Customer Reviews

The Jack Vance Treasury

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4 star:		(1)
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1 star:		(1)

 

 

This collection of 18 short stories/novelletes provides a good sample of the variety of stories that the Grand Master put out.

Two of the stories were Hugo Winning novelettes (which I had first read in the early 70's in first THE HUGO WINNERS anthology), THE DRAGON MASTERS(1963) and THE LAST CASTLE(1966). I just reread these two stories, and they are actually BETTER than I had remembered them - both of these stories are absolutely top notch.

Many of the other stories are more fantasy oriented, and not really my cup of tea. There are eight pure SciFi short stories - almost all of which are worth reading. I especially liked THE KOKOD WARRIORS(1951). THE MOON MOTH(1961), THE SECRET(1966) and THE NEW PRIME(1951) were also enjoyable. Those four all hold up better to time than SAIL 25(1962), and are more enjoyable than THE GIFT OF GAB(1955), NOISE(1951), and THE MEN RETURN(1957).

If you haven't read THE DRAGON MASTERS, THE LAST CASTLE, or THE KOKOD WARRIORS, you really must get this book and read these three stories. They all hold up extremely well to time, and are true far-future SciFi classics. These three stories, and THE FACE (1979, from THE DEMON PRINCES series), show that when Jack Vance is good, he is VERY good.

This book is rounding out my Vance collection. I bought it for that purpose, but after reading it, it only enhances his body of work. I treasure all his writing, primarily because of his craft with the language. He is definitely a master, and showed every evidence of it even 50 years ago.

Once upon a time, I viewed science fiction and fantasy as two distinctly separate genres, but that all changed once I happened upon the works of Jack Vance. With Tales of the Dying Earth, Vance made me realize that the two could, in a way, work together, and I had to hunt down more examples. I found them, plus so much more, in THE JACK VANCE TREASURY, a hardcover collection packed full of novellas and short stories. Included are several more sci-fi/fantasy blends, such as "The Dragon Masters", "The Miracle Workers", "The Moon Moth", and "The Last Castle". These stories are much stronger examples of genre-blending than what is presented in the Dying Earth tales, and they are truly outstanding.

In addition, several of Vance's straight sci-fi tales are included, such as "Sail 25", "The Gift of Gab", "Noise", "The Kokod Warriors", and "The Mitr". "The Men Return", "The New Prime", and "The Secret" could also be considered sci-fi, but not in the standard sense. Also included are three of the aforementioned Dying Earth tales - "Liane the Wayfarer", "Guyal of Sfere", and "Morreion" - as well as "Overworld", "The Sorcerer Pharesm", and "The Bagful of Dreams" (three excerpts from the Cugel adventures).

As this collection includes work from a approximate 20-year period [1951 - 1973?], the quality varies, but there's really not a weak story in the bunch. They're all extremely creative and are definitely not your run-of-the-mill filler material. Many of the stories in this book eschew theatrics or action in favor of weighty topics: genetic engineering, language, the scientific method, and alien psychology, just to name a few. One thing that I admire about Vance's style is how richly he fleshes out his characters and concepts - the man is a "world builder" in the truest sense of the term, creating fascinating alien cultures and settings. As a result, I was pulled deeply into these stories, and once they ended, I had a hard time leaving. Another thing I admire about his style, and this is made all the more amazing when considering the first, is its brevity - many of the concepts in these stories could have easily been expanded into turgid full-length novels by a lesser writer, but Vance gives the reader just the right amount of material to make his point and then moves on to something else. I appreciate this highly, as it's a skill that many of today's authors unfortunately lack. Each story contains an afterword of sorts by Vance, a few of which provide insight to what was just read; however, the bulk of them appear to be random quotes.

This book has apparently entered the realm of remainders, so you can probably score a mint copy for a fraction of the cover price if you cast your net widely enough. Don't be tempted to pay inflated prices!

This collection has a great selection of stories if you're a newcomer to Vance.

Shame on Subterranean for the small print run. I would rather Mr. Vance have gotten his share of my purchase instead of the used book dealer*.

* - She was a very nice used book dealer...

I had a love hate relationship with this book, because many of his ideas were so much larger than a short story. Most should have been their own book, and many should have been series of books.

What I liked most was his use of ontology. Many authors today take for granted that every alien civilization would have the same sort of logic we would have. However, we have been granted a way of thinking passed to us directly from Socrates.

How would an alien race think? Would we be able to communicate, even if we learned their language because their way of thinking would be so different.

He also explores the question of what makes sentience. Can a species be intelligent in a completely different way than we are?

Can there be a different understanding of the universe that is not based upon Greek platonic logic? A logic which gave us empirical science, and is now being unraveled by quantum theories? Is it possible that we need a new type of logic in order to reach the next level of understanding of the universe?

Just a few of my thoughts as I read it

I'm a huge fan of Jack Vance, but I only discovered him recently. I wish I had started with this collection! It includes The Dragon Masters and The Last Castle, which I think are his two greatest works. If you're going to start reading Vance, you should start with those - and they're both here. Both of those stories won Hugo Awards for a reason; they're quintessential Vance in that they're both exciting and thought provoking, full of his stunningly assured language AND exciting battle sequences.

Besides the two masterpieces, this collection showcases a number of Vance's strengths. You get a Magnus Ridolph - Vance's Sherlock Holmes - story, stories from his most acclaimed work, the Dying Earth series, and a number of other excellent short and medium length science fiction stories. If you've heard Jack Vance is great - maybe from the New York Times - and wonder where to start, this is the place!

Great collection of some of Vance's work, which can be hard to find.

Vance addicts are always searching for undiscovered nuggets. Alas, there aren't any in this compilation.

A disappointment.