John Holbrook Vance is an
AmericanThe United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
mysteryMystery fiction is a loosely-defined term.1.It is often used as a synonym for detective fiction or crime fiction— in other words a novel or short story in which a detective investigates and solves a crime mystery. Sometimes mystery books are nonfiction...
,
fantasyFantasy literature is fantasy in written form. Historically speaking, literature has composed the majority of fantasy works. Since the 1950s however, a growing segment of the fantasy genre has taken the form of films, television programs, graphic novels, video games, music, painting, and other...
and science fiction author. Most of his work has been published under the name
Jack Vance. Vance has published 11 mysteries as John Holbrook Vance and 3 as
Ellery QueenEllery Queen was the pen name for two cousins, Frederic Dannay and Manfred Bennington Lee, who wrote novels and short stories about a fictional detective character named Ellery Queen. At various points in their history, the cousins allowed the name of Ellery Queen to be used as a house name;...
. Other pen names (each used only once) included Alan Wade, Peter Held, John van See, and Jay Kavanse.
Among his awards are:
Hugo AwardThe Hugo Awards are given annually for the best science fiction or fantasy works and achievements of the previous year. The award is named after Hugo Gernsback, the founder of the pioneering science fiction magazine Amazing Stories, and was officially named the Science Fiction Achievement Awards...
s, in 1963 for
The Dragon Masters"The Dragon Masters" is a science fiction novella by American author Jack Vance. It was first published in Galaxy magazine, August 1962, and in 1963 in book form, as half of Ace Double F-185...
, in 1967 for
The Last Castle, and in 2010 for his memoir
This is Me, Jack Vance!; a
Nebula AwardThe Nebula Award is given each year by the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America , for the best science fiction/fantasy fiction published in the United States during the previous year...
in 1966, also for
The Last Castle; the
Jupiter AwardThe Jupiters were an annual award presented to science fiction writing infrequently between 1974 and 1978. The awards for the best novel, novella, novelette and short story were presented by the Instructors of Science Fiction in Higher Education.- Winners :...
in 1975; the
World Fantasy AwardThe World Fantasy Awards are annual, international awards given to authors and artists who have demonstrated outstanding achievement in the field of fantasy...
in 1984 for life achievement and in 1990 for
Lyonesse: Madouc; an
EdgarThe Edgar Allan Poe Awards , named after Edgar Allan Poe, are presented every year by the Mystery Writers of America...
(the mystery equivalent of the Nebula) for the best first mystery novel in 1961 for
The Man in the Cage; in 1992, he was Guest of Honor at the WorldCon in
Orlando, FloridaOrlando is a city in the central region of the U.S. state of Florida. It is the county seat of Orange County, and the center of the Greater Orlando metropolitan area. According to the 2010 US Census, the city had a population of 238,300, making Orlando the 79th largest city in the United States...
; and in 1997 he was named a
SFWASFWA may refer to:*Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America*Scottish Football Writers' Association...
Grand MasterThe Damon Knight Memorial Grand Master Award is an award given by the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America. It is awarded to a living author for lifetime achievement in science fiction and/or fantasy. Officially, it is not a Nebula Award though it is awarded at the Nebula ceremony...
. A 2009 profile in the
New York Times Magazine described Vance as "one of American literature’s most distinctive and undervalued voices."
Biography
Vance's grandfather supposedly arrived in California from Michigan a decade before the
Gold RushThe California Gold Rush began on January 24, 1848, when gold was found by James W. Marshall at Sutter's Mill in Coloma, California. The first to hear confirmed information of the gold rush were the people in Oregon, the Sandwich Islands , and Latin America, who were the first to start flocking to...
and married a San Francisco girl. (Early family records were apparently destroyed in the fire following the
1906 San Francisco EarthquakeThe San Francisco earthquake of 1906 was a major earthquake that struck San Francisco, California, and the coast of Northern California at 5:12 a.m. on Wednesday, April 18, 1906. The most widely accepted estimate for the magnitude of the earthquake is a moment magnitude of 7.9; however, other...
.) Vance's early childhood was spent in San Francisco. With the early separation of his parents, Vance's mother moved young Vance and his siblings to Vance's maternal grandfather's California ranch near Oakley in the
deltaA delta is a landform that is formed at the mouth of a river where that river flows into an ocean, sea, estuary, lake, reservoir, flat arid area, or another river. Deltas are formed from the deposition of the sediment carried by the river as the flow leaves the mouth of the river...
of the
Sacramento RiverThe Sacramento River is an important watercourse of Northern and Central California in the United States. The largest river in California, it rises on the eastern slopes of the Klamath Mountains, and after a journey south of over , empties into Suisun Bay, an arm of the San Francisco Bay, and...
. This early setting formed Vance's love of the outdoors, and allowed him time to indulge his passion as an avid reader. With the death of his grandfather, the Vance's family fortune nosedived, and Vance was forced to leave junior college and work to support himself, assisting his mother when able. Vance plied many trades for short stretches: a bell-hop (a "miserable year"), in a cannery, and on a gold
dredgeDredging is an excavation activity or operation usually carried out at least partly underwater, in shallow seas or fresh water areas with the purpose of gathering up bottom sediments and disposing of them at a different location...
, before entering the
University of California, BerkeleyThe University of California, Berkeley , is a teaching and research university established in 1868 and located in Berkeley, California, USA...
where, over a six-year period, he studied mining engineering, physics, journalism and English. Vance wrote one of his first science fiction stories for an English class assignment; his professor's reaction was “We also have a piece of science fiction” in a scornful tone, Vance’s first negative review. He worked for a while as an electrician in the naval shipyards at
Pearl HarborPearl Harbor, known to Hawaiians as Puuloa, is a lagoon harbor on the island of Oahu, Hawaii, west of Honolulu. Much of the harbor and surrounding lands is a United States Navy deep-water naval base. It is also the headquarters of the U.S. Pacific Fleet...
,
HawaiiHawaii is the newest of the 50 U.S. states , and is the only U.S. state made up entirely of islands. It is the northernmost island group in Polynesia, occupying most of an archipelago in the central Pacific Ocean, southwest of the continental United States, southeast of Japan, and northeast of...
-- for "56 cents an hour". After working on a degaussing crew for a period, he left about a month before the
attack on Pearl HarborThe attack on Pearl Harbor was a surprise military strike conducted by the Imperial Japanese Navy against the United States naval base at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, on the morning of December 7, 1941...
.
Vance graduated in 1942. Weak eyesight prevented military service. He found a job as a rigger at the Kaiser Shipyard in
Richmond, CaliforniaRichmond is a city in western Contra Costa County, California, United States. The city was incorporated on August 7, 1905. It is located in the East Bay, part of the San Francisco Bay Area. It is a residential inner suburb of San Francisco, as well as the site of heavy industry, which has been...
, and enrolled in an Army Intelligence program to learn Japanese, but washed out. In 1943, he memorized an
eye chartAn eye chart is a chart used to measure visual acuity. Types of eye charts include the logMAR chart, Snellen chart, Landolt C, and the Lea test.-Procedure:Charts usually display several rows of optotypes , each row in a different size...
and became an able seaman in the Merchant Marine. In later years, boating remained his favorite recreation; boats and voyages are a frequent theme in his work. He worked as a seaman, a rigger, a surveyor, ceramicist, and carpenter before he established himself fully as a writer, which did not occur until the 1970s.
From his youth, Vance has been fascinated by Dixieland and traditional
jazzJazz is a musical style that originated at the beginning of the 20th century in African American communities in the Southern United States. It was born out of a mix of African and European music traditions. From its early development until the present, jazz has incorporated music from 19th and 20th...
. He is an amateur of the cornet and ukelele, often accompanying himself with a kazoo, and is a competent harmonica player. His first published writings were jazz reviews for
The Daily Californian, his college paper, and music is an element in many of his works.
In 1946, Vance met and married the late Norma Genevieve Ingold (died March 25, 2008), another Cal student. Vance continues to live in
OaklandOakland is a major West Coast port city on San Francisco Bay in the U.S. state of California. It is the eighth-largest city in the state with a 2010 population of 390,724...
, in a house he built and extended with his family over the years, which includes a hand-carved wooden ceiling from Kashmir. The Vances have had extensive travels, including one around-the-world voyage, and often spent several months at a time living in places like
IrelandIreland is an island to the northwest of continental Europe. It is the third-largest island in Europe and the twentieth-largest island on Earth...
,
TahitiTahiti is the largest island in the Windward group of French Polynesia, located in the archipelago of the Society Islands in the southern Pacific Ocean. It is the economic, cultural and political centre of French Polynesia. The island was formed from volcanic activity and is high and mountainous...
,
South AfricaThe Republic of South Africa is a country in southern Africa. Located at the southern tip of Africa, it is divided into nine provinces, with of coastline on the Atlantic and Indian oceans...
,
PositanoPositano is a village and comune on the Amalfi Coast , in Campania, Italy. The main part of the city sits in an enclave in the hills leading down to the coast.-History:...
(in Italy) and on a houseboat on Lake Nagin in
KashmirKashmir is the northwestern region of the Indian subcontinent. Until the mid-19th century, the term Kashmir geographically denoted only the valley between the Great Himalayas and the Pir Panjal mountain range...
.
Vance began trying to become a professional writer in the late 1940s, in the period of the
San Francisco RenaissanceThe term San Francisco Renaissance is used as a global designation for a range of poetic activity centered on San Francisco and which brought it to prominence as a hub of the American poetic avant-garde. However, others The term San Francisco Renaissance is used as a global designation for a range...
--a movement of experimentation in literature and the arts. His first lucrative sale was one of the early Magnus Ridolph stories to Twentieth Century Fox, who also hired him as a
screenwriterScreenwriters or scriptwriters or scenario writers are people who write/create the short or feature-length screenplays from which mass media such as films, television programs, Comics or video games are based.-Profession:...
for the
Captain VideoCaptain Video and His Video Rangers is an American science fiction television series. It was broadcast on the DuMont Television Network, and was the first series of its kind on American television...
television series. The proceeds supported the Vances for a year's travel in Europe. There are various references to the
Bay AreaThe San Francisco Bay Area, commonly known as the Bay Area, is a populated region that surrounds the San Francisco and San Pablo estuaries in Northern California. The region encompasses metropolitan areas of San Francisco, Oakland, and San Jose, along with smaller urban and rural areas...
Bohemian life in his work.
Science fiction authors
Frank HerbertFranklin Patrick Herbert, Jr. was a critically acclaimed and commercially successful American science fiction author. Although a short story author, he is best known for his novels, most notably Dune and its five sequels...
and
Poul AndersonPoul William Anderson was an American science fiction author who began his career during one of the Golden Ages of the genre and continued to write and remain popular into the 21st century. Anderson also authored several works of fantasy, historical novels, and a prodigious number of short stories...
were among Vance's closest friends. The three jointly built a houseboat which they sailed in the Sacramento Delta. The Vances and the Herberts lived near Lake Chapala in Mexico together for a period.
Although legally blind since the 1980s, Vance has continued to write with the aid of BigEd software, written especially for him by Kim Kokkonen. His most recent novel was
LuruluLurulu is a science fiction adventure novel by Jack Vance, the second of a duology along with its prequel Ports of Call. It continues to follow Myron Tany on a picaresque journey through the Gaean Reach....
. Although Vance had stated
Lurulu would be his final book, he has since completed an autobiography which was published in July 2009.
Work
Since his first published story, "The World-Thinker" (in
Thrilling Wonder Stories) in 1945, Vance has written over sixty books. His work has been published in three categories: science fiction, fantasy and mystery.
Among Vance’s earliest published work is a set of fantasy stories written while he served in the
merchant marineThe United States Merchant Marine refers to the fleet of U.S. civilian-owned merchant vessels, operated by either the government or the private sector, that engage in commerce or transportation of goods and services in and out of the navigable waters of the United States. The Merchant Marine is...
during the war. They appeared in 1950, several years after Vance had started publishing science fiction in the pulp magazines, under the title
The Dying EarthThe Dying Earth is a 1950 collection of fantasy short stories by author Jack Vance. It is the first book in the Dying Earth series. It was nominated for the Retro Hugo in 2001.-Stories:*Turjan of Miir*Mazirian the Magician*T'sais...
. (Vance’s original title, used for the
Vance Integral Edition, is
Mazirian the Magician.)
Vance wrote many science fiction short stories in the late 1940s and through the 1950s, which were published in magazines. Of his novels written during this period, a few were science fiction, but most were mysteries. Few were published at the time, but Vance continued to write mysteries into the early 1970s. In total, he wrote 15 novels outside of science fiction and fantasy, including the extended outline,
The Telephone was Ringing in the Dark, published only by the VIE, and three books published under the
Ellery QueenEllery Queen was the pen name for two cousins, Frederic Dannay and Manfred Bennington Lee, who wrote novels and short stories about a fictional detective character named Ellery Queen. At various points in their history, the cousins allowed the name of Ellery Queen to be used as a house name;...
pseudonym. Some of these are not mysteries, for example
Bird Island, and many fit uneasily in the category. These stories are set in and around his native San Francisco, except for one set in Italy and another in Africa. Two begin in San Francisco but take to the sea.
Many themes important to his more famous science fiction novels appeared first in the mysteries. The most obvious is the "book of dreams", which appears in
Bad RonaldBad Ronald is a television film that aired in 1974, starring Scott Jacoby, Dabney Coleman and sisters Lisa and Cindy Eilbacher. It is based on the book of the same title by Jack Vance....
and
The View from Chickweed’s Window, prior to being featured in
The Book of DreamsThe Book of Dreams is a science fiction book by American author Jack Vance, the fifth and last novel in the "Demon Princes" series.-Synopsis:...
. The revenge theme is also more prominent in certain mysteries than in the science fiction (
The View from Chickweed’s Window in particular).
Bad Ronald was adapted to a not particularly faithful TV movie aired on
ABCThe American Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network. Created in 1943 from the former NBC Blue radio network, ABC is owned by The Walt Disney Company and is part of Disney-ABC Television Group. Its first broadcast on television was in 1948...
in 1974, as well as a French production (
Méchant garçon) in 1992; this and
Man in the Cage are the only works by Vance ever to be made into film.
Certain of the science fiction stories are also mysteries. In addition to the comic Magnus Ridolph stories, two major stories feature the effectuator ‘Miro Hetzel’, a futuristic detective, and
Araminta Station is largely concerned with solving various murders. Vance returned to the "dying Earth" setting (a far distant future in which the sun is slowly going out, and magic and technology coexist) to write the picaresque adventures of the ne'er-do-well scoundrel Cugel the Clever, and those of the magician
Rhialto the MarvellousRhialto the Marvellous is a 1984 collection of three fantasy novellas by Jack Vance as part of hisDying Earth series. The collection was first published by Brandywyne Books in 1984. The first two stories are original to this collection...
. These books were written in 1963, 1978 and 1981. His other major fantasy work, Lyonesse (a trilogy including
Suldrun’s Garden,
The Green Pearl and
Madouc), was completed in 1989 and set on a mythological archipelago off the coast of France in the early
Middle AgesThe Middle Ages is a periodization of European history from the 5th century to the 15th century. The Middle Ages follows the fall of the Western Roman Empire in 476 and precedes the Early Modern Era. It is the middle period of a three-period division of Western history: Classic, Medieval and Modern...
.
The mystery and fantasy genres span his entire career.
Vance’s stories written for pulps in the 1940s and 1950s cover many science fiction themes, with a tendency to emphasis on mysterious and biological themes (ESP, genetics, brain parasites, body switching, other dimensions, cultures) rather than technical ones. Robots, for example, are entirely absent. Many of the early stories are comic. By the 1960s, Vance had developed a futuristic setting which he came to call the "
Gaean ReachThe Gaean Reach is the setting of an informal grouping of a number of science fiction books by author Jack Vance ....
". Thereafter, all his science fiction was, more or less explicitly, set therein. The Gaean Reach is loose and ever expanding. Each planet has its own history, state of development and culture. Within the Reach conditions tend to be peaceable and commerce tends to dominate. At the edges of the Reach, out in the lawless ‘Beyond’, conditions are sometimes, but not always, less secure.
Vance has Influenced many writers in the genre. Most notably, Michael Shea wrote a sequel to Eyes Of The Overworld, featuring Cugel The Clever, before Vance did himself. Vance gave permission, and the book by Shea went into print before Vance published a sequel called Cugels Saga. This book "The Quest For Symbilis", is entirely in keeping with the vision of Vance. Cugel is a complete rogue, who is nevertheless worthy of sympathy in always failing to achieve his goals.
Literary influences
When asked about literary influences, Vance most often cites
Jeffery FarnolJohn Jeffery Farnol , was an English author, known for his many romantic novels, some formulaic and set in the English Regency period, and swashbucklers...
, a writer of adventure books, whose style of 'high' language he mentions (the Farnol title
Guyfford of Weare being a typical instance); P.G. Wodehouse, an influence apparent in Vance's taste for overbearing aunts; and
L. Frank BaumLyman Frank Baum was an American author of children's books, best known for writing The Wonderful Wizard of Oz...
, fantasy elements in whose work have been directly borrowed by Vance (see 'The Emerald City of Oz'). In the introduction to Dowling and Strahan's
The Jack Vance Treasury, Vance mentions that his childhood reading including
Edgar Rice BurroughsEdgar Rice Burroughs was an American author, best known for his creation of the jungle hero Tarzan and the heroic Mars adventurer John Carter, although he produced works in many genres.-Biography:...
,
Jules VerneJules Gabriel Verne was a French author who pioneered the science fiction genre. He is best known for his novels Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea , A Journey to the Center of the Earth , and Around the World in Eighty Days...
,
Robert W. ChambersRobert William Chambers was an American artist and writer.-Biography:He was born in Brooklyn, New York, to William P. Chambers , a famous lawyer, and Caroline Chambers , a direct descendant of Roger Williams, the founder of Providence, Rhode Island...
, science fiction published by
Edward StratemeyerEdward Stratemeyer was an American publisher and writer of books for children.He is one of the most prolific writers in the world, producing in excess of 1300 books himself, selling in excess of 500 million copies, and created the well-known fictional book series for juveniles including The Rover...
, the magazines
Weird TalesWeird Tales is an American fantasy and horror fiction pulp magazine first published in March 1923. It ceased its original run in September 1954, after 279 issues, but has since been revived. The magazine was set up in Chicago by J. C. Henneberger, an ex-journalist with a taste for the macabre....
and
Amazing StoriesAmazing Stories was an American science fiction magazine launched in April 1926 by Hugo Gernsback's Experimenter Publishing. It was the first magazine devoted solely to science fiction...
, and Lord Dunsany." According to pulp editor Sam Merwin, Vance's earliest magazine submissions in the 1940s were heavily influenced by the style of
James Branch CabellJames Branch Cabell, ; April 14, 1879 – May 5, 1958) was an American author of fantasy fiction and belles lettres. Cabell was well regarded by his contemporaries, including H. L. Mencken and Sinclair Lewis. His works were considered escapist and fit well in the culture of the 1920s, when his...
. Fantasy historian Lin Carter has noted several probable lasting influences of Cabell on Vance's work, and suggests that the early "pseudo-Cabell" experiments bore fruit in
The Dying Earth (1950).
Characteristics and commentary
Vance's science fiction runs the gamut from stories written for pulps in the 1940s to multi-volume tales set in the space age. While Vance's stories have a wide variety of temporal settings, a majority of them belong to a period long after humanity has colonized other stars, culminating in the development of the "
Gaean ReachThe Gaean Reach is the setting of an informal grouping of a number of science fiction books by author Jack Vance ....
". In its early phases (the Oikumene of the
Demon PrincesThe Demon Princes is a five-book series of science fiction novels by Jack Vance, which cumulatively relate the story of one Kirth Gersen as he exacts his revenge on five notorious criminals, collectively known as the Demon Princes, who carried his village off into slavery during his childhood...
series), this expanding, loose and peaceable agglomerate has an aura of colonial adventure, commerce and exoticism. In its more established phases, it becomes peace-loving and stolidly
middle classThe middle class is any class of people in the middle of a societal hierarchy. In Weberian socio-economic terms, the middle class is the broad group of people in contemporary society who fall socio-economically between the working class and upper class....
.
Vance’s stories are seldom concerned directly with war. The conflicts are rarely direct. Sometimes at the edges of the Reach, or in the lawless "Beyond," a planet is menaced or craftily exploited,
though more extensive battles are described in
The Dragon Masters, "The Miracle Workers," and the Lyonesse trilogy, in which medieval-style combat abounds. His characters usually become inadvertently enmeshed in low-intensity conflicts between alien cultures; this is the case in
EmphyrioEmphyrio is a science fiction adventure novel written by Jack Vance. It tells the story of a young man who overturns the foundations of his world.- Plot summary :...
, the
TschaiPlanet of Adventure is the name given to a series of four science fiction novels by Jack Vance, which relate the adventures of Adam Reith, the sole survivor of an Earth ship investigating a signal from the distant planet Tschai.-Inhabitants:...
series, the Durdane series, or the comic stories in
Galactic Effectuator, featuring Miro Hetzel. Personal, cultural, social, or political conflicts are the central concerns. This is most particularly the case in the Cadwal series, though it is equally characteristic of the three Alastor books,
Maske: ThaeryMaske: Thaery is a 1976 science fiction novel by Jack Vance set in his Gaean Reach milieu.-Plot summary:Long ago, the isolated planet Maske was settled by a religious group. They seized a section of the planet from earlier colonists , and named it Thaery. The ship carrying a dissident faction was...
, and, one way and another, most of the science fiction novels.
The "Joe Bain" stories (
The Fox Valley Murders,
The Pleasant Grove Murders, and an unfinished outline published by the VIE) are set in an imaginary northern California county; these are the nearest to the classical mystery form, with a rural policeman as protagonist.
Bird Island, by contrast, is not a mystery at all, but a Wodehousian idyll (also set near San Francisco), while
The Flesh MaskThe Flesh Mask is a novel by American author Jack Vance.Originally published in 1957 under the pseudonym Peter Held as Take My Face, it was republished credited to Jack Vance in 1988 by Underwood-Miller as Take My Face and as The Flesh Mask, the author's preferred title, in the 2002 Vance .-Plot...
or
Strange People… emphasize psychological drama. The theme of both
The House on Lily StreetThe House on Lily Street is a novel by American author Jack Vance. It was published in the United States by Underwood-Miller in 1979 and again in 2002 as part of the Vance .-Plot introduction:...
and
Bad Ronald is solipsistic megalomania, taken up again in the "Demon Princes" cycle of science fiction novels.
Bad RonaldBad Ronald is a television film that aired in 1974, starring Scott Jacoby, Dabney Coleman and sisters Lisa and Cindy Eilbacher. It is based on the book of the same title by Jack Vance....
was made into a TV-movie, which aired on ABC, in 1974.
Three books published under the
Ellery QueenEllery Queen was the pen name for two cousins, Frederic Dannay and Manfred Bennington Lee, who wrote novels and short stories about a fictional detective character named Ellery Queen. At various points in their history, the cousins allowed the name of Ellery Queen to be used as a house name;...
pseudonym were written (and rewritten by the publisher) to editorial requirements. Four others reflect Vance’s world travels:
Strange People, Queer NotionsStrange People, Queer Notions is a 1958 novel by Jack Vance writing as John Holbrook Vance republished in the 2002 Vance .-Plot introduction:...
based on his stay in Positano, Italy;
The Man in the Cage, based on a trip to Morocco;
The Dark OceanThe Dark Ocean is a novel by American author Jack Vance published in 1985 by Underwood-Miller and in 2002 as part of the Vance .-Plot summary:...
, set on a merchant marine vessel; and
The Deadly IslesThe Deadly Isles is a novel by American author Jack Vancepublished in 1969 by Bobbs-Merrill and as part of the 2002 Vance.-Plot introduction:...
, based on a stay in
TahitiTahiti is the largest island in the Windward group of French Polynesia, located in the archipelago of the Society Islands in the southern Pacific Ocean. It is the economic, cultural and political centre of French Polynesia. The island was formed from volcanic activity and is high and mountainous...
. (
The Vance Integral Edition contains a volume with Vance's original text for the three Ellery Queen novels. Vance had previously refused to acknowledge these books as they were drastically rewritten by the publishers.)
The mystery novels of Vance reveal much about his evolution as a science-fiction and fantasy writer. (He stopped working in the mystery genre in the early 1970s, except for science-fiction mysteries; see below).
Bad Ronald is especially noteworthy for its portrayal of a trial-run for Howard Alan Treesong of
The Book of Dreams. The Edgar-Award-winning
The Man in the Cage is a thriller set in North Africa at around the period of the French-Algerian war.
A Room to Die In is a classic 'locked-room' murder mystery featuring a strong-willed young woman as the amateur detective.
Bird Isle, a mystery set at a hotel on an island off the California coast, reflects Vance's taste for farce.
Vance's two rural Northern California mysteries featuring
Sheriff Joe BainSheriff Joe Bain is the protagonist of a short series, prematurely abandoned, of crime-investigation mysteries by the American author Jack Vance, better known for his science fiction novels. The series as published comprises The Fox Valley Murders and The Pleasant Grove Murders . An unfinished...
were well received by the critics.
The New York TimesThe New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...
said of
The Fox Valley Murders: "Mr. Vance has created the county with the same detailed and loving care with which, in the science fiction he writes as Jack Vance, he can create a believable alien planet." And
Dorothy B. HughesDorothy B. Hughes was an American crime writer and literary critic. Hughes wrote fourteen crime and detective novels, primarily in the hardboiled and noir styles, and is best known for the novels In a Lonely Place and Ride the Pink Horse .Born Dorothy Belle Flanagan in Kansas City, Missouri, she...
, in
The Los Angeles Times, wrote that it was "fat with character and scene." As for the second Bain novel,
The New York Times said: "I like regionalism in American detective stories, and I enjoy reading about the problems of a rural county sheriff... and I bless John Holbrook Vance for the best job of satisfying these tastes with his wonderful tales of Sheriff Joe Bain..."
Vance has also written mysteries set in his science-fiction universes. An early 1950s short story series features Magnus Ridolph, an interstellar adventurer and amateur detective who is elderly and not prone to knocking anyone down, and whose exploits appear to have been inspired, in part, by those of
Jack LondonJohn Griffith "Jack" London was an American author, journalist, and social activist. He was a pioneer in the then-burgeoning world of commercial magazine fiction and was one of the first fiction writers to obtain worldwide celebrity and a large fortune from his fiction alone...
's South Seas adventurer, Captain David Grief. The "Galactic Effectuator" novelettes feature Miro Hetzel, a figure who resembles Ridolph in his blending of detecting and troubleshooting (the "effectuating" indicated by the title). A number of the other science fiction novels include mystery, spy thriller, or crime-novel elements:
The Houses of Iszm,
Son of the Tree, the Alastor books
Trullion and
Marune, the Cadwal series, and large parts of the Demon Princes series.
Publication
For most of his career, Vance's work suffered the vicissitudes common to most writers in his chosen field: ephemeral publication of stories in magazine form, short-lived softcover editions, insensitive editing beyond his control. As he became more widely recognized, conditions improved, and his works became internationally renowned among aficionados. Much of his work has been translated into several languages, including Dutch, French, Spanish, Russian, and Italian. Beginning in the 1960s, Jack Vance's work has also been extensively translated into German. In the large German-language market, his books continue to be widely read.
In 1976, the fantasy/sf small press
Underwood-MillerUnderwood-Miller Inc. was a science fiction and fantasy small press specialty publishing house founded in 1976. It was founded by Tim Underwood, a San Francisco book and art dealer, and Chuck Miller, a Pennsylvania used book dealer, after the two had met at a convention.For their first book,...
released their first publication, the first hardcover edition of
The Dying Earth in a high-quality limited edition of just over 1000 copies. Other titles in the "Dying Earth" cycle also received hardcover treatment from Underwood-Miller shortly thereafter, such as
The Eyes of the Overworld and
Cugel's Saga. After these first publications and until the mid-1990s, Underwood-Miller published many of Vance's works, including his mystery fiction, often in limited editions featuring dustjacket artwork by leading fantasy artists. The entire Jack Vance output from Underwood-Miller comes close to a complete collection of Vance's previously published works, many of which had not seen hardcover publication. Also, many of these editions are described as "the author's preferred text", meaning that they have not been drastically edited. In the mid-1990s, Tim Underwood and Charles Miller parted company. However, they have continued to publish Vance titles individually, including such works as
Emphyrio and
To Live ForeverTo Live Forever is a science fiction novel by Jack Vance, first published in 1956. In the Vance Integral Edition, it was retitled Clarges.-Plot summary:...
by Miller, and a reprint edition of
The Eyes of the Overworld by Underwood. Because of the low print-run on many of these titles, which often could only be found in science fiction bookstores at the time of their release, these books are highly sought after by ardent Vance readers and collectors, and some titles fetch premium prices.
The Vance Integral Edition
An
Integral Edition of all Vance's works was published in a limited edition of 44 hardback volumes. A special 45th volume contains the three novels Vance wrote as
Ellery QueenEllery Queen was the pen name for two cousins, Frederic Dannay and Manfred Bennington Lee, who wrote novels and short stories about a fictional detective character named Ellery Queen. At various points in their history, the cousins allowed the name of Ellery Queen to be used as a house name;...
. This edition was created from 1999 to 2006 by 300 volunteers working via the internet, under the aegis of the author. The
texts and titles used are those preferred by the author. Further information can be found at
Foreverness.
The Dying Earth
- The Dying Earth
The Dying Earth is a 1950 collection of fantasy short stories by author Jack Vance. It is the first book in the Dying Earth series. It was nominated for the Retro Hugo in 2001.-Stories:*Turjan of Miir*Mazirian the Magician*T'sais...
(author's preferred title: Mazirian the Magician, collection of linked stories, 1950)
- The Eyes of the Overworld
The Eyes of the Overworld is a fantasy fixup by Jack Vance published in 1966, the second in the Dying Earth series. It features a series of linked stories detailing the travails of the self-proclaimed Cugel the Clever...
(author's preferred title: Cugel the Clever, novel 1966)
- Cugel's Saga
Cugel's Saga is a 1983 work of science fantasy by Jack Vance, and the sequel to his 1966 book The Eyes of the Overworld. The story picks up where the protagonist, Cugel the Clever, had been left at the end of the previous book: sitting disconsolately on a barren beach far to the north of his...
(author's preferred title: Cugel: The Skybreak Spatterlight, novel, 1983)
- The Laughing Magician (Omnibus containing The Eyes of the Overworld and Cugel's Saga, 2007)
- Rhialto the Marvellous
Rhialto the Marvellous is a 1984 collection of three fantasy novellas by Jack Vance as part of hisDying Earth series. The collection was first published by Brandywyne Books in 1984. The first two stories are original to this collection...
(collection of linked stories, 1984)
Lyonesse
- Lyonesse: Suldrun's Garden (1983) (also titled Lyonesse and Suldrun's Garden)
- Lyonesse: The Green Pearl (1985) (also titled The Green Pearl)
- Lyonesse: Madouc (1989) (also titled Madouc)
The Demon Princes Series
- The Star King
Star King is a science fiction novel by American writer Jack Vance, the first in his Demon Princes series...
(1964)
- The Killing Machine
The Killing Machine is a science fiction novel by American writer Jack Vance, the second in his "Demon Princes" series, in which Kirth Gersen, having brought arch-villain Malagate the Woe to justice, sets his sights on Kokor Hekkus, another of the Demon Princes...
(1964)
- The Palace of Love
The Palace of Love ia science fiction novel by American writer Jack Vance, the third in his Demon Princes series.-Plot summary:...
(1967)
- The Face
The Face is a science fiction novel by American writer Jack Vance, the fourth novel in the "Demon Princes" series. This book was published nearly twelve years after the third.-Plot summary:...
(1979)
- The Book of Dreams
The Book of Dreams is a science fiction book by American author Jack Vance, the fifth and last novel in the "Demon Princes" series.-Synopsis:...
(1981)
The Cadwal Chronicles
- Araminta Station
Araminta Station is a science fiction novel by Jack Vance. The story is set on the planet Cadwal which has been identified as a planet of extraordinary beauty which must be protected forever from human exploitation...
(1987)
- Ecce and Old Earth (1991)
- Throy (1992)
Alastor
- Trullion: Alastor 2262
Trullion: Alastor 2262 is a science fiction novel by Jack Vance first published by Ballantine Books. It is one of three books set in the Alastor Cluster, ‘a whorl of thirty thousand stars in an irregular volume twenty to thirty light-years in diameter’...
(1973)
- Marune: Alastor 933 (1975)
- Wyst: Alastor 1716
Wyst: Alastor 1716 is a science fiction novel by Jack Vance first published by DAW Books. It is the third and last novel set in the Alastor Cluster, a vast section of stars and planets ruled by the mysterious Connatic, which may or may not be a part of Vance’s Gaean Reach.-Setting:Arrabus on the...
(1978)
Durdane
- The Anome
The Anome is a science fiction novel by American writer Jack Vance, published in 1973; it is the first book in the Durdane series of novels.-Plot summary:...
(alternate title: The Faceless Man, 1973)
- The Brave Free Men (1973)
- The Asutra (1974)
Tschai
- City of the Chasch
City of the Chasch is the first science fiction adventure novel of the tetralogy Tschai, Planet of Adventure. It was written by Jack Vance and follows the attempts of a man stranded on the distant planet Tschai to return to Earth.-Plot summary:...
(author's preferred title: The Chasch. 1968)
- Servants of the Wankh
Servants of the Wankh is the second science fiction adventure novel in the tetralogy Tschai, Planet of Adventure. Written by Jack Vance, it tells of the efforts of the sole survivor of a human starship destroyed by an unknown enemy to return to Earth from the distant planet Tschai.-Plot...
(reissue title: The Wannek, 1969)
- The Dirdir
The Dirdir is the third science fiction adventure novel in the tetralogy Tschai, Planet of Adventure. Written by Jack Vance, it tells of the efforts of the sole survivor of the destruction of a human starship to return to Earth from the distant planet Tschai.-Plot summary:Adam Reith is stranded on...
(1969)
- The Pnume
The Pnume is the final science fiction adventure novel in the tetralogy Tschai, Planet of Adventure. Written by Jack Vance, it tells of the efforts to return to Earth by the sole survivor of a human starship destroyed while investigating a mysterious signal from the distant planet Tschai.-Plot...
(1970)
Non-series science fiction novels
- The Five Gold Bands
The Five Gold Bands is an early science fiction novel by Jack Vance, first published in the November 1950 issue of Startling Stories magazine...
(alternate title: The Space Pirate, author's preferred title: The Rapparee) (1953)
- Vandals of the Void (young adult novel) (1953)
- To Live Forever
To Live Forever is a science fiction novel by Jack Vance, first published in 1956. In the Vance Integral Edition, it was retitled Clarges.-Plot summary:...
(1956)
- Big Planet
Big Planet is the first of two stand-alone science fiction novels by Jack Vance which share the same setting: an immense, but metal-poor and backward world called Big Planet....
(1957)
- The Languages of Pao
The Languages of Pao is a science fiction novel by Jack Vance, first published in 1958, in which the Sapir–Whorf hypothesis is a central theme. A shorter version was published in Satellite Science Fiction in late 1957. After the Avalon Books hardcover appeared the next year, it was reprinted in...
(1958)
- Slaves of the Klau (original title: Planet of the Damned; alternate title: Gold and Iron) (1958)
- Space Opera
Space Opera is a novel by the American science fiction author Jack Vance, first published in 1965 .- Plot introduction :...
(1965)
- The Blue World
The Blue World is a science fiction adventure novel written by Jack Vance. The novel is based on Vance’s earlier novella "The Kragen", which appeared in the July 1964 edition of Fantastic Stories of Imagination.-Plot summary:...
(1966)
- "The Pilgrims", in Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction (June 1966)
- Emphyrio
Emphyrio is a science fiction adventure novel written by Jack Vance. It tells the story of a young man who overturns the foundations of his world.- Plot summary :...
(1969)
- The Gray Prince
The Gray Prince is a science fiction novel by Jack Vance.The overarching theme of the work is the morals of possession of land.- Setting :...
(author's preferred title: The Domains of Koryphon) (1974)
- Showboat World
Showboat World , written in 1975, is the second, stand-alone novel in a pair of science fiction novels by Jack Vance that share the same setting, a backward, lawless, metal-poor world called Big Planet.-Plot summary:Showboat World follows the...
(author's preferred title: The Magnificent Showboats of the Lower Vissel River, Lune XXIII, Big Planet) (1975)
- Maske: Thaery
Maske: Thaery is a 1976 science fiction novel by Jack Vance set in his Gaean Reach milieu.-Plot summary:Long ago, the isolated planet Maske was settled by a religious group. They seized a section of the planet from earlier colonists , and named it Thaery. The ship carrying a dissident faction was...
(1976)
- Galactic Effectuator (this title is an editorial invention for the collected Miro Hetzel stories "Freitzke's Turn" and "The Dogtown Tourist Agency") (1980)
- Night Lamp
Night Lamp is a science fiction adventure novel by Jack Vance. It follows an orphan named Jaro Fath on his quest to learn where he came from.-Plot summary:...
(1996)
- Ports of Call
Ports of Call is a science fiction adventure novel by Jack Vance, the first of a duology along with its sequel Lurulu. It follows a young man named Myron Tany on a picaresque journey through the Gaean Reach.-Plot summary:...
(1998)
- Lurulu
Lurulu is a science fiction adventure novel by Jack Vance, the second of a duology along with its prequel Ports of Call. It continues to follow Myron Tany on a picaresque journey through the Gaean Reach....
(2004; Ports of Call and Lurulu are parts 1 and 2 of the same novel)
Selected novellas
- "Son of the Tree
Son of the Tree is a science fiction novella by Jack Vance. It was first published in Thrilling Wonder Stories magazine, June 1951, and in book form as half of an Ace Double in 1964 together with The Houses of Iszm. The version that appears in the Ace Double is still less than novel length at about...
" (1951; reissued as a novel in 1964)
- "Abercrombie Station
"Abercrombie Station" is a science fiction short story written in 1952 by American author Jack Vance. It first appeared in the February 1952 issue of Thrilling Wonder Stories. In 1965, it was retitled "Monsters in Orbit" and published in an Ace Double edition. In 1976 it was reprinted, with the...
" and "Cholwell's Chickens" (both 1952; two linked novellas later issued as the novel Monsters in Orbit in 1965)
- "Telek
"Telek" is a science fiction novella about telekinesis by American author Jack Vance. It was first published in the January 1952 issue of Astounding Science Fiction.-Plot summary:...
" (1952)
- "The Houses of Iszm
The Houses of Iszm is a science fiction novella by Jack Vance, which appeared in Startling Stories magazine in 1954. It was reissued in book form in 1964 as part of an Ace Double novel, together with Vance's Son of the Tree...
" (1954; reissued as a novel in 1964)
- "The Moon Moth
"The Moon Moth" is a science fiction short story by American author Jack Vance, first published in 1961.-Plot summary:Edwer Thissell, the new consul from Earth to the planet Sirene, has trouble adjusting to the local culture. The Sirenese cover their faces with exquisitely crafted masks that...
" (1961)
- "Gateway to Strangeness
"Gateway to Strangeness", also titled "Dust of Far Suns" and "Sail 25", is a science fiction novelette by Jack Vance. It was first published in the August 1962 edition of Amazing Stories magazine.-Plot:...
" (1962) (also titled "Dust of Far Suns" and "Sail 25")
- "The Dragon Masters
"The Dragon Masters" is a science fiction novella by American author Jack Vance. It was first published in Galaxy magazine, August 1962, and in 1963 in book form, as half of Ace Double F-185...
" (1963 - Hugo Award Winner)
- "The Brains of Earth" (author's preferred title: "Nopalgarth") (1966)
- "The Last Castle" (1966, Nebula Award winner)
- "Three-Legged Joe" (short story) (1953; featured in Startling Stories
Startling Stories was an American pulp science fiction magazine, published from 1939 to 1955 by Standard Magazines. It was initially edited by Mort Weisinger, who was also the editor of Thrilling Wonder Stories, Standard's other science fiction title. Startling ran a lead novel in every issue;...
)
Mystery/Thrillers
- Take My Face (1957), as "Peter Held"
- Isle of Peril (1957), as "Alan Wade" (also titled Bird Isle)
- The Man In the Cage (1960)
- The Four Johns (1964), as "Ellery Queen
Ellery Queen is both a fictional character and a pseudonym used by two American cousins from Brooklyn, New York: Daniel Nathan, alias Frederic Dannay and Manford Lepofsky, alias Manfred Bennington Lee , to write, edit, and anthologize detective fiction.The fictional Ellery Queen created by...
" (also titled Four Men Called John, UK 1976)
- A Room to Die In (1965), as "Ellery Queen"
- The Fox Valley Murders (1966)
- The Madman Theory (1966), as "Ellery Queen"
- The Pleasant Grove Murders (1967)
- The Deadly Isles
The Deadly Isles is a novel by American author Jack Vancepublished in 1969 by Bobbs-Merrill and as part of the 2002 Vance.-Plot introduction:...
(1969)
- Bad Ronald
Bad Ronald is a television film that aired in 1974, starring Scott Jacoby, Dabney Coleman and sisters Lisa and Cindy Eilbacher. It is based on the book of the same title by Jack Vance....
(1973)
- The House on Lily Street: a Murder Mystery (1979)
Selected collections
- Future Tense (1964)
- The World Between and Other Stories (1965)
- The Many Worlds of Magnus Ridolph (1966)
- Eight Fantasms and Magics (1969)
- Lost Moons (1982)
- The Narrow Land (1982)
- The Augmented Agent and Other Stories (1986)
- The Dark Side of the Moon (1986)
- Chateau D'If and Other Stories (1990)
- When the Five Moons Rise (1992)
- Tales of the Dying Earth
Tales of the Dying Earth is an omnibus collection of the Dying Earth series books by Jack Vance. The collection was first published by the Science Fiction Book Club in 1999 with the title The Compleat Dying Earth...
(1999)
- The Jack Vance Treasury (2006)
- Wild Thyme, Green Magic (2009)
- Hard-Luck Diggings: The Early Jack Vance (2010)
Autobiography
- This Is Me, Jack Vance! (Subterranean Press, 2009) (won the Hugo Award
The Hugo Awards are given annually for the best science fiction or fantasy works and achievements of the previous year. The award is named after Hugo Gernsback, the founder of the pioneering science fiction magazine Amazing Stories, and was officially named the Science Fiction Achievement Awards...
in 2010)
Books inspired by Vance
- A Quest for Simbilis by Michael Shea
Michael Shea is an American fantasy, horror, and science fiction author living in California. He is a multiple winner of the World Fantasy Award.-Life and work:...
(DAWDAW Books is an American science fiction and fantasy publisher, founded by Donald A. Wollheim following his departure from Ace Books in 1971. The company therefore claims to be "the first publishing company ever devoted exclusively to science fiction and fantasy." The first DAW Book published was...
, NY, 1974) (authorised sequel to the Cugel novel, Eyes of the Overworld; Shea also wrote Nifft the Lean (DAWDAW Books is an American science fiction and fantasy publisher, founded by Donald A. Wollheim following his departure from Ace Books in 1971. The company therefore claims to be "the first publishing company ever devoted exclusively to science fiction and fantasy." The first DAW Book published was...
, NY, 1982), and The Mines of Behemoth (1997) about a Cugel-like character; and In Yana, The Touch of Undying (DAWDAW Books is an American science fiction and fantasy publisher, founded by Donald A. Wollheim following his departure from Ace Books in 1971. The company therefore claims to be "the first publishing company ever devoted exclusively to science fiction and fantasy." The first DAW Book published was...
, NY, 1985) which is also Vancian)
- Dinosaur Park by Hayford Peirce
Hayford Peirce is an American writer of science fiction, mysteries, and spy thrillers. He attended Phillips Exeter Academy and received his BA from Harvard College...
(TorTor Books is one of two imprints of Tom Doherty Associates LLC, based in New York City. It is noted for its science fiction and fantasy titles. Tom Doherty Associates also publishes mainstream fiction, mystery, and occasional military history titles under its Forge imprint. The company was founded...
, NY, 1994).
- Fane by David M. Alexander
[]David M. Alexander, born in 1945 in upstate New York, is a writer of science fiction and mysteries who now lives in Palo Alto, California. Novels published under his own name are The Chocolate Spy, Fane, and My Real Name Is Lisa...
(longtime Vance friend). (Pocket BooksPocket Books is a division of Simon & Schuster that primarily publishes paperback books.- History :Pocket produced the first mass-market, pocket-sized paperback books in America in early 1939 and revolutionized the publishing industry...
, NY, 1981).
- Fools Errant (Aspect Books, 2001), Fool Me Twice (Aspect Books, 2001), Black Brillion (Tor
Tor Books is one of two imprints of Tom Doherty Associates LLC, based in New York City. It is noted for its science fiction and fantasy titles. Tom Doherty Associates also publishes mainstream fiction, mystery, and occasional military history titles under its Forge imprint. The company was founded...
, 2004), Majestrum (Night Shade Books), The Spiral Labyrinth (Night Shade), The Gist Hunter (stories) (Night Shade) by Matt HughesMatthew Hughes is a British-born Canadian author who now lives wherever his secondary career as a housesitter takes him, while continuing to write science fiction under the name Matthew Hughes, crime fiction as Matt Hughes and media tie-ins as Hugh Matthews...
- The Pharaoh Contract (Bantam, 1991), Emperor of Everything (Bantam, 1991), Orpheus Machine (Bantam, 1992) by Ray Aldridge
- Gene Wolfe
Gene Wolfe is an American science fiction and fantasy writer. He is noted for his dense, allusive prose as well as the strong influence of his Catholic faith, to which he converted after marrying into the religion. He is a prolific short story writer and a novelist, and has won many awards in the...
has acknowledged that The Dying Earth influenced his The Book of the New SunThe Book of the New Sun is a novel in four parts written by science fiction and fantasy author Gene Wolfe. It chronicles the journey and ascent to power of Severian, a disgraced journeyman torturer who rises to the position of Autarch, the one ruler of the free world...
.
- Dan Simmons's Hyperion series (Hyperion, The Fall of Hyperion, Endymion, The Rise of Endymion) has many echoes of Vance, explicitly acknowledged in one of the later books.
- The Golden Age
The Golden Age is a science fiction trilogy by the American writer John C. Wright. It consists of three books, The Golden Age, The Phoenix Exultant and The Golden Transcendence.-Plot introduction:...
by John C. Wright has some similarities to Jack Vance's works, including an ornamented language, and a baroque and sterile culture toppled by a lone individualist.
- The Arbiter Tales (1995–6), three novels by L. Warren Douglas, were strongly influenced by Vance's Alastor Cluster stories. His first novel, A Plague of Change (1992), is dedicated to Jack Vance.
- The Dog of the North (2008), a fantasy by Tim Stretton, is strongly influenced by Vance, as noted in the acknowledgements. He outlines his debt to Vance on his blog.
- Songs of the Dying Earth
Songs of the Dying Earth is an all-new fiction tribute anthology to Jack Vance's Dying Earth series, edited by George R. R. Martin and Gardner Dozois; it was first published in hardcover in 2009 by Subterranean Press. The book's Introduction "Thank You, Mr. Vance" was written by Dean R. Koontz...
(2009), a tribute anthology to Jack Vance´s seminal Dying Earth series, edited by George R. R. MartinGeorge Raymond Richard Martin , sometimes referred to as GRRM, is an American author and screenwriter of fantasy, horror, and science fiction. He is best known for A Song of Ice and Fire, his bestselling series of epic fantasy novels that HBO adapted for their dramatic pay-cable series Game of...
and Gardner DozoisGardner Raymond Dozois is an American science fiction author and editor. He was editor of Asimov's Science Fiction magazine from 1984 to 2004...
, both avid Vance fans.
- The Dungeons and Dragons RPG and associated literature uses a magic system inspired by Jack Vance's Dying Earth series
- Two Role Playing Games: Lyonesse edited by Men In Cheese and Dying Earth edited by Pelgrane Press
Pelgrane Press Ltd is a British role-playing game publishing company based in London and founded in 1999. It is owned by Simon J Rogers, Sasha Bilton and its sister company ProFantasy Software. It currently produces the Dying Earth Roleplaying Game, GUMSHOE System and related products.-GUMSHOE...
.
External links