Jack Vance books

[Olgar Shiverstone]

I just got done reading my first Jack Vance novel (The Eyes of the Overworld). Great fun -- it's very clear where a significant majority of D&Disms come from (especially when placed along side Leiber, Howard, and Tolkien). The books reads like a D&D adventure with a truly insane DM. I'm surprised it took me this long to pick Vance up, as long as I've played D&D.

That guy has an incredible vocabulary, too! Now I think I know where EGG got a lot of the writing style for his own novels and the original DMG. There's more than a passing resemblance between Gord the Rogue and Cugel the Clever, too.

Now I need to find The Dying Earth. Is Cugel the main character of that one, too? His introduction in Eyes is a bit abrupt.

 

[Richards]

No, The Dying Earth is a collection of short stories, none of which include Cugel the Clever. He does appear (naturally) in Cugel's Saga, which is a direct sequel to Eyes of the Overworld. However, the last book in the "Dying Earth" series, Rhialto the Marvellous, doesn't feature Cugel either.

Johnathan

 

[your father is]

I've got some Vance sitting on my shelf and, for some unknown reason, I've never read it. Maybe it's time to pick it up...

 

[JoeBlank]

I've had The Dying Earth on my "to read" list for a while, but had never really considered any other Vance books. Should I read something else first, such as The Eyes of the Overworld?

 

[Richards]

It's really your call. The Dying Earth was written first, but it's just a collection of short stories and has no real bearing on Eyes of the Overworld (a novel) other than a shared setting. You'd definitely want to read Eyes of the Overworld before Cugel's Saga, though, since that's a direct sequel.

Johnathan

 

[Olgar Shiverstone]

I need to pick up Dying Earth. I miss the days when there was a great used bookstore just down the road.

Heck, Eyes was tremendous fun just for the language. It certainly expanded my vocabulary.

 

[Richards]

Yeah, I love Jack Vance's use of language. One of my favorite "Vance-isms," from Galactic Effectuator (which in itself is a great Vance title - why use a term as boring as "space cop?"), goes something along the lines of:

Alien warrior, about to go into battle: "I intend to slay six enemies and void upon their corpses."

Galactic Effectuator, who needs the alien as a witness: "You must postpone this endeavor!"

If you've already read Eyes of the Overworld, then you've already seen the part where Cugel, caught robbing Iocounnu's mansion and about to be spirited away to the far ends of the earth, decides that now would be a good time to give the wizard a frank appraisal of his opinion of him.

Gotta love that Vance!

Johnathan

 

[Olgar Shiverstone]

"I do not care to listen; obloquy injures my self esteem and I am skeptical of praise."

 

[Lazybones]

His sci-fi books are also rather entertaining; in particular I enjoyed the Planet of Adventure quartet (in a single volume edition) very much (The Demon Princes quintet slightly less so). His Lyonesse trilogy (Suldrun's Garden, The Green Pearl, and Madouc) is rather hard to get ahold of but is also a lot of fun.

 

[BiggusGeekus]

If you've read this thread this far and you haven't read The Dying Earth stop immediately and read it now.