile every time I saw it. (I read somewhere that Jack Vance chose his characters' names this way — by saying them over and over to see how they sound.)

These are three of Vance's best supporting characters, all packed into about 150 pages. That's enough reason to read The Palace of Love. —Kat Hooper

The Face

Here’s another thoroughly delightful installment (book 4 of 5) of The Demon Princes. The plot is as usual: Kirth Gersen is hunting down one of the Demon Princes who destroyed his family and homeland when he was a boy. There’s no doubt that Gersen will kill Lens Larque; the question is how he’ll kill him and what adventures he’ll have on the way.

The Face distinguishes itself by introducing a couple of cultures which Vance uses to make fun of human behavior. Lens Larque is one of the Darsh of the planet Dar Sai. They’re a large ugly people with a disgusting cuisine, a fondness for flagellation, and some pretty entertaining mating habits. Their women have a short period of beauty during adolescence, but then become meaty, mustached, and mean. Thus, the men chase only the young women and the older women capture young men who aren’t big enough to resist. (Vance mentions that “the system has permutations unnecessary now to explore.”) The Darsh also have an exciting game of survival called hadaul.

The other culture is the Methlen. These folks are snobs who look down on everyone else in the universe. They live in Llalarkno, an exclusive country club type area of the planet Methel, and they don’t want anyone who’s not Methlen living there. They especially hate the Darsh whose planet is close to theirs. When Lens Larque tries to buy a house in Llalarkno, he’s insulted and run-off by the neighbor. He hatches an elaborate plan to get even and Kirth Gersen gets involved with both societies as he tries to track down the elusive Larque.

The Face is hilarious and has a particularly clever and satisfying ending. You don’t really need to read the previous Demon Princes books to enjoy The Face, but why wouldn’t you? —Kat Hooper

The Book of Dreams

The Book of Dreams is the final book of Jack Vance’s The Demon Princes saga. Kirth Gersen must find and eliminate his last elusive enemy: Howard Alan Treesong. As usual, he has the help of his reluctant banker and there’s a new Innocent Pretty Young Female to attend to, also.

The Book of Dreams is reminiscent of The Palace of Love (the third Demon Princes novel), which also featured a sensitive boy turned bad after being bullied and teased by his peers. Kirth finally tracks down Treesong at his high school reunion where he shows up to get revenge on his classmates. That scene was hilarious. There were plenty of other humorous Vanceian elements, too, including an intergalactic magazine contest and a species of sub-humans who had devolved because they don’t eat meat (“the dark side of vegetarianism”).

I thoroughly enjoyed all of the Demon Princes novels, but I was hoping for something extra in this final episode — perhaps the most outrageous enemy, a near-death experience, the cleverest plot, the perfect girl — something special to wrap up the series. Vance could have done more with Howard Alan Treesong who had multiple personalities and was planning to take over the universe. He could have been a scarier villain.

The end of The Book of Dreams was abrupt. All through the series, I’ve been wondering what Kirth would do when his life’s work was over. Would he feel relieved? Depressed? Purposeless? This was answered in two lines at the end of The Book of Dreams. I was hoping for more, but Vance chose not to enlighten us. So, I didn’t get the “go-out-with-a-bang” ending or the epilogue I was hoping for, but I’m still satisfied. Kirth Gersen is one of Jack Vance’s best heroes. I’m going to miss him. —Kat Hooper

Lyonesse — (1983-1990) Omnibus editions available. Publisher: The Elder Isles, located in what is now the Bay of Biscay off the the coast of Old Gaul, are made up of ten contending kingdoms, all vying with each other for control. At the centre of much of the intrigue is Casmir, the ruthless and ambitious king of Lyonnesse. His beautiful but otherworldly daughter, Suldrun, is part of his plans. He intends to cement an alliance or two by marrying her well. But Suldrun is as determined as he and defies him. Casmir coldly confines her to the overgrown garden that she loves to frequent, and it is here that she meets her love and her tragedy unfolds. Political intrigue, magic, war, adventure and romance are interwoven in a rich and sweeping tale set in a brilliantly realized fabled land.

Jack Vance Lyonesse 1. Suldrun's Garden 2. The Green Pearl 3. Madouc fantasy book reviews

fantasy book reviews Jack Vance Lyonesse Suldrun's Garden Suldrun's Garden

As I'm writing this, Jack Vance's under-appreciated Lyonesse trilogy has been off the shelves for years. My library doesn't even have a copy — it had to be interlibrary loaned for me. Why is that? Publishers have been printing a seemingly endless stream of vampire and werewolf novels these days — same plot, same characters, blah blah blah. If not that, it's grit. We all want grit. Or maybe it's that more women are reading fantasy these days and publishers think we want to read about bad-ass heroines who kill vampires. But, the publishers and authors are just giving us what we demand, I suppose. We all got sick of the sweeping medieval-style multi-volume epics that take forever to write, publish, and read. So now we get vampires and sassy chicks with tattoos and bare midriffs. When we've become glutted with those (it can't be long now), what's next?

I've got a suggestion: Publishers, why don't you reprint some of the best classic fantasy? Let's start with Jack Vance's Lyonesse. Here we have a beautiful and complex story full of fascinating characters (even those we only see for a couple of pages are engaging), unpredictable and shocking plot twists, and rambling and entertainingly disjointed adventure. No clichés. No vampires.

As a psychologist, I especially appreciated the many insights into human cognition and perceptual processing that I found in Suldrun's Garden. But what's best is Jack Vance's unique style. He's quirky, funny, and droll. He uses language not just to tell us an interesting story, but he actually entertains us with the way he uses language to tell the story. Similar to Ursula Le Guin, Neil Gaiman, Susanna Clarke, or Catherynne Valente, but in a different, completely unique style. I love authors who respect the English language and compose their prose with care and precision. Many of Jack Vance's sentences are purposely funny in their construction and I find myself laughing and delighted not at what was said, but at how it was said. Here's his description of Shimrod's excursion to another world:

He apprehended a landscape of vast extent dotted with isolated mountains of gray-yellow custard, each terminating in a ludicrous semi-human face. All faces turned toward himself, displaying outrage and censure. Some showed cataclysmic scowls and grimaces, others produced thunderous belches of disdain. The most intemperate extruded a pair of liver-colored tongues, dripping magma which tinkled in falling, like small bells; one or two spat jets of hissing green sound, which Shimrod avoided, so that they struck other mountains, to cause new disturbance.

And here is part of King Casmir's lecture to his daughter Suldrun when she announced that she's not ready to get married:

That is sentiment properly to be expected in a maiden chaste and innocent. I am not displeased. Still, such qualms must bend before affairs of state ... Your conduct toward Duke Carfilhiot must be amiable and gracious, yet neither fulsome nor exaggerated. Do not press your company upon him; a man like Carfilhiot is stimulated by reserve and reluctance. Still, be neither coy not cold ... Modesty is all very well in moderation, even appealing. Still, when exercised to excess it becomes tiresome.

If you can find a used copy of Suldrun's Garden, the first of the Lyonesse trilogy, snatch it up. There are some available on Amazon and there's a kindle version, too. (Beware the Fantasy Masterworks version, which is known to have printing errors). Jack Vance is original; You won't get his books confused with anyone else's. This is beautiful work for those who love excellent fantasy literature! —Kat Hooper

fantasy book reviews Jack Vance Lyonesse The Green Pearl The Green Pearl

The Green Pearl is another engrossing adventure in Jack Vance's whimsical world. This installment of Lyonesse mainly follows Aillas, now King of Troicinet, as he seeks revenge on the Ska, tests his infatuation with Tatzel, deals with a couple of traitors, and tries to thwart the ambitions of King Casmir of Lyonesse who, unbeknownst to Casmir, is Aillas's son's grandfather. We also spend quite a bit of time with Shimrod, Glyneth, Melancthe, and some new and excellent characters such as the duplicitous innkeeper Dildahl, the dogged but distractible Visbhume, and The Notable and Singular Zuck (Dealer in Objects Unique Under the Firmament).

There are two main reasons that I love Lyonesse. First, I admire Vance's florid imagination. His world and its creatures are unique and, while not as bizarre as Lewis Carroll's, there's plenty of weirdness. Second, I love Jack Vance's odd but irresistible style. There's no message, no lesson, no pretensions — it's just pure fast-paced entertainment. But best of all, Vance's deliberately peculiar and droll prose makes me laugh:

A crippled ex-soldier named Manting for ten years had served the county as executioner. He did his work efficiently and expunged Long Liam's life definitely enough, but in a style quite devoid of that extra element of surprise and poignancy, which distinguished the notable executioner from his staid colleague... [then Manting comes into possession of the Green Pearl which Long Liam had carried] ... Thereafter, all who watched Manting declared that they had never seen the executioner's work done with more grace and attention to detail, so at times Manting and the condemned man seemed participants in a tragic drama which set every heart to throbbing; and at last, when the latch had been sprung, or the blow struck, or the torch tossed into the faggots, there was seldom a dry eye among the spectators.

And the dialog is truly humorous — so many authors try, but Vance gets it right. Just two short examples:

The barber said politely: "Sire, I suggest that you hold your feet motionless while I am cutting your toenails."
When the beautiful but empty-headed Melancthe tries to seduce Shimrod, he says: "My character is intensely strong, and my will is like iron; still, I see no reason to demonstrate their strength needlessly."

Again I shake my head in bewilderment that this charming trilogy can not be easily acquired by the usual book-obtaining methods. What a shame! —Kat Hooper

fantasy book reviews Jack Vance Lyonesse 3. Madouc Madouc

Well, here's the finale of Jack Vance's Lyonesse, and I'm sorry to see it end. This novel was about Madouc, the changeling princess of Lyonesse, and her interactions with Casmir, Sollace, Aillas, Dhrun, Shimrod, Throbius, Sir Pom-Pom, Umphred, Twisk, et al.

Madouc maintains the quality of this excellent trilogy — it's filled with clever prose, charming characters, and lots of imagination. Jack Vance's careful planning produced a tight plot and Madouc wrapped up all the loose ends from Suldrun's Garden and The Green Pearl.

I thoroughly enjoyed Lyonesse, but it may not be for everyone. It occurs to me that these books are a lot like Monty Python. They're fast-paced, weird, silly, outrageous, and (somehow) smart.

I'll give you one example: the magician Murgen realizes he's being spied on by someone who is disguised as a moth, so he sends Rylf to follow the moth and find out who it is. The moth flies away and joins a thousand other moths who are flying around a flame. As Rylf watches, one of the moths eventually drops down, turns into a man, and walks into an inn. But Rylf doesn't take note of the man because, as he figures, the laws of probability suggest that the particular moth he's after must still be flying around the flame.

If you don't find that hilarious, you may not enjoy Lyonesse as much as I did.

Part of what I love most about Jack Vance's humor is that he doesn't tell us it's funny. It's a completely deadpan delivery. So, when King Throbius (King of the Fairies) assures Madouc that “fairies are as tolerant as they are sympathetic,” there's no narrator or character who explains to Madouc (and, thereby, us) that this does not mean that fairies are tolerant. I have never read any author who does this as beautifully as Jack Vance does, and I loved it.

I've said it twice before, so I won't say again that Lyonesse ought to be reprinted. —Kat Hooper

Selected Novels and Collections:

To Live Forever — (1956) Publisher: Gavin Waylock had waited seven years for the scandal surrounding his former immortal self to be forgotten. He had kept his identity concealed so that he could once again join the ranks of those who lived forever. He had been exceedingly careful about hiding his past. Then he met The Jacynth. She was a beautiful 19 year old, and Gavin wanted her. But he recognised that a wisdom far beyond her years marked her as one who knew too much about him to live. As far as she was concerned, death was a mere inconvenience. But once The Jacynth came back, Gavin Waylock's life would be an everlasting hell!

To Live Forever

In Clarges, a city in the far future, humans have conquered death. Unfortunately, there's just not enough room for billions of immortal people to live forever, so they've passed the fair-play act which divides society into 5 phyle which must be maintained at certain population ratios. Those who choose to participate in fair-play must register in Brood, the lowest phyle, and receive 82 years of life, after which an "assassin" visits and takes them away in a black hearse. By significantly contributing to society, citizens may move up through the phyle, adding several years of life with each step. A very select few will reach Amaranth and may have their bodies genetically modified (with 5 copies made, in case of accidents), making them youthful forever. This social climbing causes a lot of anxiety for the people of Clarges, so their mental hospital is full of people who've gone "catto" (alternating periods of catatonia and mania).

Gavin Waylock has been in hiding for seven years, but now he's ready to return to the immortal society that shunned him. He's back at the bottom and must use all of his wits to work his way up to the place he knows he deserves. Things would be a lot easier, though, if he hadn't just met The Jacynth Martin, because she's determined to keep him out of Amaranth.

One thing I love about Jack Vance is that he writes about things that fascinate me. As Gavin is trying to figure out how he can contribute something creative and meaningful to society, and thereby push himself ahead of everyone else, he tackles the field of psychology. I found it great fun to read Vance's ideas about the future of my field.

To Live Forever was written in 1956, at a time when "insane asylums" in the United States were full. Vance must have thought this to be a hopeless situation because while his characters are zipping around in aircars and have plenty of other cool future technologies, one of their psychotherapists tells Gavin that their hospital is full, and psychology is the only science that isn't progressing, because it's impossible to see inside the human brain.

I'm not surprised that Vance didn't foresee brain imaging techniques (though he actually uses a similar technology in this novel!), but it's amusing that it was only a few years later that asylums in developed countries were nearly emptied after antipsychotic, antidepressant, and anti-anxiety drugs became common. It's also amusing that, for fun, citizens of Clarges use different types of "stimmo" pills, some of which are basically antidepressant or anti-anxiety drugs. Hmmm… I wonder if they thought to try those on the cattos...

Though Mr. Vance's vision didn't seem to foresee much beyond Freud and Jung, at the same time one of his characters comes up with an idea to treat catatonic-mania that is stunningly brilliant and something very much like what is only now being tested as a treatment for post-traumatic stress disorder! Wow!

You don’t have to be a psychologist to love To Live Forever. This is a fun, fast-paced, and clever science fiction novel, but it isn't at all "gadgetty," so it will probably appeal even to those who think they don't like scifi. It's also, as is common for Jack Vance, part humorously scathing social commentary. —Kat Hooper

Wild Thyme, Green Magic — (2009) Publisher: When Jack Vance decided to become a writer, a million-word-a-year man as he put it so pragmatically at the time, he also gave fantastic literature one of its most cherished and distinctive voices. Though primarily a novelist throughout his long and distinguished career, this Hugo, Nebula, Edgar and World Fantasy Award-winning Grand Master also produced many short and mid-length works. Wild Thyme, Green Magic collects an alien's handful of these wondrous tales, among them the author's first-ever sale, The World-Thinker, the unforgettable Chateau D If, the stylish Green Magic, the macabre, gothic Seven Exits from Bocz, and The Seventeen Virgins, a rousing adventure with Cugel the Clever set in the author s acclaimed far-future Dying Earth.

fantasy book review Jack Vance Wild Thyme, Green Magic Wild Thyme, Green Magic

I'm a big fan of Jack Vance's wild imagination and his "high-end" writing style (his description, as I learned in this book). So, I was happy to get a copy of Wild Thyme, Green Magic, an assortment of his fantasy and science fiction tales which have previously been published in several SFF magazines and have now been compiled and edited by Terry Dowling and Jonathan Strahan and published by Subterranean Press. Wild Thyme, Green Magic also includes several informative excerpts of a 1986 interview with Mr. Vance and a couple of short bios written by Norma Vance, Jack's wife.

Of the 12 stories (one is really just a glorified outline), I was completely tickled, enraptured, beguiled, or otherwise delighted by 8 of them. (None of them are bad — all have their entertaining moments.) Most of the tales star one of Jack Vance's intelligent and capable heroes, which is one of the reasons I like his stories so well: his heroes don't whine, do stupid things without cause, or get out-smarted by bad guys. Many of them have bad morals and ethics, but they are not witless, lazy, or incompetent. (And they usually have cool names like "Magnus Ridolph.")

However, some of them are so self-righteous and snooty as to become obnoxious, and I found this to be the case with Alice, heroine of the first short, "Assault on a City," a story about the dangers of "subjectivity" and "over-civilization." While I appreciate, and even agree with, Mr. Vance's position, I felt that in this story he abandoned his usually subtle social satire in favor of a heavy-handed harangue.

The second story, "Green Magic" is a fantasy about boredom, knowledge, and the possibility that ignorance is bliss. I particularly liked this one for its imaginative elements. Next is "The World-Thinker," Vance's first published story. It's quintessential Vance — exotic locales, strange creatures, bizarre ideas — and better than the first two stories. "The Augmented Agent" and "Coup De Grace" are amusing sci-fi adventures with very clever heroes.

"Chateau d' If" was the longest story in the collection and, fortunately, the best. It was about a group of bored young men who decide to pay a lot of money to have an unknown adventure. I would have enjoyed reading an entire novel based on this short. It was quirky, creepy, intense, humorous, wonderful. The next story, "The Potters of Firsk," was particularly entertaining because, as explained in Dowling and Strahan's introduction, it concerned Jack and Norma Vance's love of the art and science of ceramics.

"The Seventeen Virgins" was another favorite of mine and stars the familiar Cugel the Clever, an immoral and rascally rogue. He gets up to some pretty hilarious tricks in this adventure which begins and ends with him evading pursuit. Cugel reminds me that Jack Vance doesn't just tell us that his heroes are clever — he shows us their clever (and usually amusing) deeds.

"Ullward's Retreat" was another social satire that was just too heavy-handed for me. "Seven Exits from Bocz" was a very short, disturbing, and fascinating piece about revenge.

"Wild Thyme and Violets" is an outline of a story that, to me, didn't feel like Jack Vance. Perhaps that's because it wasn't fleshed out in his usual style, or perhaps it's because it didn't have an identifiable Vance-type hero (except for maybe Mersile the mountebank who makes only a brief appearance), but this piece is included as an example of how Vance went about the logistics of writing, so it's interesting for that reason alone.

I had a hard time getting into the last story — "Rumfuddle" — because it was so angsty, but once the premise was explained at the end, I thought it was clever. Unfortunately, I didn't feel that way until the end.

I recommend Wild Thyme, Green Magic to any Jack Vance fan — you'll enjoy this collection of typical Vance stories: cagey heroes (some of them already familiar), exotic locales (again, some familiar), high adventure, grand and sometimes bewildering ideas, sarcasm, irony, and occasional ten-dollar words. If you're not yet a Jack Vance fan, here's a good collection to get you on your way. I suggest starting with "Chateau d' If," "The Seventeen Virgins," and "The World-Thinker." If you don't find those stories highly entertaining, there's probably no hope for you. —Kat Hooper

Hard-Luck Diggings: The Early Jack Vance — (2010) Publisher: A legend has to start somewhere... As so many writers have said, it's in the shorter and mid-length work that the storytelling craft is best learned. Hard-Luck Diggings brings together fourteen such pieces from the first twelve years of Grand Master Jack Vance's genre-defining career, from back when he first worked to pay the mortgage, buy the groceries, travel the world, eventually building his own private 'dream castle' and starting a family. Like any writer serious about staying in the game, we see him targeting the markets of the day, doing what was needed to meet the tastes of editors and their readerships while at the same time perfecting his own special way of doing things so that his name, his distinctive voice, stood a chance (in modern marketing parlance) of becoming a viable 'brand.' Hard-Luck Diggings brings that fascinating process to life in fine style. As well as serving up vintage entertainment from one of the field's genuine masters, it provides an illuminating armchair tour of how the Jack Vance enterprise came to be, full of zest and life, the thrill of the upward climb and of so much more to be done. This is a book to be savoured with a twinkle in the eye, a knowing smile, but most of all, with a love of adventure and high romance firmly in place.

Hard-Luck Diggings: The Early Jack Vance

I adore Subterranean Press because they’re regularly publishing the kind of classic and new speculative fiction that you might have a hard time finding otherwise. They ignore teen trends and market demands and focus on producing high quality volumes of excellent fiction complete with beautiful covers and interior art.

Hard-Luck Diggings is a collection of 14 of Jack Vance’s unconnected short stories that were written early in his career, when he was perfecting his style and writing the kind of tales that were currently popular and likely to be purchased by publishers.

In each of these tales the prose is sparse, the characters are quickly sketched, and the plot is fast, tight, and weird. Many take place in the far future but, even though they were written 60 years ago, they somehow don’t seem dated (except that only men occupy positions of authority and the characters are still using audiotape, videotape, and typewriters, and are powering their spaceships with steam).

The stories are presented in order of publication so, perhaps not surprisingly, the later ones are better (though they only span 11 years). I didn’t much care for the first three stories — “Hard-Luck Diggings” (1948), “Temple of Han” (1951), and “The Masquerade on Dicantropus” (1951) — and that’s probably because they are missing that wry ironic flavor of bizarreness that has developed into the Vance “brand.” That starts to show up in the fourth story — “Abercrombie Station” (1952) — which takes place on a space station where zero gravity makes it fashionable to be fat. Two stories — “When the Five Moons Rise” (1954) and “The Phantom Milkman” (1956) — border on horror so, though they are intense and exciting, they aren’t my favorites.

The stories that I most enjoyed were:

“Three-Legged Joe” (1953) — a planet-sized lesson in electrical circuitry.
“DP!” (1953) — the actions of world governments dealing with the eruption of millions of strange creatures from the bowels of the earth serve as a metaphor for global social and political ills.
“Shape-Up” (1953) — a clever protagonist applies for a dangerous job.
“Sjambak” (1953) — a reporter is sent to bust a myth about strange sightings on another planet.
“The Absent-Minded Professor” (1954) — an ambitious junior astronomy professor needs his senior out of the way.
“The Devil on Salvation Bluff” (1955) — shows what happens when we let the clock rule our lives.
“Where Hesperus Falls” (1956) — an immortal man tries to kill himself. (This was my favorite story.)
“Dodkin’s Job” (1959) — a nonconformist gets to the bottom of the bureaucracy.

Each story in Hard-Luck Diggings is followed by a short autobiographical afterword extracted from sources such as the biography This is Me, Jack Vance! (Subterranean Press 2009). Some of these give background about the story, Vance’s early career, his writing practices, or his travels. I learned a lot about my favorite author through these little glimpses into his life and thought this was a nice touch.

Hard-Luck Diggings is a nice collection of stories for any lover of excellent speculative fiction, and a necessary one for any true Vance fan. —Kat Hooper

Dream Castles: The Early Jack Vance Volume Two — (2012) Publisher: Jack Vance, Magician. Like the professional wizards and sorcerers he so often writes about, Jack Vance has long been a master magician when it comes to storytelling, turning out marvelous tricks with words, using his wonderful knack for names, detail and dialog, his fine eye for rendering the vagaries of the human condition to deliver high adventure set on fascinating worlds and in fabulous realms that are second to none. In a career spanning nearly sixty years, this peerless F&SF Grand Master has taken us from the Dying Earth to Lyonesse, from the Oikumene of the Demon Princes to the farthest corners of the Gaean Reach, Alastor Cluster and beyond, bringing alive on the page magical places we can only dream about. Dream Castles presents a generous serving of this celebrated magician's 'performances,' ten fascinating tales from his long and influential career, among them his two Miro Hetzel adventures, 'The Dogtown Tourist Agency' and 'Freitzke s Turn', the intriguing 'The Narrow Land,' a second outing for Jean Parlier in 'Cholwell s Chickens,' and the classic space opera of 'Son of the Tree.' Dream Castles shows a true magician storyteller perfecting his craft, one moment as journeyman finding a voice all his own, the next as fully-fledged maestro intent on exploring worlds and delivering adventure and wonder in equal parts, the very stuff that dreams are made of.

Dream Castles: The Early Jack Vance Volume Two

Jack Vance is my favorite author, so another collection of Vance’s works by Subterranean Press is a welcome treat! Dream Castles: The Early Jack Vance Volume Two, edited and lovingly introduced by Terry Dowling and Jonathan Strahan, collects ten of Vance’s works:

“The Dogtown Tourist Agency” (originally published in Epoch, 1975) — Miro Hetzel, a private investigator whose “fees are calculated subjectively,” goes to the planet Maz to discover how a client’s competition is creating a better but less expensive product. While there, he gets caught up in the doings of a couple of strange alien cultures.
“Freitzke’s Turn” (Triax: Three Original Novellas, 1977) — Another Miro Hetzel SF mystery set in the Gaean Reach. This time Miro must track down the outrageously pompous villain Dr. Faurence Dacre, who got revenge on the man who married his girlfriend by... oh, I can’t tell you. It’s just so wonderfully hilarious that you must find out for yourself.
“Dream Castle” (Astounding Science Fiction, 1974) — After getting fired because he tried to save his clients money, a builder starts his own company and decides to steal his former employer’s customers by offering them something even better.
“Golden Girl” (Marvel Science Stories, 1951) — This is a sad story about the loneliness of exile. Like Robinson Crusoe, but with an alien as the protagonist.
“Sulwen’s Planet” (The Farthest Reaches, 1968) — Two distinguished and arrogant linguists fight over the discoveries to be found on crashed alien spaceships.
“Cholwell’s Chickens” (Thrilling wonder Stories, 1952) — A bored rich young woman who was abandoned in a tavern on a far-off planet decides to go back and find out who her parents were. After a few days of investigation, she discovers that she does indeed have some family, but they’re not anything like what she was expecting. This was a bizarre little story with some fun twists, and one of my favorites in the collection. Most of Vance’s protagonists are men, so a female is a nice change of pace in this story.
“A Practical Man’s Guide” (Space Science Fiction Magazine, 1957) — Ralph Banks is a practical man who edits a practical magazine. He’s very good at sorting through all the letters he gets and sifting out the crackpots’ ideas. But he just can’t help but try out the latest one that crosses his desk. “A Practical Man’s Guide” is short and amusing.
“The Narrow Land” (Fantastic Science Fiction Fantasy, 1967) — Here Vance develops a strange world with an amphibious alien race. This is the story of how the alien Ern become conscious, fights to survive in the world he was born into, discovers the history of his race, and plans for its future. Really nice world-building.
“The Enchanted Princess” (Orbit Science Fiction, 1954) — A film producer becomes obsessed with the vibrant princess he sees in a movie and the blind girl at he meets at a children’s clinic. Could they be the same person? I liked the ideas in this story.
“Son of the Tree” (Thrilling Wonder Stories, 1951) — Joe Smith is working his way across the universe in search of the man who his girlfriend is obsessed with. As he’s closing in on him, he gets stuck on a planet of peaceful Druids who worship a very big tree. Things get funny when the Druids try to export their culture to a neighboring planet of warriors.

Each of these stories feels very much like Jack Vance — clever and competent protagonists, bizarre alien races, sparse and witty dialogue, a lofty but frugal writing style. I enjoyed most of them for this reason.

If you’re new to Jack Vance, Dream Castles isn’t a bad place to start, but it isn’t the best place either. These stories are entertaining, but they hardly begin to reach the heights that Vance can attain. It’s like starting off for the top of the mountain and deciding to stop halfway up. This isn’t Jack Vance’s best work, but even so, mediocre Vance is something to be admired. Fans who don’t own these stories in another collection will definitely want to read these. The best ones are “Freitzke’s Turn,” “Cholwell’s Chickens,” “The Enchanted Princess” and “Son of the Tree.” —Kat Hooper

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