Showing results for "jack vance"

New races of man had evolved, new species of beast; science had vanished and magic had arisen to dominate the twilight of our world as it dominated the earth's morning. The Dying Earth is Jack Vance's finest work - a stunning evocation of a world peopled by wizards, witches, demons, monsters, dashing princes and forlorn maidens. A bejewelled gallery of strange and wonderful beings in the eminent tradition of Tolkien and William Morris.Jack Vance's preferred title for this collectio...

The Elder Isles - an ancient land where chivalry and the realm of fairie exist side by side. A land of mystery, strange beauty, high adventure and arcane magic. Kings are at war, opposing magicians devise ever more cunning stratagems. It is a land where princesses and changelings both can become embroiled in political rivalries and the quest for the grail.The Gollancz Black Books have proved to be an immensely successful formula for getting well loved stories into the hands of peop...

"The Tree ruled the horizons, shouldered aside the clouds, and wore thunder and lightning like a wreath of tinsels. It was the soul of life, trampling and vanquishing the inert, and Joe understood how it had come to be worshipped by the first marvelling settlers on Kyril." Joe Smith is roaming the galaxy in search of the man who has stolen his love's heart. During his travels he becomes involved with a power struggle taking part between two worlds - one religious, the other cultural - over...

In the Foreword, writing fifty years ago, the author describes his vision of a new space age; he predicts that by 1985 the age of space piracy will begin and that a Space Navy will be established, speculating that some of his younger readers might participate: "I hope that none of you serve with the pirates. The pay might not be so good in the Space Navy, but you'll live longer."

A collection of some of Jack Vance's best short fiction, containing:Golden GirlMasquerade on DicantropusAbercrombie StationCholwell's ChickensThe MitrThe World BetweenWhen the Five Moons RiseMeet Miss UniverseThe Insufferable Red-headed Daughter of Commander Tynnott, O.T.E.

The Potters of Firsk includes the majority of Vance's 'Magnus Ridolph' stories, previously collected in The Many Worlds of Magnus Ridolph. In the VIE edition this book is titled Gadget Stories.Contents: Planet of the Black Dust, Dead Ahead ("Ultimate Quest"), Hard Luck Diggings, Sanatoris Short-cut, The Unspeakable McInch, The Howling Bounders, The King of Thieves, The Sub-standard Sardines, To B or Not to C or to D ("Cosmic Hotfoot"), Spa of the Stars, The Enchanted Princess ("The ...

This volume includes Vance's first published story ("The World-Thinker") and a selection of other stories including the novella "Telek".Contents: The World-Thinker, Dream Castle ("I'll Build Your Dream Castle"), Seven Exits from Bocz, The God and the Temple Robber ("The Temple of Han"), Telek, Men of The Ten Books, D.P., Noise ("Music of the Spheres"), The Absent Minded Professor ("First Star I See Tonight"; "Murder Observed"), The Devil On Salvation Bluff, Where Hesperus Falls, The...

The fantastic quests and adventures of Cugel: the greatest rogue in the realms of fantasy.For the second time, Cugel the Clever has been carried north over the Ocean of Sighs and dumped half a world away from home, on Shanglestone Strand. Swearing revenge on the Laughing Magician, Cugel sets off through mud pits and bars, through villages, manor houses and across the seas. At last, after many an extraordinary adventure, he comes once more to the land of Almery and the chance to exa...

Jack Vance has long been one of the most influential, admired and imitated writers in science fiction and fantasy literature, the award-winning author of such widely acclaimed works as The Dying Earth, the Lyonesse trilogy, the adventures of Cugel the Clever, the Demon Princes series, and many other masterful tales set among the stars, in exotic fantasy realms or on our own Earth.For much of his career, Vance has also been one of the field's most private writers, an author who pref...

The Rapparee is Jack Vance's preferred title for the novel previously published as The Space Pirate and The Five Gold Bands.Five gold bracelets imprinted with cryptic messages were the clues that set Paddy Blackthorn off on a riotous galactic treasure hunt. But Paddy found himself not only the hunter but also the hunted for the armbands had been left to him by his would-be killers, the Rulers of the Five Planets.All Jack Vance titles in Gateway use the author's preferred te...

The city of Clarges is a near-utopia, surrounded by barbarism throughout the rest of the world. Abundant resources and the absence of political conflict lead to a pleasant life that should be stress-free. However, nearly everyone is obsessed with a perpetual scramble for status, called slope. Medical technology has led to a great lengthening of the human lifespan, but, in order to prevent the Malthusian horrors of over-population, it is awarded only to those citizens who have made notable ...

Rhialto the Marvellous takes up the personal and political conflicts among a conclave of two dozen magicians of Ascolais and Almery in the 21st Aeon. The shocking appearance of the Llorio the Murtha, a powerful female force from an earlier aeon threatens to unbalance nature by "ensqualming" or feminizing the magicians. This triggers a tremendous struggle for power and the other mages turn against Rhialto. Hoping to reestablish his rightful place, Rhialto travels to other aeons to restore t...