Book Review: The Augmented Agent-Jack Vance

Book Review: The Augmented Agent-Jack Vance

Vancelot: Jack Vance in Review, TJ Jones

Underwood-Miller, hardcover, 237 pages

Release Date: 1986

Cover art: Ned Dameron

Contents:

·       Introduction-Steven Owen Godersky, 11 pages

·       Shape-Up, 11 pages, short story

·       The Man From Zodiac, 40 pages, novelette

·       Golden Girl, 10 pages,  short story

·       The Planet Machine, 28 pages, novelette

·       Crusade to Maxus, 49 pages, novelette

·       Three-Legged Joe, 16 pages, short story

·       Sjambak, 22 pages, novelette

·       The Augmented Agent, 32 pages, novelette

This is a very nice hardcover collection of eight shorter works by Jack Vance. It includes three short stories and five novelettes.  The eight stories were originally published between 1951 and 1967.  This issue is out of print but can be located used.  Since all of these stories are now available in Spatterlight Press trade paperback editions this book will be of interest primarily to Jack Vance collectors.  A brief review of each story follows:

Shape-Up-Jack Vance short story

Shape-Up is an 11 page short story published first in Cosmos Science Fiction and Fantasy Magazine in November, 1953.  Our protagonist, Jarvis, reads a classified ad about four high paying positions available as space travelers and decides to apply. When he arrives at the place of interview he notes that many other men are also interested in the jobs. He finds his interview to be especially strange because they seem mostly interested in weight and blood type of the applicants and want to narrow the group down to eight.  Jarvis soon finds himself to be under suspicion for past misdeeds in what turns out to be much more than a job interview. Vance uses only a few pages to present us with another suspenseful, action story with odd characters but it is only mildly interesting. I’ve read it several times and rated it a 3 “Liked it.”

Man from Zodiac-Jack Vance novella, AKA: Milton Hack from Zodiac (author’s preferred title)

Man from Zodiac was written in 1957 and first published ten years later in August, 1967 in Amazing Stories Magazine and is a 40 page novella.  It is also known as "Milton Hack from Zodiac."  Its draft title was “Phronus-Sabo Contract.” This is a clever, witty story about a company called Zodiac that offers contracts to bring government and organization to other societies.  Milton Hack is their field representative and travels to other planets to try to sell contracts.  He also owns 8% of the company.  The rest of the company has just been inherited in equal shares by a brother and sister after their father died. Hack has been screening out applicants to avoid those that are especially problematic and unlikely to meet their financial commitments, but his new boss wants him to sign up anybody.  Giving in to pressure, Hack contracts with an especially uncivilized, warring group called the Phrones from Ethelrinda Cordas.  The Phrones, however, are not really interested in a government.  They just want arms to kill off their enemies, the Sabols.  The Sabols in the meantime have signed a contract with a different company that is in competition with Zodiac. Hack is tenacious and clever as he tries to explain that he is there to set up a government, not to provide arms.  The story is interesting with many twists.  I’ve read it several times rated it a 4 “Really liked it.”

Golden Girl-Jack Vance short story

Golden Girl was written in 1945 and first issued in Marvel Science Stories in 1951.  It is a 10 page short story about a reporter, Bill Baxter, who becomes famous after he rescues a woman from a wrecked spaceship.  The woman, Lurulu, is a remarkably beautiful golden colored human like alien who is sent to a hospital to recover. Baxter tries to protect her from the many reporters, CIA agents and others who want to talk with her or even relocate her. Eventually she is even invited with Baxter to stay at the White House. But fame and world attention cannot offset Lurulu's homesickness, and Baxter becomes increasingly attracted to her.  This is a very simple story that should appeal mostly to Vance fans.  I’ve read it three times and rated it 3, 3 and 4.

The Planet Machine-Jack Vance novelette, AKA: The Plagian Siphon and, The Uninhibited Robot (author’s preferred title)

The Planet Machine was first published under the title "The Plagian Siphon" in 1951 in Thrilling Wonder Stories.  In this collection it is 28 pages.  It has also been known as "The Uninhibited Robot" and is a novelette.  The main character, Allixter, is employed as a computer repairman and is sent by his boss to the planet Rhetus to fix a malfunction computer that is killing those who approach it. He brings along a "Conceptualizer" that warns him of upcoming dangers and analyses situations.  Even though this is an early Vance work it is a complex story with an unpredictable plot and underlying intrigue.  Vance did revise some of his stories over the years but I purchased the original October 1951 TWS and compared it to the version in the 1986 book and they appear to be identical except for the title change. In addition to Vance fans, this story will probably appeal to science fiction readers in general. I’ve read it three times so far and rated it 4 “Really liked it.”

Crusade to Maxus-Jack Vance novelette (author’s preferred title), AKA: Overlords to Maxus

Crusade to Maxus is a 49 page novella that was first published in the magazine Thrilling World Stories in February, 1951 under the title "Overlords to Maxus."  The main character, Dyle Travec, goes to the planet Maxus to try to find his family members who were kidnapped by a slave trader ("slaver") who is taking them to the planet to sell as slaves.  The planet has an extensive manufacturing economy that is based on slavery. Travec is hoping he can arrive in time to buy back his mother, two sisters and a brother at the "Slave Distribute" when they are put up for auction. By the time arrives, though, his mother is dead and all of his other family members have been sold. He is able to speak with one of his sisters who asks him to save a friend of theirs who was very helpful and kind on the flight to the planet.  Travec is able to do so and then leaves the planet with this friend to track down the "slaver" and kill him for what he has done.  Travec does find the slave trader but encounters something he never anticipated. The "slaver" is actually planning a revolution to free all the slaves on Maxus.  Can he support this "slaver" after what he did to his family or should he follow through with justifiable revenge?  It all becomes pleasantly complicated with self interest, politics and economics each playing a role. Some ethical issues to ponder are also involved.  I’ve read this story multiple times, found it to be quite engaging and rated it a 4 “Really liked it.”

Three Legged Joe-Jack Vance short story

Three Legged Joe is a 16 page short story that was published initially in January, 1953 in Startling Stories. This is a story that is pure fun and I can imagine Vance chuckling as he wrote it.  Two recent graduates of the Highland Technical Institute, John Milke and Oliver Paskell,  plan to go to the planet Odfars to mine heavy metal. When they attempt to hire a highly experienced assistant to accompany them on their prospect trip, nobody will come and they are told by old timers to hire Three Legged Joe who lives on Odfars and will find them soon after their arrival.  “Get Three-legged Joe to wait on you. he’ll make you a good hand.” After arrival at Odfars, however, they find out that Joe is a giant humanoid like creature who lives by eating acid for chemical energy.  In his search for acid Three Legged Joe destroys their camp and equipment, and John and Oliver begin to fear for their own safety. They now realize why nobody would hire on with them and why no mining claims have ever been filed on the planet.  Three Legged Joe is a creature who is terribly intrusive, immensely powerful and virtually indestructible.  If he is not dealt with, however, their mining operation on the planet will need to be abandoned. It is an early, old fashioned sci fi story, all very light hearted and humorous in a style unique to Vance.  I have read the story now four times and it grew on me so I rated it a 4 “Really liked it”

Sjambak-Jack Vance novelette

Sjambak was originally published in July, 1953 in the magazine If Worlds of Science Fiction.  It is a 22 page novelette. Wilbur Murphy is a reporter from a TV series on Earth called "Know Your Universe!"  It has two hundred million viewers, but its ratings have been down and his boss wants a story that is very sensational.  They hear about a planet called Sirgamesk where the lack of an atmosphere requires humans to wear spacesuits when not in the “mountain valleys, with airtight lids over ‘em.”  There are reports of a horseman without a spacesuit who has been riding up to greet arriving spaceships as they are still in flight ten thousand miles above the planet.  This horseman “waves to the pilot, takes off his hat to the passengers, then rides back down.”

Murphy is sent to this planet to check the story out and make a film of the horseman and any other interesting events or attractions.  Murphy's interest for something exciting to write about contrasts with the wishes of the sultan who rules the planet.  The sultan wants a very conservative report that reflects positively on their society. "We are quiet Mohammedans and indulge in very little festivity." Murphy's boss, in contrast, is insisting on a show that is full of "Sex! Excitement! Mystery!" The sultan wants his Minister of Propaganda to provide an educational program, "stressing our progressive social attitude, our prosperity and financial prospects."  In contrast Murphy is more interested in bands of roving bandits, prisoners who are publicly displayed naked in cages, a prince who might be planning jihad, ancient ruins, gamelan players, exotic dancers, and anything else that might increase his show's ratings.  He is also interested in a renegade, warrior group of people who live in the wild and are called Sjambaks.  The Sultan and others seem reluctant to talk about them or the rumors of the horseman without a spacesuit. The story Sjambak is well worth reading, especially for Vance fans, but it is not one of Vance's great stories like "The Moon Moth."  I've read it four times so far and rated it a 3: "Liked it."

Augmented Agent-Jack Vance, novelette (author’s preferred title), AKA: I-C-a-BeM

The Augmented Agent is a 32 page novelette that was written in 1956 and first published in October, 1961 in Amazing Stories magazine under the title "I-C-a-BeM."  This is another story that is pure enjoyment.  James Keith is in a special branch of the CIA where agents are surgically altered (augmented).  Keith's hair consists of, "multi-laminated accumulators."  His dentures are "scrambled, condensed, transmitted, received, expanded and unscrambled radio waves of energies almost too low to be detected."  Fingernails are "copper-silver alloy, internally connected to the accumulators in his hair" and allow Keith to electrically kill or stun others by touching them with his fingers. Keith has been altered to look identical to an African politician whom he is supposed to dispose of and impersonate.  It is James Bond, Monty Python and Jack Vance all tumbled into one story.  I’ve read it multiple times and rate it a 4 “Really liked it”