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Wild Thyme and Violets and Other Unpublished Stories
A collection of Vance's outlines, unpublished work, and other items: Cat Island (1946, fragment), The Stark (1954, outline for series), The Telephone was Ringing in the Dark (1962, outline for novel), The Kragen (1963, novella; first version of The Blue World), The Genesee Slough Murders (1966, outline for Joe Bain novel), Guyal of Sfere (1969 , revision of same title, 1944), Wild Thyme and Violets (1976, outline for novel), The Magnificent Red-Hot Jazzing Seven (1976, movie treatment), Clang (1984, movie treatment), and Dream Castle (1962 revision of I'll Build Your Dream Castle, 1946).
322 pages, Kindle Edition
First published April 14, 2012
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About the author
Jack Vance
779 books1,590 followersAka John Holbrook Vance, Peter Held, John Holbrook, Ellery Queen, John van See, Alan Wade.
The author was born in 1916 and educated at the University of California, first as a mining engineer, then majoring in physics and finally in journalism. During the 1940s and 1950s, he contributed widely to science fiction and fantasy magazines. His first novel, The Dying Earth , was published in 1950 to great acclaim. He won both of science fiction's most coveted trophies, the Hugo and Nebula awards. He also won an Edgar Award for his mystery novel The Man in the Cage . He lived in Oakland, California in a house he designed.
The author was born in 1916 and educated at the University of California, first as a mining engineer, then majoring in physics and finally in journalism. During the 1940s and 1950s, he contributed widely to science fiction and fantasy magazines. His first novel, The Dying Earth , was published in 1950 to great acclaim. He won both of science fiction's most coveted trophies, the Hugo and Nebula awards. He also won an Edgar Award for his mystery novel The Man in the Cage . He lived in Oakland, California in a house he designed.
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April 28, 2024
"Wild Thyme and Violets and Other Unpublished Stories" is a 318 page collection of Jack Vance pieces that is a most welcome issue from Spatterlight Press. Most of these pieces were previously available only in the Jack Vance Integral Edition. Some of the stories are more interesting than others, but overall the collection should appeal to most Vance fans. I read the entire book twice. By Goodreads criteria I would rate this a 3 or "liked it." (This would be the equivalent of a rating of 4 on Amazon.) I'll briefly describe each inclusion beginning with the very interesting and informative forward.
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"Foreward: 'Reaching for the Essence'" is by Paul Rhoads and is 14 pages. Paul Rhoads is the person who initiated the publication of the Jack Vance Integral Edition. His "foreward" here is thoughtful and interesting. He mentions that three of the texts included were previously published but not widely available, and he provides us with some interesting background information about all the selections and Vance's writing in general. I'd like to read more of Rhoads' writings about Vance.
"Cat Island" is a fragment of short fiction written in 1946 that is 5 pages long and long and was first published as part of the collection Light from a Lone Star in 1985. It has been described as an "unfinished children's story" and also as a "previously unpublished excerpt from a novella." It is not science fiction or a mystery and it seems more of a social satire than a fantasy. We can only wonder what it would have become if Vance had continued to work on it. The story begins with a large ship lost at sea. The sole survivors are thirty two cats who abandon ship and board a life raft. On the fourth day adrift at sea their raft lands on a beach and the cats decide to hold council. The island is later invaded by dangerous enemies of the United States and the cats decide to align with the U.S. Marines to combat the invaders. Cat Island will probably be of interest only to devoted Vance fans.
"The Genesee Slough Murders" was written in 1966 and is a 25 pageoutline for mystery novel involving Joe Bain, a likeable, competent, clever sheriff in a fictious rural county in northern California. It was first published in 2012 in the book called Desperate Days: Selected Mysteries, Volume Two. Bain initially investigates a local home burglary which he cleverly and efficiently solves. Next he is involved with keeping the peace at a protest rally on the levee where hippies in trees urinate down in protest while other demonstrators on the ground attempt to block a bulldozer from knocking over the trees. The roots of the trees are endangering the levee, but public opinion is divided between those who want to protect the trees and those who want to protect the levee. Joe is encouraged from both sides to make arrests and can't seem to please either side. Soon after the protest he receives a report of a car crash in the slough with a woman and baby in it both dead. Two days later three people are shot and killed in their homes in separate but probably related incidents. Joe investigates an irascible old man who lives on a houseboat and has been shooting at water skiers with a gun with the same caliber as the murder weapon. One of the men killed had a previous run in with one of the hippies, named Dakota Slim, so Joe also visits him and is "oinked" at by one of the other hippies. Joe is warned about this hippie when he is told, "Don't fool with him," says Dakota Slim. "He's trained in yoga." The Genesee Slough Murders had the potential of being one of Vance's better novels. But it will probably appeal mostly to Vance fans rather than the general public. I rated it a 3 "liked it" out of 5 when applying Goodread's standards By Amazon standards I would rate it a 4 ("I like it") out of 5.
"The Stark or The Stark: The Voyage and the People" was written by Vance in 1954 and first published in 2005 in the Vance Integral Edition. In 2012 it was made available as an eBook. It has been described as 'an outline for a novel" and as "an outline for a series). The outline is 49 pages long. Even though it is an outline, it has a beginning, middle and end, although some chapters are one sentence summaries. The story is pure science fiction. On Earth, a research assistant discovers that a star is headed for the sun, is predicted to arrive in about 22 years and will destroy the Earth. After this information is made public some scientists suggest that all countries unite to work on a project to build a giant spaceship named The Stark that will accommodate all of Earth's people. It is anticipated that this project will take at least 20 years to complete. Russia, under strict communist rule, decides to cooperate with the U.S. and all the other countries in the world join in as well. This unity lasts until the ship is completed and leaves Earth. Soon, however, "A rash of societies, political alignment, associations for the promulgation of various ideas breaks out." The Stark is a huge ship but its immense size means that many people are far apart and communication is fragmented. Conflicts and disagreements increase until all of the people originally from Europe revolt and declare independence. Some groups manipulate to try to take control of the ship while other groups chose not to be in control because they don't want to be blamed when things go wrong. Generations later a new race lives in the bow of the giant ship while "the Stern is a kind of wilderness inhabited by wild men, criminals, desperadoes, fugitives." "The Stark is divided into two groups, antagonistic, irreconcilable and mutually incomprehensible." Some countries and groups of people unite while others disband. Religions, politics, belief systems and self interest cause disharmony and even violence among various people. Perhaps Vance is simply holding up a mirror for us. The story, although an outline, is filled out enough narrative to engage one's attention, but The Stark will probably appeal mostly to devoted Vance fans. I liked it enough to rate it a 3.
"Wild Thyme and Violets" is a 16 page outline for a novel that was drafted by Vance in 1976 and first published in the Vance Integral Edition in 2005. The setting is in the town of Gargano which has about 400 houses and a nearby castle owned by Marquis who resides there with his mute 17 year old daughter, Alicia. It begins on a Saturday market day. Mersile seta up a both from which he sells balms, elixirs and magical signs. Mersile also casts horoscopes, lances boils, pulls teeth and lays a concertina while his helper dances. Parnasse, the mayor, is there along with Lucian, an artist. The mayor longs for a son but his wife has not been able to conceive despite their use of extracts, exercises and astrology. Parnasse decides to hire the artist Lucian to paint his wife Madame Clotilde "in a state of full gestation." Right after the painting is completed, Parnasse's wife suddenly becomes pregnant. Next we find ourselves at an important festival called the "All-Hallows Eve" with the Marquis and his daughter, Alicia, attending. Lucian tries to intervene when Alicia is accosted by some rowdy revelers. When the she and her father return to their castle afterward, Lucian follows and watches Alicia while she stands in front of her bedroom window. When she falls from the window into the moat, he rescues her and takes her to his home and then tells her, "You threw your life away; I found it and took it for myself and now you are my very own." Alicia looks at him, remains mute but is cooperative. A priest complains to the Marquis about the scandal of Alicia living unmarried with a man and then takes Alicia away from Lucian and puts her in a convent. Lucian, in the meantime, contrives a plan to rescue her. The story continues focusing on Alicia and Lucian with more adventure than plot. This story probably could have been one of Vances' better or even great works if he had expanded the dialog, fleshed out the characters and further developed the story. As written, though, it will likely appeal mostly to Vance fans. I rated it a 3+ or "liked it"
"Clang: Concept and synopsis for screen-play" was first published in 2005 as part of the Vance Integral Edition. It is 7 pages of sketchy text with some dialog about a sport called Pugilistics. The sport consists of prize fights between robots that resemble humans. Gambling and organized crime play a key role. The setting is in the future were citizens lead sensible and placid lives. Football has become a "well-padded version of touch-tackle" and boxing has been banned. Only one violent spectator sport is allowed and that is because the participants are robots. Adding to the attraction of the sport is gambling which is controlled by organized crime called the Syndicate. Sweigart's Robotics turns out "superbly destructive fighters." A competing robotic business is Bell Robotic Shops operated by Dill Archer. Archer borrowed money for his business from Joe Perkins, our main character, but lost it to the Syndicate gambling on one of his own robots. He can't repay his loan so Joe ends up owning Bell Robotics. While reviewing the tapes of the last fight where Archer lost all of his money, Joe sees that the opponent fighter illegally clamped the feet of their robot. Joe decides to build a new type of robot that has memory circuits that must be programmed by a person who encloses himself in the shell of the robot and practices various simulations. In a new major event fight Joe's robot will face a fierce robot that is backed by the Syndicate. To insure a win the Syndicate sabotages the neck joint of the Joe's robot. To what extremes will the two sides escalate their tactics with more deaths and sabotage? Vance could have developed this into an interesting and possibly humorous work. As it stands, though, it is still very sketchy. You can follow the storyline but much of it is abbreviated or only hinted at. I don't think Clang: Concept and synopsis for screen-play" will be of interest to most readers other than Vance fans. I'd liked it and gave it a 3 minus rating.
"The Magnificent Red-Hot Jazzing Seven: Concept and synopsis for screen-play" was first published in 2005 in the Vance Integral Edition. There is also some mention of a 1976 movie treatment. Vance was an avid jazz fan and even played the coronet, ukulele, kazoo, and harmonica. He often included in his novels characters who were musicians. In his mystery novels especially there are often reference to jazz music and musicians. This story is set in 1927 in the Midwest and our story begins with a former cornet jazz musician, Joe Bush, who can no longer play his horn because a former fiancée knocked out some of his teeth by hitting him over the head with a bottle of Old Smiley. He now works as a night clerk in a cheap hotel in Des Moines. Joe is approached by two of his old friends who own a roadhouse called Blue Goose in a town in Indiana. The Blue Goose is having to compete with The Riverview Hotel where only the best bootleg is served and a fancy orchestra plays regularly. The Blue Goose is unable to compete so the owners want Joe to assemble his old jazz group and play for free until the roadhouse makes a profit. They even advance Joe $120 to purchase some dentures so he can play his cornet. Joe begins by recruiting his old tuba player who is now with The Salvation Army Band in South Chicago. Next he recruits his former piano player. He then drives to Davenport to talk with his former trombonist who joins them. Joe next visits the jail from where his old clarinetist is being released. One of the more difficult recruits is his former banjo player who is in a hospital in a catatonic coma. Recruitment of the seventh musician is completed when Joe engages his former drummer who has been playing his drums in a circus disguised as a trained bear. Joe's new group, the Red-hot Jazzing Seven, then replace the Catfish Spasm Band at the Blue Goose and the competition is on as they compete with The Riverview Inn and their jazz musicians. Both establishments will go to great lengths to bring in customers. The piece is still sketchy in many places but will probably be interesting and fun for Vance fans to read. I rate it a 3 or "Liked it."
"The Kragen" by Jack Vance was first published in 1964 as a 62 page novella length work in the magazine Fantastic Stories of Imagination. Most of "The Kragen" was incorporated into Vance's novel "The Blue World" which was published in 1966 and was 192 pages long. "The Kragen" is more of an adventure story while "The Blue World" involves world building and has much more psychological, sociological and anthropological material. Each work deserves to be read alone. In both stories the residents live on small lily pad like islands on a planet that has no dry land and was settled over a hundred years ago from space by their ancestors. Both stories also feature a long lived sea monster like creature called King Kragen. A kragen is a giant, fairly intelligent, squid like sea creature that is featured in both works, but in the novella almost the entire focus of the story is about King Kragen and how the people relate to and cope with him. Although there are many kragens, there is only one giant kragen called King Kragen who dominates the residents and is even worshipped by some of them. Our main character, Sklar Hast, is a hoodwink who sits in a tower winking hoods as a means of communication between islands. When King Kragen fails to appear to protect his sponge garden from another invading kragen, Sklar Hast wants to handle matters himself by chasing away or even killing the kragen that is eating all of his sponges. Others forbid such action, saying that it will offend King Kragen who is their sole protector and must be obeyed. The general population takes various sides and there is a confrontation between the two factions. The story about King Kragen is essentially the same in both stories, but in "The Kragen" there is much less focus on the rivalries, interactions, manipulations and internal struggles of the people. It is simpler but not at all inferior, just a different type of story, more adventure focused than psychological or sociological. I liked them equally and recommend that Vance fans read both of them. I rated the Kragen a solid 4.
"Guyal of Sfere" is from the 1950 The Dying Earth, chapter 6. The version here was revised in 1969. It is 23 pages and is fantasy rather than science fiction. Guyal's father advises him to make a quest to visit the Curator at the Museum of Man. He provides him with magical protection as long as he does not stray from the trail. After a strange encounter involving flutes and ghosts, he arrives at a small village where he accidentally commits an offense and is tried and sentenced to visit the Curator, something he wanted to do anyhow. He ends up being paired with one of the women in what appears to be a planned human sacrifice. It is a dense story with much symbolism and mythology that improves with repeated readings. It also works better as part of The Dying Earth than as a stand alone story, although it certainly can be read alone. I really liked it and rated it 4+.
"The Telephone Was Ringing in the Dark" is an outline for a novel, first published in 2005 as part of the VIE. This 78 page work is more than just an outline, however, even though it is obviously incomplete. The story will probably appeal mostly to Vance fans. But it is an intriguing piece and could have been one of Vance's more interesting novels he had he finished it. It begins with a late night telephone call to our main character Marsh. The caller asks to speak with "Boko." Even though he is told that he has the wrong number, he continues to call back. After the third call Marsh asks the caller if he is stupid and the caller is offended. He calls back four more times that night to wake Marsh up and call him stupid. In the morning Marsh writes down 33 slight variations on his own phone number and begins calling all the numbers asking for Boko. Eventually Marsh reaches a number where he is told that Boko is a Mr. Binkins and that he is not in. Eventually Marsh reaches Binkins by phone. He learns that only one of Binkin's friends calls him by "Boko" and obtains the name of this friend. Marsh then goes to great lengths to locate and obtain revenge on the late night caller. But an unexpected twist in the plot makes this caller think that damage to his car is due to Marsh when, in fact, it is not. An elaborate scheme of revenge develops involving loans, real estate purchases, phone tapping, physical assault, impersonations and several deaths. The plot is quite fascinating and if Vance had added more of his great dialogue and converted the brief summaries to actual narrative, I think this novel would have been one of his more better ones. It has a beginning, middle and end and is interesting to read but is clearly not a final draft or completed novel. I liked it, was totally engaged by it and think it had much potential. But given its incompleteness, I'd have to rate it a 3 or "liked it."
"Dream Castle" is a short story originally published in 1947 in Astounding Science Fiction under the title "I'll Build Your Dream Castle." According to the International Speculative Fiction Data Base: "In 1962, Vance revised this story to create 'Dream Castle'. It is not clear if this story ever appeared in print prior to Vance Integral Edition in 2005. Vance later revised this story again for Lost Moons published by Underwood-Miller in 1982. Again, the wording was modified from earlier versions, although less significantly than the change between this story and "Dream Castle". This version was published in 2005 as part of the Vance Integral Edition. "Dream Castle" as issued here is the 1982 revision and is an 18 page short story. It features an intelligent and enterprising protagonist named Farrero, a fairly recent graduate who designs and markets homes for a contracting firm. His boss, Angker, wants him to sign over patents that he created when he was in school. When he refuses to do so, he is immediately fired. Farrero strikes out on his own even though he does not have a contractor's license. His ideas are revolutionary and very profit making so that he is soon in competition with his old firm. They decide to try to rehire him or at least attempt to duplicate what he is doing, but Farrero seems to have anticipated this. The story is unusual and clever and I rated it a 3+ and easily a 4 using Amazon's rating guideline.
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"Foreward: 'Reaching for the Essence'" is by Paul Rhoads and is 14 pages. Paul Rhoads is the person who initiated the publication of the Jack Vance Integral Edition. His "foreward" here is thoughtful and interesting. He mentions that three of the texts included were previously published but not widely available, and he provides us with some interesting background information about all the selections and Vance's writing in general. I'd like to read more of Rhoads' writings about Vance.
"Cat Island" is a fragment of short fiction written in 1946 that is 5 pages long and long and was first published as part of the collection Light from a Lone Star in 1985. It has been described as an "unfinished children's story" and also as a "previously unpublished excerpt from a novella." It is not science fiction or a mystery and it seems more of a social satire than a fantasy. We can only wonder what it would have become if Vance had continued to work on it. The story begins with a large ship lost at sea. The sole survivors are thirty two cats who abandon ship and board a life raft. On the fourth day adrift at sea their raft lands on a beach and the cats decide to hold council. The island is later invaded by dangerous enemies of the United States and the cats decide to align with the U.S. Marines to combat the invaders. Cat Island will probably be of interest only to devoted Vance fans.
"The Genesee Slough Murders" was written in 1966 and is a 25 pageoutline for mystery novel involving Joe Bain, a likeable, competent, clever sheriff in a fictious rural county in northern California. It was first published in 2012 in the book called Desperate Days: Selected Mysteries, Volume Two. Bain initially investigates a local home burglary which he cleverly and efficiently solves. Next he is involved with keeping the peace at a protest rally on the levee where hippies in trees urinate down in protest while other demonstrators on the ground attempt to block a bulldozer from knocking over the trees. The roots of the trees are endangering the levee, but public opinion is divided between those who want to protect the trees and those who want to protect the levee. Joe is encouraged from both sides to make arrests and can't seem to please either side. Soon after the protest he receives a report of a car crash in the slough with a woman and baby in it both dead. Two days later three people are shot and killed in their homes in separate but probably related incidents. Joe investigates an irascible old man who lives on a houseboat and has been shooting at water skiers with a gun with the same caliber as the murder weapon. One of the men killed had a previous run in with one of the hippies, named Dakota Slim, so Joe also visits him and is "oinked" at by one of the other hippies. Joe is warned about this hippie when he is told, "Don't fool with him," says Dakota Slim. "He's trained in yoga." The Genesee Slough Murders had the potential of being one of Vance's better novels. But it will probably appeal mostly to Vance fans rather than the general public. I rated it a 3 "liked it" out of 5 when applying Goodread's standards By Amazon standards I would rate it a 4 ("I like it") out of 5.
"The Stark or The Stark: The Voyage and the People" was written by Vance in 1954 and first published in 2005 in the Vance Integral Edition. In 2012 it was made available as an eBook. It has been described as 'an outline for a novel" and as "an outline for a series). The outline is 49 pages long. Even though it is an outline, it has a beginning, middle and end, although some chapters are one sentence summaries. The story is pure science fiction. On Earth, a research assistant discovers that a star is headed for the sun, is predicted to arrive in about 22 years and will destroy the Earth. After this information is made public some scientists suggest that all countries unite to work on a project to build a giant spaceship named The Stark that will accommodate all of Earth's people. It is anticipated that this project will take at least 20 years to complete. Russia, under strict communist rule, decides to cooperate with the U.S. and all the other countries in the world join in as well. This unity lasts until the ship is completed and leaves Earth. Soon, however, "A rash of societies, political alignment, associations for the promulgation of various ideas breaks out." The Stark is a huge ship but its immense size means that many people are far apart and communication is fragmented. Conflicts and disagreements increase until all of the people originally from Europe revolt and declare independence. Some groups manipulate to try to take control of the ship while other groups chose not to be in control because they don't want to be blamed when things go wrong. Generations later a new race lives in the bow of the giant ship while "the Stern is a kind of wilderness inhabited by wild men, criminals, desperadoes, fugitives." "The Stark is divided into two groups, antagonistic, irreconcilable and mutually incomprehensible." Some countries and groups of people unite while others disband. Religions, politics, belief systems and self interest cause disharmony and even violence among various people. Perhaps Vance is simply holding up a mirror for us. The story, although an outline, is filled out enough narrative to engage one's attention, but The Stark will probably appeal mostly to devoted Vance fans. I liked it enough to rate it a 3.
"Wild Thyme and Violets" is a 16 page outline for a novel that was drafted by Vance in 1976 and first published in the Vance Integral Edition in 2005. The setting is in the town of Gargano which has about 400 houses and a nearby castle owned by Marquis who resides there with his mute 17 year old daughter, Alicia. It begins on a Saturday market day. Mersile seta up a both from which he sells balms, elixirs and magical signs. Mersile also casts horoscopes, lances boils, pulls teeth and lays a concertina while his helper dances. Parnasse, the mayor, is there along with Lucian, an artist. The mayor longs for a son but his wife has not been able to conceive despite their use of extracts, exercises and astrology. Parnasse decides to hire the artist Lucian to paint his wife Madame Clotilde "in a state of full gestation." Right after the painting is completed, Parnasse's wife suddenly becomes pregnant. Next we find ourselves at an important festival called the "All-Hallows Eve" with the Marquis and his daughter, Alicia, attending. Lucian tries to intervene when Alicia is accosted by some rowdy revelers. When the she and her father return to their castle afterward, Lucian follows and watches Alicia while she stands in front of her bedroom window. When she falls from the window into the moat, he rescues her and takes her to his home and then tells her, "You threw your life away; I found it and took it for myself and now you are my very own." Alicia looks at him, remains mute but is cooperative. A priest complains to the Marquis about the scandal of Alicia living unmarried with a man and then takes Alicia away from Lucian and puts her in a convent. Lucian, in the meantime, contrives a plan to rescue her. The story continues focusing on Alicia and Lucian with more adventure than plot. This story probably could have been one of Vances' better or even great works if he had expanded the dialog, fleshed out the characters and further developed the story. As written, though, it will likely appeal mostly to Vance fans. I rated it a 3+ or "liked it"
"Clang: Concept and synopsis for screen-play" was first published in 2005 as part of the Vance Integral Edition. It is 7 pages of sketchy text with some dialog about a sport called Pugilistics. The sport consists of prize fights between robots that resemble humans. Gambling and organized crime play a key role. The setting is in the future were citizens lead sensible and placid lives. Football has become a "well-padded version of touch-tackle" and boxing has been banned. Only one violent spectator sport is allowed and that is because the participants are robots. Adding to the attraction of the sport is gambling which is controlled by organized crime called the Syndicate. Sweigart's Robotics turns out "superbly destructive fighters." A competing robotic business is Bell Robotic Shops operated by Dill Archer. Archer borrowed money for his business from Joe Perkins, our main character, but lost it to the Syndicate gambling on one of his own robots. He can't repay his loan so Joe ends up owning Bell Robotics. While reviewing the tapes of the last fight where Archer lost all of his money, Joe sees that the opponent fighter illegally clamped the feet of their robot. Joe decides to build a new type of robot that has memory circuits that must be programmed by a person who encloses himself in the shell of the robot and practices various simulations. In a new major event fight Joe's robot will face a fierce robot that is backed by the Syndicate. To insure a win the Syndicate sabotages the neck joint of the Joe's robot. To what extremes will the two sides escalate their tactics with more deaths and sabotage? Vance could have developed this into an interesting and possibly humorous work. As it stands, though, it is still very sketchy. You can follow the storyline but much of it is abbreviated or only hinted at. I don't think Clang: Concept and synopsis for screen-play" will be of interest to most readers other than Vance fans. I'd liked it and gave it a 3 minus rating.
"The Magnificent Red-Hot Jazzing Seven: Concept and synopsis for screen-play" was first published in 2005 in the Vance Integral Edition. There is also some mention of a 1976 movie treatment. Vance was an avid jazz fan and even played the coronet, ukulele, kazoo, and harmonica. He often included in his novels characters who were musicians. In his mystery novels especially there are often reference to jazz music and musicians. This story is set in 1927 in the Midwest and our story begins with a former cornet jazz musician, Joe Bush, who can no longer play his horn because a former fiancée knocked out some of his teeth by hitting him over the head with a bottle of Old Smiley. He now works as a night clerk in a cheap hotel in Des Moines. Joe is approached by two of his old friends who own a roadhouse called Blue Goose in a town in Indiana. The Blue Goose is having to compete with The Riverview Hotel where only the best bootleg is served and a fancy orchestra plays regularly. The Blue Goose is unable to compete so the owners want Joe to assemble his old jazz group and play for free until the roadhouse makes a profit. They even advance Joe $120 to purchase some dentures so he can play his cornet. Joe begins by recruiting his old tuba player who is now with The Salvation Army Band in South Chicago. Next he recruits his former piano player. He then drives to Davenport to talk with his former trombonist who joins them. Joe next visits the jail from where his old clarinetist is being released. One of the more difficult recruits is his former banjo player who is in a hospital in a catatonic coma. Recruitment of the seventh musician is completed when Joe engages his former drummer who has been playing his drums in a circus disguised as a trained bear. Joe's new group, the Red-hot Jazzing Seven, then replace the Catfish Spasm Band at the Blue Goose and the competition is on as they compete with The Riverview Inn and their jazz musicians. Both establishments will go to great lengths to bring in customers. The piece is still sketchy in many places but will probably be interesting and fun for Vance fans to read. I rate it a 3 or "Liked it."
"The Kragen" by Jack Vance was first published in 1964 as a 62 page novella length work in the magazine Fantastic Stories of Imagination. Most of "The Kragen" was incorporated into Vance's novel "The Blue World" which was published in 1966 and was 192 pages long. "The Kragen" is more of an adventure story while "The Blue World" involves world building and has much more psychological, sociological and anthropological material. Each work deserves to be read alone. In both stories the residents live on small lily pad like islands on a planet that has no dry land and was settled over a hundred years ago from space by their ancestors. Both stories also feature a long lived sea monster like creature called King Kragen. A kragen is a giant, fairly intelligent, squid like sea creature that is featured in both works, but in the novella almost the entire focus of the story is about King Kragen and how the people relate to and cope with him. Although there are many kragens, there is only one giant kragen called King Kragen who dominates the residents and is even worshipped by some of them. Our main character, Sklar Hast, is a hoodwink who sits in a tower winking hoods as a means of communication between islands. When King Kragen fails to appear to protect his sponge garden from another invading kragen, Sklar Hast wants to handle matters himself by chasing away or even killing the kragen that is eating all of his sponges. Others forbid such action, saying that it will offend King Kragen who is their sole protector and must be obeyed. The general population takes various sides and there is a confrontation between the two factions. The story about King Kragen is essentially the same in both stories, but in "The Kragen" there is much less focus on the rivalries, interactions, manipulations and internal struggles of the people. It is simpler but not at all inferior, just a different type of story, more adventure focused than psychological or sociological. I liked them equally and recommend that Vance fans read both of them. I rated the Kragen a solid 4.
"Guyal of Sfere" is from the 1950 The Dying Earth, chapter 6. The version here was revised in 1969. It is 23 pages and is fantasy rather than science fiction. Guyal's father advises him to make a quest to visit the Curator at the Museum of Man. He provides him with magical protection as long as he does not stray from the trail. After a strange encounter involving flutes and ghosts, he arrives at a small village where he accidentally commits an offense and is tried and sentenced to visit the Curator, something he wanted to do anyhow. He ends up being paired with one of the women in what appears to be a planned human sacrifice. It is a dense story with much symbolism and mythology that improves with repeated readings. It also works better as part of The Dying Earth than as a stand alone story, although it certainly can be read alone. I really liked it and rated it 4+.
"The Telephone Was Ringing in the Dark" is an outline for a novel, first published in 2005 as part of the VIE. This 78 page work is more than just an outline, however, even though it is obviously incomplete. The story will probably appeal mostly to Vance fans. But it is an intriguing piece and could have been one of Vance's more interesting novels he had he finished it. It begins with a late night telephone call to our main character Marsh. The caller asks to speak with "Boko." Even though he is told that he has the wrong number, he continues to call back. After the third call Marsh asks the caller if he is stupid and the caller is offended. He calls back four more times that night to wake Marsh up and call him stupid. In the morning Marsh writes down 33 slight variations on his own phone number and begins calling all the numbers asking for Boko. Eventually Marsh reaches a number where he is told that Boko is a Mr. Binkins and that he is not in. Eventually Marsh reaches Binkins by phone. He learns that only one of Binkin's friends calls him by "Boko" and obtains the name of this friend. Marsh then goes to great lengths to locate and obtain revenge on the late night caller. But an unexpected twist in the plot makes this caller think that damage to his car is due to Marsh when, in fact, it is not. An elaborate scheme of revenge develops involving loans, real estate purchases, phone tapping, physical assault, impersonations and several deaths. The plot is quite fascinating and if Vance had added more of his great dialogue and converted the brief summaries to actual narrative, I think this novel would have been one of his more better ones. It has a beginning, middle and end and is interesting to read but is clearly not a final draft or completed novel. I liked it, was totally engaged by it and think it had much potential. But given its incompleteness, I'd have to rate it a 3 or "liked it."
"Dream Castle" is a short story originally published in 1947 in Astounding Science Fiction under the title "I'll Build Your Dream Castle." According to the International Speculative Fiction Data Base: "In 1962, Vance revised this story to create 'Dream Castle'. It is not clear if this story ever appeared in print prior to Vance Integral Edition in 2005. Vance later revised this story again for Lost Moons published by Underwood-Miller in 1982. Again, the wording was modified from earlier versions, although less significantly than the change between this story and "Dream Castle". This version was published in 2005 as part of the Vance Integral Edition. "Dream Castle" as issued here is the 1982 revision and is an 18 page short story. It features an intelligent and enterprising protagonist named Farrero, a fairly recent graduate who designs and markets homes for a contracting firm. His boss, Angker, wants him to sign over patents that he created when he was in school. When he refuses to do so, he is immediately fired. Farrero strikes out on his own even though he does not have a contractor's license. His ideas are revolutionary and very profit making so that he is soon in competition with his old firm. They decide to try to rehire him or at least attempt to duplicate what he is doing, but Farrero seems to have anticipated this. The story is unusual and clever and I rated it a 3+ and easily a 4 using Amazon's rating guideline.
June 11, 2024
This is a collection of mostly previously unpublished shorter works by Jack Vance, including some fragments, outlines and synopses that were first published in the very limited Vance Integral Edition (VIE). This collection begins with an excellent fourteen page forward by Paul Rhoads titled Reaching for the Essence that describes the contents. The book should appeal to dedicated Vance fans and completists, but would probably be of little interest to regular readers. For those fairly new to Vance there are other Spatterlight Vance collections that I’d recommend such as The Moon Moth and Other Stories. I’ve read everything every published by Vance, all of it at least twice, and most of it three times or more but after reading this collection only twice I doubt I’ll read it again. Devoted Vance fans will certainly want a copy but it will probably have limited appeal to other readers.
This release is based on the Vance Integral Edition (VIE) that is the revised and author approved edition of the writings of Jack Vance. Many of the original writings of Vance were edited, altered, expanded or cut by editors, especially shorter works that were published first in science fiction and fantasy magazines.
Cat Island-Jack Vance fragment
"Cat Island" is a fragment of short fiction written in 1946 that is 5 pages long and was not previously published until the Vance Integral Edition was released in 2006. It has been described as an "unfinished children's story" and also as a "previously unpublished excerpt from a novella." It is not science fiction or a mystery and it seems more of a social satire than a fantasy. We can only wonder what it would have become if Vance had continued to work with it. The story begins with a large ship lost at sea. The sole survivors are thirty two cats who abandon ship and board a life raft. On the fourth day adrift at sea their raft lands on a beach and the cats decide to hold council. They discuss ways of trying to increase the probability of being rescued, but they finally agree that it is hopeless and that the best course is to set up their own society. They decide to name their island Cat Island. The island is later invaded by dangerous enemies of the United States and the cats decide to align with the U.S. Marines to combat the invaders. Cat Island is a rather silly piece and will probably be of interest only to the most devoted Vance fan. Rated 2 or “Okay”
Genesee Slough Murders-Jack Vance outline for a novel
"The Genesee Slough Murders" was written in 1966 and is a 25 pages long outline for another mystery novel involving Joe Bain, a likeable, competent sheriff in a rural imaginary county in northern California. The Genesee Slough Murders: Outline for a Novel was first published in 1994 in The Work of Jack Vance: An Annotated Bibliography and Guide. Although this has been referred to as "an outline for a novel," it is much more than just an outline. It is more of a Joe Bain mystery novelette with some of the chapters left as summaries. It appears that Vance was going to expand the story into a full novel or at least a novella. Despite its brevity, the story has a beginning, middle and end, although the resolution and ending seems rushed. It has some interesting characters, an appealing setting, some Vancian humor, and a snappy dialog with enough intrigue to engage the reader. Joe Bain is the clever but down to earth sheriff in the fictitious northern California county of San Rodrigo that has a long levee running through it and seems very similar to San Joaquin or Sacramento counties which are listed as being nearby. Bain and his seventeen year old daughter, Miranda, live together in a small house in a rural setting near the levee. Another character we have seen in other Joe Bain novels is the news reporter, Howard Griselda, who is self-serving and often a troublesome to Joe Bain, whose police work he frequently criticizes despite Bain's stellar performance. Bain initially investigates a local home burglary which he cleverly and efficiently solves. Next he is involved with keeping the peace at a protest rally on the levee where hippies in trees urinate down in protest while other demonstrators on the ground attempt to block a bulldozer from knocking over the trees. The roots of the trees are endangering the levee, but public opinion is divided between those who want to protect the trees and those (especially the farmers and local newspaper) who want to protect the levee. Joe is encouraged from both sides to make arrests and can't seem to please either side. Soon after the protest he receives a report of a car crash in the slough with a dead woman and baby in the car. Two days later three people are shot and killed in their homes in separate but probably related incidents. Joe investigates an irascible old man who lives on a houseboat and has been shooting at water skiers with a gun with the same caliber as the murder weapon. One of the men killed had a previous run in with one of the hippies, named Dakota Slim, so Joe also visits him and is "oinked" at by one of the other hippies. Joe is warned about this hippie when he is told, "Don't fool with him," says Dakota Slim. "He's trained in yoga."
The Genesee Slough Murders had the potential of being one of Vance's better novels. I did like and was fascinated by the story even though it is only partially completed. It will probably appeal, however, mostly to dedicated Vance fans rather than the general public or mystery readers. I rated it a 3 "liked it."
The Stark: The Voyage and the People-Jack Vance outline for a novel
"The Stark or The Stark: The Voyage and the People" was written by Vance in 1954 and first published in 2005 in the Vance Integral Edition. In 2012 it was made available as an eBook. It has been described as 'an outline for a novel" and as "an outline for a series). Under "Contents" this story is referred to simply as "The Stark" but on page 31 in the book it is listed as The Stark: The Voyage and the people. 29 chapters are listed but a number are very sketchy and some near the end do not have chapter titles. The outline is 49 pages long. Even though it is an outline, it has a beginning, middle and end, although some chapters are one sentence summaries. The story is pure science fiction. On Earth, a research assistant at Mt. Wilson Observatory discovers that a star is headed for the sun, is predicted to arrive in about 22 years and will destroy the Earth. After this information is made public some scientists suggest that all countries unite to work on a project to build a giant spaceship named The Stark that will accommodate all of Earth's people. It is anticipated that this project will take at least 20 years to complete. Russia, under strict communist rule, decides to cooperate with the U.S. and all the other countries in the world join in as well. This unity lasts until the ship is completed and leaves Earth. Soon, however, "A rash of societies, political alignment, associations for the promulgation of various ideas breaks out." Among these groups are the Non-conformists, Golden Rule Society, Optimum Humans, Socratic Society, Ecumenists, and Social Ecologists The Stark is a huge ship but its immense size means that many people are far apart and communication is fragmented. Conflicts and disagreements increase until all of the people originally from Europe revolt and declare independence. Some groups manipulate to try to take control of the ship while other groups chose not to be in control because they don't want to be blamed when things go wrong. Generations later a new race lives in the bow of the giant ship while the stern has unruly criminals, fugitives and other unsavory characters. "The Stark is divided into two groups, antagonistic, irreconcilable and mutually incomprehensible." (It sounds somewhat similar to U.S. politics but even worse.) In the foreword Paul Rhoads attributes much of Vance's theme in The Stark to Vance's long time interest in the writings of Oswald Spengler. Rhoads summarizes Spengler's main thesis as stating that "cultures rise, flower, then decay and fall." Avid history readers such as myself will recognize many similarities to the history of humankind. Some countries and groups of people unite while others disband. Religions, politics, belief systems and self-interest cause disharmony and even violence among various people. Perhaps Vance is simply holding up a mirror for us. The story, although an outline, is filled out enough narrative to engage one's attention, but The Stark will probably appeal mostly to devoted Vance fans. It has much potential and we can only imagine what the completed novel might have been like. I’d rate it a 3 “Like it.”
Wild Thyme and Violets-Jack Vance outline for a novel
Wild Thyme and Violets is a 16 page outline for a novel that was drafted by Vance in 1976 and first published in the Vance Integral Edition in 2005. The setting is in the town of Gargano which has about 400 houses and a nearby castle owned by Marquis Paul-Aubry Alcmeone del Torre-Gargano who resides there with his mute 17 year old daughter, Alicia. It begins on a Saturday market day. Mersile, a traveling mountebank, and his helper, Etheny, set up a booth decorated with thaumaturgical symbols where they sell balms, elixirs and papers with magical signs. Mersile, a rather classic type of Vancian character, also casts horoscopes, lances boils, pulls teeth and lays a concertina while his helper dances. Parnasse, the mayor, is there along with Lucian, an artist. The mayor longs for a son but his wife has not been able to conceive despite their use of extracts, exercises and astrology. Parnasse decides to hire the artist Lucian to paint his wife Madame Clotilde "in a state of full gestation." Right after the painting is completed, Parnasse's wife suddenly becomes pregnant. When other people inquire about the cause of the pregnancy, Parnasse insists that there is a secret behind the pregnancy but it is not related to prayer, hypnosis, cabalistic symbols or the pregnant portrait of Lucian's. He offers to employ his secret on any of the wives and daughters of his citizens. Next we find ourselves at an important festival at Gargano called the "All-Hallows Eve" with the Marquis and his daughter, Alicia, attending. Lucian tries to intervene when Alicia is accosted by some rowdy revelers. When the she and her father return to their castle afterward, Lucian follows and watches Alicia while she stands in front of her bedroom window in her night dress. When she falls (apparently jumps) from the window into the moat, he rescues her and takes her to his home and then tells her, "You threw your life away; I found it and took it for myself and now you are my very own." Alicia remains quiet but is cooperative. A priest complains to the Marquis about the scandal of Alicia living unmarried with a man. The priest and the Mother Superior take Alicia away from Lucian and put her in a convent. Lucian, in the meantime, contrives a plan to rescue her but is caught and sent to jail. Alicia slips away from the convent and returns to the castle. The story continues focusing on Alicia and Lucian with more adventure than plot. Wild Thyme and Violets had much potential but as it is written, is rather lacking in character and plot development. It will likely appeal mostly to dedicated Vance fans. I rated it a 3+ or "liked it plus."
Clang: Concept and Synopsis for Screen-play-Jack Vance screen-play draft
"Clang: Concept and synopsis for screen-play" was first published in 2005 as part of the Vance Integral Edition. It is included in the Spatterlight Press high quality paperback titled Wild Thyme and Violets and Other Unpublished Works.” The work is 7 pages of sketchy text with some dialog about a sport called Pugilistics. The sport consists of prize fights between robots eight feet tall that resemble humans. Gambling and organized crime play a key role. The setting is in the future were citizens lead sensible and placid lives. Football has become a "well-padded version of touch-tackle" and boxing has been banned. Only one violent spectator sport is allowed and that is because the participants are robots. Adding to the attraction of the sport is gambling which is controlled by organized crime called the Syndicate. Sweigart's Robotics turns out "superbly destructive fighters," some of them weighing two tons. A competing robotic business is Bell Robotic Shops operated by Dill Archer an engineer. Archer borrowed money for his business from Joe Perkins, our main character, but lost it to the Syndicate when gambling on one of his own robots. He can't repay his loan to Joe and Joe's partner Henry Tamm so Perkins and Tamm ends up owning Bell Robotics while retaining Archer as their engineer. While reviewing the tapes of the last fight where Archer lost all of his money, Joe sees that the opponent fighter illegally clamped the feet of their robot. Joe decides to build a new type of robot called the Black Angel that has memory circuits that must be programmed by a person who encloses himself in the shell of the robot and practices various simulations. In a new major event fight Joe's robot will face a fierce robot, called Sweigart's Scorpion, that is backed by the Syndicate. To insure a win the Syndicate kills Joe's partner Tamm and sabotages the neck joint of the Black Angel. Can Joe get his robot running again in time for the big fight? To what extremes will the two sides escalate their tactics with more deaths and sabotage? Joe has a conscience but is strong and determined. His partner has already been murdered so the Syndicate appears to have no boundaries, legally or illegally and also has more money to compete. Vance might have developed this draft into an interesting and possibly humorous work. As it stands, though, it is very sketchy. You can follow the storyline but much of it is abbreviated or only hinted at. I don’t think this piece will be of much interest to readers other than hard core Vance fans. I gave it a 3 minus rating or “Liked it minus.”
The Magnificent Red-Hot Jazzing Seven: Concept and Synopsis for Screen-Play-Jack Vance screen-play synopsis
"The Magnificent Red-Hot Jazzing Seven: Concept and synopsis for screen-play" was first published in 2005 in the Vance Integral Edition. Vance was an avid jazz fan and even played the coronet, ukulele, kazoo, and harmonica. He often included in his novels characters who were musicians. In his mystery novels especially there are often reference to jazz music and musicians. This 12 page synopsis seems like a tribute by Vance to one of his favorite passions.
This story is set in 1927 in the Midwest, and Vance states that it is intended as part of a sequence to The Seven Samurai and The Magnificent Seven. The former is a great, classic Kurosawa film and the latter is a movie based on a similar theme but featuring cowboys instead of samurai. Vance here replaces samurai or cowboys with jazz musicians. Our story begins with a former cornet jazz musician, Joe Bush, who can no longer play his horn because a former fiancée knocked out some of his teeth by hitting him over the head with a bottle of Old Smiley. He now works as a night clerk in a cheap hotel in Des Moines. Joe is approached by two of his old friends who own a roadhouse called Blue Goose in a town in southern Indiana. The Blue Goose is having to compete with The Riverview Hotel where only the best bootleg is served and a fancy orchestra plays regularly. The Blue Goose is unable to compete so the owners want Joe to assemble his old jazz group and play for free until the roadhouse makes a profit. They even advance Joe $120 to purchase some dentures so he can play his cornet. Joe begins by recruiting his old tuba player who is now with The Salvation Army Band in South Chicago. Next he recruits his former piano player while tricking a gambler out of his Packard automobile. He then drives to Davenport to talk with his former trombonist who joins them by physically running away from his domineering wife to jump in the back of the Packard. Joe then visits the jail from where his old clarinetist is being released. One of the more difficult recruits is his former banjo player who is in a hospital in a catatonic coma. They decide to use his old banjo to try to cure him. Recruitment of the seventh musician is completed when he engages his former drummer who has been playing his drums in a circus disguised as a trained bear. Joe's new group, the Red-hot Jazzing Seven, then replace the Catfish Spasm Band at the Blue Goose and the competition is on as they compete with The Riverview Inn and their jazz musicians. Both establishments will go to great lengths to bring in customers. The piece is still sketchy in many places but will probably be interesting and enjoyable for Vance fans to read. I read it twice and rated it a 3 or "Liked it.”
The Kragen-Jack Vance novella
"The Kragen" by Jack Vance was first published in July, 1964 as a 62 page novella length work in the magazine Fantastic Stories of Imagination. (Here it is 66 pages.) Most of "The Kragen" was incorporated into Vance's novel "The Blue World" which was published in 1966 and was 192 pages long. In "The Kragen" the complex, interesting and highly structured society of the people who live on the Blue World is only hinted at. "The Kragen" is more of an adventure story while “The Blue World” involves world building and has much more psychological, sociological and anthropological material. Each work deserves to be read alone. In both stories the human residents live on small lily pad like islands on a planet that has no dry land and was settled over a hundred years ago by their ancestors. Both stories also feature a long lived squid like sea monster creature called King Kragen. A kragen is a giant, fairly intelligent, squid like sea creature that is featured in both works, but in the novella almost the entire focus of the story is about King Kragen and how the people relate to and cope with him. Although there are many kragens, there is only one giant kragen called King Kragen who dominates the residents and is even worshipped by some of them. Each person is a member of a caste that performs certain duties, some related to feeding, worshiping or communicating with King Kragen. Among these castes are the Bezzlers (priests who worship King Kragen, the top ranking caste) and Incendiaries (those in charge of secret methods of communicating with King Kragen). The Bezzlers and Incendiaries consider themselves superior to other castes a
This release is based on the Vance Integral Edition (VIE) that is the revised and author approved edition of the writings of Jack Vance. Many of the original writings of Vance were edited, altered, expanded or cut by editors, especially shorter works that were published first in science fiction and fantasy magazines.
Cat Island-Jack Vance fragment
"Cat Island" is a fragment of short fiction written in 1946 that is 5 pages long and was not previously published until the Vance Integral Edition was released in 2006. It has been described as an "unfinished children's story" and also as a "previously unpublished excerpt from a novella." It is not science fiction or a mystery and it seems more of a social satire than a fantasy. We can only wonder what it would have become if Vance had continued to work with it. The story begins with a large ship lost at sea. The sole survivors are thirty two cats who abandon ship and board a life raft. On the fourth day adrift at sea their raft lands on a beach and the cats decide to hold council. They discuss ways of trying to increase the probability of being rescued, but they finally agree that it is hopeless and that the best course is to set up their own society. They decide to name their island Cat Island. The island is later invaded by dangerous enemies of the United States and the cats decide to align with the U.S. Marines to combat the invaders. Cat Island is a rather silly piece and will probably be of interest only to the most devoted Vance fan. Rated 2 or “Okay”
Genesee Slough Murders-Jack Vance outline for a novel
"The Genesee Slough Murders" was written in 1966 and is a 25 pages long outline for another mystery novel involving Joe Bain, a likeable, competent sheriff in a rural imaginary county in northern California. The Genesee Slough Murders: Outline for a Novel was first published in 1994 in The Work of Jack Vance: An Annotated Bibliography and Guide. Although this has been referred to as "an outline for a novel," it is much more than just an outline. It is more of a Joe Bain mystery novelette with some of the chapters left as summaries. It appears that Vance was going to expand the story into a full novel or at least a novella. Despite its brevity, the story has a beginning, middle and end, although the resolution and ending seems rushed. It has some interesting characters, an appealing setting, some Vancian humor, and a snappy dialog with enough intrigue to engage the reader. Joe Bain is the clever but down to earth sheriff in the fictitious northern California county of San Rodrigo that has a long levee running through it and seems very similar to San Joaquin or Sacramento counties which are listed as being nearby. Bain and his seventeen year old daughter, Miranda, live together in a small house in a rural setting near the levee. Another character we have seen in other Joe Bain novels is the news reporter, Howard Griselda, who is self-serving and often a troublesome to Joe Bain, whose police work he frequently criticizes despite Bain's stellar performance. Bain initially investigates a local home burglary which he cleverly and efficiently solves. Next he is involved with keeping the peace at a protest rally on the levee where hippies in trees urinate down in protest while other demonstrators on the ground attempt to block a bulldozer from knocking over the trees. The roots of the trees are endangering the levee, but public opinion is divided between those who want to protect the trees and those (especially the farmers and local newspaper) who want to protect the levee. Joe is encouraged from both sides to make arrests and can't seem to please either side. Soon after the protest he receives a report of a car crash in the slough with a dead woman and baby in the car. Two days later three people are shot and killed in their homes in separate but probably related incidents. Joe investigates an irascible old man who lives on a houseboat and has been shooting at water skiers with a gun with the same caliber as the murder weapon. One of the men killed had a previous run in with one of the hippies, named Dakota Slim, so Joe also visits him and is "oinked" at by one of the other hippies. Joe is warned about this hippie when he is told, "Don't fool with him," says Dakota Slim. "He's trained in yoga."
The Genesee Slough Murders had the potential of being one of Vance's better novels. I did like and was fascinated by the story even though it is only partially completed. It will probably appeal, however, mostly to dedicated Vance fans rather than the general public or mystery readers. I rated it a 3 "liked it."
The Stark: The Voyage and the People-Jack Vance outline for a novel
"The Stark or The Stark: The Voyage and the People" was written by Vance in 1954 and first published in 2005 in the Vance Integral Edition. In 2012 it was made available as an eBook. It has been described as 'an outline for a novel" and as "an outline for a series). Under "Contents" this story is referred to simply as "The Stark" but on page 31 in the book it is listed as The Stark: The Voyage and the people. 29 chapters are listed but a number are very sketchy and some near the end do not have chapter titles. The outline is 49 pages long. Even though it is an outline, it has a beginning, middle and end, although some chapters are one sentence summaries. The story is pure science fiction. On Earth, a research assistant at Mt. Wilson Observatory discovers that a star is headed for the sun, is predicted to arrive in about 22 years and will destroy the Earth. After this information is made public some scientists suggest that all countries unite to work on a project to build a giant spaceship named The Stark that will accommodate all of Earth's people. It is anticipated that this project will take at least 20 years to complete. Russia, under strict communist rule, decides to cooperate with the U.S. and all the other countries in the world join in as well. This unity lasts until the ship is completed and leaves Earth. Soon, however, "A rash of societies, political alignment, associations for the promulgation of various ideas breaks out." Among these groups are the Non-conformists, Golden Rule Society, Optimum Humans, Socratic Society, Ecumenists, and Social Ecologists The Stark is a huge ship but its immense size means that many people are far apart and communication is fragmented. Conflicts and disagreements increase until all of the people originally from Europe revolt and declare independence. Some groups manipulate to try to take control of the ship while other groups chose not to be in control because they don't want to be blamed when things go wrong. Generations later a new race lives in the bow of the giant ship while the stern has unruly criminals, fugitives and other unsavory characters. "The Stark is divided into two groups, antagonistic, irreconcilable and mutually incomprehensible." (It sounds somewhat similar to U.S. politics but even worse.) In the foreword Paul Rhoads attributes much of Vance's theme in The Stark to Vance's long time interest in the writings of Oswald Spengler. Rhoads summarizes Spengler's main thesis as stating that "cultures rise, flower, then decay and fall." Avid history readers such as myself will recognize many similarities to the history of humankind. Some countries and groups of people unite while others disband. Religions, politics, belief systems and self-interest cause disharmony and even violence among various people. Perhaps Vance is simply holding up a mirror for us. The story, although an outline, is filled out enough narrative to engage one's attention, but The Stark will probably appeal mostly to devoted Vance fans. It has much potential and we can only imagine what the completed novel might have been like. I’d rate it a 3 “Like it.”
Wild Thyme and Violets-Jack Vance outline for a novel
Wild Thyme and Violets is a 16 page outline for a novel that was drafted by Vance in 1976 and first published in the Vance Integral Edition in 2005. The setting is in the town of Gargano which has about 400 houses and a nearby castle owned by Marquis Paul-Aubry Alcmeone del Torre-Gargano who resides there with his mute 17 year old daughter, Alicia. It begins on a Saturday market day. Mersile, a traveling mountebank, and his helper, Etheny, set up a booth decorated with thaumaturgical symbols where they sell balms, elixirs and papers with magical signs. Mersile, a rather classic type of Vancian character, also casts horoscopes, lances boils, pulls teeth and lays a concertina while his helper dances. Parnasse, the mayor, is there along with Lucian, an artist. The mayor longs for a son but his wife has not been able to conceive despite their use of extracts, exercises and astrology. Parnasse decides to hire the artist Lucian to paint his wife Madame Clotilde "in a state of full gestation." Right after the painting is completed, Parnasse's wife suddenly becomes pregnant. When other people inquire about the cause of the pregnancy, Parnasse insists that there is a secret behind the pregnancy but it is not related to prayer, hypnosis, cabalistic symbols or the pregnant portrait of Lucian's. He offers to employ his secret on any of the wives and daughters of his citizens. Next we find ourselves at an important festival at Gargano called the "All-Hallows Eve" with the Marquis and his daughter, Alicia, attending. Lucian tries to intervene when Alicia is accosted by some rowdy revelers. When the she and her father return to their castle afterward, Lucian follows and watches Alicia while she stands in front of her bedroom window in her night dress. When she falls (apparently jumps) from the window into the moat, he rescues her and takes her to his home and then tells her, "You threw your life away; I found it and took it for myself and now you are my very own." Alicia remains quiet but is cooperative. A priest complains to the Marquis about the scandal of Alicia living unmarried with a man. The priest and the Mother Superior take Alicia away from Lucian and put her in a convent. Lucian, in the meantime, contrives a plan to rescue her but is caught and sent to jail. Alicia slips away from the convent and returns to the castle. The story continues focusing on Alicia and Lucian with more adventure than plot. Wild Thyme and Violets had much potential but as it is written, is rather lacking in character and plot development. It will likely appeal mostly to dedicated Vance fans. I rated it a 3+ or "liked it plus."
Clang: Concept and Synopsis for Screen-play-Jack Vance screen-play draft
"Clang: Concept and synopsis for screen-play" was first published in 2005 as part of the Vance Integral Edition. It is included in the Spatterlight Press high quality paperback titled Wild Thyme and Violets and Other Unpublished Works.” The work is 7 pages of sketchy text with some dialog about a sport called Pugilistics. The sport consists of prize fights between robots eight feet tall that resemble humans. Gambling and organized crime play a key role. The setting is in the future were citizens lead sensible and placid lives. Football has become a "well-padded version of touch-tackle" and boxing has been banned. Only one violent spectator sport is allowed and that is because the participants are robots. Adding to the attraction of the sport is gambling which is controlled by organized crime called the Syndicate. Sweigart's Robotics turns out "superbly destructive fighters," some of them weighing two tons. A competing robotic business is Bell Robotic Shops operated by Dill Archer an engineer. Archer borrowed money for his business from Joe Perkins, our main character, but lost it to the Syndicate when gambling on one of his own robots. He can't repay his loan to Joe and Joe's partner Henry Tamm so Perkins and Tamm ends up owning Bell Robotics while retaining Archer as their engineer. While reviewing the tapes of the last fight where Archer lost all of his money, Joe sees that the opponent fighter illegally clamped the feet of their robot. Joe decides to build a new type of robot called the Black Angel that has memory circuits that must be programmed by a person who encloses himself in the shell of the robot and practices various simulations. In a new major event fight Joe's robot will face a fierce robot, called Sweigart's Scorpion, that is backed by the Syndicate. To insure a win the Syndicate kills Joe's partner Tamm and sabotages the neck joint of the Black Angel. Can Joe get his robot running again in time for the big fight? To what extremes will the two sides escalate their tactics with more deaths and sabotage? Joe has a conscience but is strong and determined. His partner has already been murdered so the Syndicate appears to have no boundaries, legally or illegally and also has more money to compete. Vance might have developed this draft into an interesting and possibly humorous work. As it stands, though, it is very sketchy. You can follow the storyline but much of it is abbreviated or only hinted at. I don’t think this piece will be of much interest to readers other than hard core Vance fans. I gave it a 3 minus rating or “Liked it minus.”
The Magnificent Red-Hot Jazzing Seven: Concept and Synopsis for Screen-Play-Jack Vance screen-play synopsis
"The Magnificent Red-Hot Jazzing Seven: Concept and synopsis for screen-play" was first published in 2005 in the Vance Integral Edition. Vance was an avid jazz fan and even played the coronet, ukulele, kazoo, and harmonica. He often included in his novels characters who were musicians. In his mystery novels especially there are often reference to jazz music and musicians. This 12 page synopsis seems like a tribute by Vance to one of his favorite passions.
This story is set in 1927 in the Midwest, and Vance states that it is intended as part of a sequence to The Seven Samurai and The Magnificent Seven. The former is a great, classic Kurosawa film and the latter is a movie based on a similar theme but featuring cowboys instead of samurai. Vance here replaces samurai or cowboys with jazz musicians. Our story begins with a former cornet jazz musician, Joe Bush, who can no longer play his horn because a former fiancée knocked out some of his teeth by hitting him over the head with a bottle of Old Smiley. He now works as a night clerk in a cheap hotel in Des Moines. Joe is approached by two of his old friends who own a roadhouse called Blue Goose in a town in southern Indiana. The Blue Goose is having to compete with The Riverview Hotel where only the best bootleg is served and a fancy orchestra plays regularly. The Blue Goose is unable to compete so the owners want Joe to assemble his old jazz group and play for free until the roadhouse makes a profit. They even advance Joe $120 to purchase some dentures so he can play his cornet. Joe begins by recruiting his old tuba player who is now with The Salvation Army Band in South Chicago. Next he recruits his former piano player while tricking a gambler out of his Packard automobile. He then drives to Davenport to talk with his former trombonist who joins them by physically running away from his domineering wife to jump in the back of the Packard. Joe then visits the jail from where his old clarinetist is being released. One of the more difficult recruits is his former banjo player who is in a hospital in a catatonic coma. They decide to use his old banjo to try to cure him. Recruitment of the seventh musician is completed when he engages his former drummer who has been playing his drums in a circus disguised as a trained bear. Joe's new group, the Red-hot Jazzing Seven, then replace the Catfish Spasm Band at the Blue Goose and the competition is on as they compete with The Riverview Inn and their jazz musicians. Both establishments will go to great lengths to bring in customers. The piece is still sketchy in many places but will probably be interesting and enjoyable for Vance fans to read. I read it twice and rated it a 3 or "Liked it.”
The Kragen-Jack Vance novella
"The Kragen" by Jack Vance was first published in July, 1964 as a 62 page novella length work in the magazine Fantastic Stories of Imagination. (Here it is 66 pages.) Most of "The Kragen" was incorporated into Vance's novel "The Blue World" which was published in 1966 and was 192 pages long. In "The Kragen" the complex, interesting and highly structured society of the people who live on the Blue World is only hinted at. "The Kragen" is more of an adventure story while “The Blue World” involves world building and has much more psychological, sociological and anthropological material. Each work deserves to be read alone. In both stories the human residents live on small lily pad like islands on a planet that has no dry land and was settled over a hundred years ago by their ancestors. Both stories also feature a long lived squid like sea monster creature called King Kragen. A kragen is a giant, fairly intelligent, squid like sea creature that is featured in both works, but in the novella almost the entire focus of the story is about King Kragen and how the people relate to and cope with him. Although there are many kragens, there is only one giant kragen called King Kragen who dominates the residents and is even worshipped by some of them. Each person is a member of a caste that performs certain duties, some related to feeding, worshiping or communicating with King Kragen. Among these castes are the Bezzlers (priests who worship King Kragen, the top ranking caste) and Incendiaries (those in charge of secret methods of communicating with King Kragen). The Bezzlers and Incendiaries consider themselves superior to other castes a
January 2, 2023
Probably one for the JV nut, or obsessive, or -if you like- scholar. Contents range from mildly interesting synopses of both his SF and mainstream work (and in some cases it seems fairly obvious why they were never expounded), to different versions of his more well known stories (a slightly reworked version of the Dying Earth tale, Guyal of Sfere (always a joy), and the original long short story from which the novel The Blue World grew - The Kragen), to the rather wonderful titular outline, Wild Thyme and Violets which -even in this inchoate form drips everything you might ever want from a JV story. Perhaps of most interest is the novel synopsis of The STARK, on the face of it an atypical Vancian story of a generation starship built to escape the Earth's destruction, within which all the usual international hang-ups continue... until evolutions (devolution?) occurs and something VERY typically JV emerges. Paul Rhoads' introduction, while entertaining and informative, is hardly objective.
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