tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2513019539869706574.post3160076558886738427..comments2024-03-29T20:04:30.755+08:00Comments on Monsters and Manuals: Ranking Vance's SF and Fantasy NovelsUnknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger14125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2513019539869706574.post-64867479104582084472023-10-31T06:50:18.376+08:002023-10-31T06:50:18.376+08:00Vance has been my favorite writers for over 40 yea...Vance has been my favorite writers for over 40 years and not a single month passes by without me re reading one of his books.<br />My personal favorite remains The Killing Machine (read about 10 times) with Wyst right behind it.<br /><br />5 STARS :<br />Alastor : Wyst (absolute masterpiece)<br />The last 4 Demon Princes novels (His best series, deserving of a 5 season TV show)<br />Nopalgarth (The Brains of the Earth)<br />The Dirdir and the Pnume<br />The 5 Gold Bands<br />Ecce and Old Earth<br />Cugel Saga<br />The New Prime <br />New Bodies for Old<br />Abercrombie Station & Cholwell's Ch<br />King of Thieves & Coup de Grace<br />Moon Moth<br />Showboat World<br /><br />EricVuinoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2513019539869706574.post-70174778143063967502022-09-22T04:26:59.132+08:002022-09-22T04:26:59.132+08:00Thanks! Yes, PG Wodehouse definitely fits too, and...Thanks! Yes, PG Wodehouse definitely fits too, and I believe he designed Space Opera as a tribute to Wodehouse.noismshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09933436762608669966noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2513019539869706574.post-64222189960290190872022-09-20T10:54:34.014+08:002022-09-20T10:54:34.014+08:00A few years back I read "The Five Gold Bands&...A few years back I read "The Five Gold Bands" in the form of an aged hardback from my local public library. I concur with your guess at its value within the Jack Vance [i]ouevre[/i]. <br /><br />I'm in your debt for likening early Vance to a sort of "hard boiled" Ray Bradbury. That comparison is excellent, but it had not occurred to me. If Vance reminded me of any author, he struck me as a sort of Fantasy/SF P.G. Wodehouse. Now I see that my favorite incident in "Guyal of Sfere", in which the titular hero meets the dancing girl and her flute playing grandfather, would have fit right in among the yarns found in Bradbury's [i]The Illustrated Man[/i].Magic Mirrorhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03540129784541511687noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2513019539869706574.post-3325555770969463912022-09-15T17:28:37.593+08:002022-09-15T17:28:37.593+08:00I think Wyst has a continuing relevance, and that ...I think Wyst has a continuing relevance, and that the points it makes transcend the Cold War context. But I suppose I would say that.noismshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09933436762608669966noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2513019539869706574.post-22967673586926473662022-09-15T17:27:21.984+08:002022-09-15T17:27:21.984+08:00I don't think either Emphyrio or Wyst is polem...I don't think either Emphyrio or Wyst is polemical - they are good stories in their own right. But I take the implicit point that nobody likes satire unless they agree with the stance taken by the author.noismshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09933436762608669966noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2513019539869706574.post-15809061568602044782022-09-15T14:16:31.528+08:002022-09-15T14:16:31.528+08:00The show I'm going to do when they put me in c...The show I'm going to do when they put me in charge is a Demon Princes series where he has to fight a different prince each season, pulling content from all across the Gaean Reach books to flesh it out. My pitch will be that it's like Star Wars meets Game of Thrones. Don't see how it could fail.<br /><br />It's pretty funny to me that you rate the antisocialist ones highest. Vance is easily at his worst when he's being directly political and having a go at the commies and the welfare state, like he does in Emphyrio and Wyst. Polemic fiction always sucks, it doesn't matter who's writing it or what they believe.Matt Haltonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09218026941585227639noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2513019539869706574.post-54375139550487245942022-09-15T06:03:13.511+08:002022-09-15T06:03:13.511+08:00Okay okay, your Rhialto exclusion survives on a te...Okay okay, your Rhialto exclusion survives on a technicality, haha. <br /><br />Agree that Wyst is really good -- and even better on a reread. You're right about Jantiff too, and Arrabus and its environs are truly terrific. <br /><br />But for me, it's too easily read as a mid-century partisan tract to be the absolute best. When I hear it brought up it's usually in a fist-pumping "See! Vance hated the left as much as I do!" kind of a way. <br /><br />Perhaps I shouldn't judge the work for that, but I can't help but think its propensity for being understood that way diminishes its undoubted excellent qualities. <br /><br />But maybe you deserve a couple of blunders for the good work you're doing in getting Showboat World and Ecce out there. ;)Ivanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08923725063649465366noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2513019539869706574.post-63169315733284876672022-09-15T03:26:32.286+08:002022-09-15T03:26:32.286+08:00I can't believe anyone would put Durdane above...I can't believe anyone would put Durdane above Cadwal! Eyes of the Overworld is good, but not for me one of Vance's 'greats', and Rhialto is not really a novel per se, so I excluded it on that basis. <br /><br />Wyst is a brilliant work. I was blown away by it. It has all the satire of an Animal Farm or Brave New World, but with more excitement and much more emotional heft. Jantiff is one of Vance's best and most sympathetic protagonists. And the worldbuilding itself is fabulous. It deserves to be championed!noismshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09933436762608669966noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2513019539869706574.post-37833498691409083432022-09-15T03:23:04.379+08:002022-09-15T03:23:04.379+08:00Interesting idea, although I think it more plausib...Interesting idea, although I think it more plausible to say that these are archetypes who appear again and again in Vance's fiction Ports of Call/Lurulu are a kind of farewell to them. My one main criticism of those books, by the way, is that Myron Tany is so bland - there is a lot more to a Glawen Clattuc or Jaro Fath. Myron mostly just seems to be there to get the ball rolling at the start.noismshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09933436762608669966noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2513019539869706574.post-68015374216487008232022-09-15T03:21:13.259+08:002022-09-15T03:21:13.259+08:00Aha! I will check it out -thanks.Aha! I will check it out -thanks.noismshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09933436762608669966noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2513019539869706574.post-31611875729674868402022-09-15T02:56:48.796+08:002022-09-15T02:56:48.796+08:00Really smart and perceptive rankings (is that just...Really smart and perceptive rankings (is that just another way of saying they're similar to mine?). Swap Durdane and Cadwall. Eyes of the Overworld and Rhialto deserve spots in the mix. <br /><br />But I am convinced you are trolling us by ranking Wyst as the #1. It's good, but come on man! Upper mid-tier at best! <br /><br />Of the ones you missed I think you would really enjoy To Live Forever. Ivanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08923725063649465366noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2513019539869706574.post-53603980551812963052022-09-14T09:17:10.784+08:002022-09-14T09:17:10.784+08:00I believe that To Live Forever is available from A...I believe that <i>To Live Forever</i> is available from Amazon under the title <i>Clarges</i>.John Brinegarhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12123235797335728124noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2513019539869706574.post-34024018321822732372022-09-14T07:27:54.070+08:002022-09-14T07:27:54.070+08:00I have convinced myself that the protagonist's...I have convinced myself that the protagonist's crew in Ports of Call/Lurulu are several previous Vance characters, being redeemed.<br /><br />Captain Maloof seems to me to be a less-misanthropic Magnus Ridolph. He has the same urbanity and carefully-chosen words, and a similar bent to intellectualism.<br /><br />Chief Engineer Schwatzendale is a less vile Cugel the Clever. He is similarly egotistical and tends towards con-artistry, but his goals are never malicious or cruel, just mildly opportunistic or serving his sense of justice.<br /><br />Supercargo Myron Tany is the later Vance protagonists, like Glawen Clattuc or Jaro Fath, trying to find his way while people he trusts attempt to callously use him in their schemes.<br /><br />Chief Steward Wingo gave me pause in my theory, until it hit me -- he's a non-criminal version of Ronald Wilby, or maybe even Howard Alan Treesong, a dreamer who gives more weight to his internal universe than the external one we all share.<br /><br />I don't think this theory is exact, but it struck me after reading his last two books that it might have been Vance redeeming characters who had detestable qualities who he felt he might be able to do "better" at the height of his powers.The Malumhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12971459955701026406noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2513019539869706574.post-80074332369763287002022-09-14T05:40:39.358+08:002022-09-14T05:40:39.358+08:00You are doing the Lord's work here. Lots to ad...You are doing the Lord's work here. Lots to add to the "to read" pile.Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15138028203485822495noreply@blogger.com