Once
again we have made it to another Friday. While that is good, for obvious
reasons, it also means we have made it to yet another installment of Friday’s
Forgotten Books hosted by Patti Abbott. Patti has declared today to be Jack
Vance day. This is an author I am not familiar with either in the science
fiction realm or in his mystery work. In fact, I don’t think I have ever read
any of his work before in either context. Thanks to Barry Ergang who found some
of his stuff online for free, I have something
to share with the class today.
Liane the Wayfarer has bronze ring. A very special bronze ring he discovered
while digging the grave for a spice merchant. A spice merchant who managed to
make a lot of noise while he died as well as getting his blood on Liane the Wayfarer's
distinctive red shoes. But, Liane is happy, ecstatic even, as the unpleasantness
of that situation has resulted in bronze ring.
A ring with magical properties. A ring that he shall
put to good use on the quest specified by the beautiful golden witch. Liane the
Wayfarer wants her in the worst way and to earn her love and her passion he
must obtain what she wants. While the quest is a difficult one, as they always
are, the ring should help him deal with “Chun the Unavoidable.”
According to the afterword citations, the above very
good story was originally published in a small magazine in 1950 and reappeared
in the 1962 republishing of The Dying Earth. With Barry’s help, I read the story for free
online as it is included in the anthology The World Turned Upside Down at www.freesfonline.dc/authors/Jack_Vance.html.
For those interested, the entire anthology is available online via a link at the
same location. Tales
of the Dying Earth contains all four books of the series.
The story is also interesting, as David Drake notes
in the afterword, as the story is written with a flat affect. How the reader
should react to each character in the story is dictated by the reader and is not at
all influenced by the author. It is a
neat trick when done well and certainly is in this case.
Kevin R. Tipple ©2013
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3 comments:
If you want more of the Dying Earth, you might try SONGS OF THE DYING EARTH edited by George R. R. Martin. It's a tribute collection of stories written by admirers of Jack Vance's famous series. You can find a review of SONGS OF THE DYING EARTH herhttp://georgekelley.org/tales-of-the-dying-earth-edited-by-george-r-r-martin-the-guiding-nose-of-ulfant-banderoz-by-dan-simmons/e:
That is certainly a well-loved copy of The Dying Earth.
Thank you for the suggestion, George, but I am swamped.
Seems to be, Kelly.
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