Book Review: The Dragon Masters and Other Stories-Jack Vance

Book Review: The Dragon Masters and Other Stories-Jack Vance

Vancealot: Jack Vance in Review, TJ Jones

Spatterlight Press trade paperback, 256 pages

Release Date: 2016

Foreword: Terry Dowling

Cover art: Marcel Laverdet

Contents:

·       The Dragon Masters, novella

·       The Last Castle, novella

·       The Miracle Workers, novella

This is a collection of three Jack Vance novellas.  The Dragon Masters and The Last Castle are very well known but all three stories are essential reading for Vance fans and will probably appeal to many science fiction and fantasy readers.  Many of Vance’s writings were altered or changed by heavy handed editors so this Spatterlight edition is especially welcome since it includes all of the corrections that were made in the Vance Integral Edition, presenting these works as Vance originally intended them.  It supersedes any previous releases.  Being issued in a high quality trade paperback is an additional bonus.  Highly recommended!

Dragon Masters, The-Jack Vance novella

Dragon Masters is a 116 page novella that was first published in the Galaxy Magazine in August, 1962. It was initially released in book form in 1963 in an Ace Double paperback. It won a Hugo Award in 1963 for “Best Short Fiction.” This is a very well-known Vance work and should have rather widespread appeal to science fiction readers. It is an entertaining and enjoyable novel that involves much imaginative combat and action, using strange lizard like creatures referred to as dragons and large genetically modified humanoids.

The story takes place on the planet Aerlith, a rocky planet with a few fertile valleys.  One colony of humans, led by Joaz Banbeck, lives in Banthen Valley in caves and another, led by Ervis Carcolo, resides in Happy Valley in huts. Another group of humans called the Sacerdotes live in deep caverns and consider themselves to be a different species, referring to other humans as "Utter Men."  They are mysterious ascetics who have long hair, never wear clothes and have golden torcs around their necks. Sacerdotes are devoted to truth and knowledge and cannot tell lies but often answer questions in a vague indirect way.  They refer to the other humans as “Utter Men” and trade with them for food but otherwise avoid Utter Men affairs.  The Sacerdotes consider themselves superior to other humans and wait for the time when all Utter Men are extinct so they can take over.  Sacerdotes are also very secretive and are suspected by some of having some hidden advance technologies, possibly even advance weapons or spaceships. The Sacerdotes spend their time smelting metal, boiling glass and performing their rituals.

Many years ago aliens called "Graphs" or "Basics" invaded Aerlith and kidnapped many humans. The Graphs continue to sometimes return to Aerlith to bomb the towns and to abduct humans whom they enslave and genetically modify to make warriors. Years ago some of the Graphs were captured by the humans and served as the breeding stock to create fighting dragons. So the humans have dragon like fighters who are descendants of the Graphs and the Graphs have warriors who are bred from genetically modified humans.

The different types of dragons developed in the breeding programs are described in detail and include Spiders, Termagants, Striding Murderers, Long-horned Murderers, Fiends, Blue Horrors, and Juggers.  Each type has its uses in battle. Some have horns or pincers they use to fight with while others are trained to use pistols, swords or mace.  Dragons come in a variety of sizes from human size to gigantic. This is also true of the soldiers the Graphs use that are genetically modified humans. These include Trackers, Mounts, Heavy Troopers, Weaponeers, and twelve feet tall Giants.  Some Graph soldiers carry powerful guns and their ships have heat-beams and ion-rays.

The leader of Banthen Valley, Joaz Banbeck, meets with the leader of Happy Valley, Ervis Carcolo, to ask for his assistance in preparing to defend the planet from another Graph attack. He suggests that they align forces and that Carcolo follow his lead by making underground tunnels and caves so their citizens can retreat to them when the Graph’s return. Carcolo refuses to cooperate or assist, however, and is more interested in attacking other humans to expand his territory. Banbeck also tries to enlist the aid of the Sacerdotes in defending against the Graphs but they refuse to be involved in mutual defense or in any of the affairs of the Utter Men. They are not just devout pacifists but refuse to take action of any kind for any reason.

Carcolo is not concerned about the basics returning in their ships to kidnap humans because they have not done this in several years. Instead he is preoccupied with breeding dragons, fighting and expanding his territory.  So rather than joining Banbeck to prepare their defenses against the basics, he decides to attack Banbeck.  Vance depicts the battles between Carcolo and Banbeck with Banbeck getting the better of the two.  During one of their fights Carcolo hears that the basics have landed in Happy Valley so he calls for a truce and asks Banbeck to join him to combat the basics.  But Banbeck refuses, saying that Carcolo is as much of a danger to his people as the Basics are.

The story continues with exciting, detailed fighting scenes depicted between the different dragons of the humans and the strange Graph fighters .The Graphs have blast cannons and advanced weapons, including ones mounted on their spaceship, and the humans have mostly muskets, swords and maces so the humans must rely more on stealth and strategy than on brute strength and firepower.  Dragon Masters is a fast paced and engaging story and should appeal to all Vance fans and many science fiction and fantasy readers.  I've read it three times so far and rate it a 4 out of 5 “Really liked it.”

The Last Castle-Jack Vance novella

"The Last Castle" was first published in Galaxy Magazine in April, 1966.  It is a 59/66/113 page novella, but it has sometimes been incorrectly labeled as a novelette and as a novel.  It won the Hugo Award for Best Novelette in 1967 and the Nebula Award for Best Novella in 1966.  It was also nominated for a Nebula Award for Best Novel.

The setting is in the far future where for the past seven hundred years an elite clans of humans on Earth live in luxury castles as a special class of ruling aristocrats who call themselves “gentlemen.”  Working under them are two alien, nonhuman species the Peasants and the Meks. The Peasants are “small andromorphs originally of Spica Ten” who are incapable of being aggressive. The Meks were brought to Earth from another planet called Etamion Nine and seem very submissive. They have a maw for a face and syrup sacs on their body that were once used for extracting “decayed swamp vegetation” on their home planet.  Now the syrup sacs are filled with a syrup manufactured by humans. Mek brains seem to function as radio receivers that allow them to communicate with each other and to work as one.  They are described as being a “hybrid of sub-man and cockroach” and are thought to be devoid of feelings. The “gentlemen” are also served by giant birds that talk and provide transportation for the humans and beings called Phanes that are beautiful but very fragile.  On Earth there are also some humans, called Nomads, who have revolted against the gentlemen and live an independent, self-sufficient life without Meks, Peasants, Phanes, giant birds and castles.

Most of the labor in the castles, even the most technical such as the maintenance of spaceships is performed by the Meks.  The humans think the docile Meks are content working for them, so are taken by surprise when there is an uprising and all of the Meks begin to fight and kill humans.  The Meks rightly view themselves as being slaves to the humans and think there is room on Earth for only one species.  The Meks defeat all castles except the largest and best defended one called Castle Hagedorn.  One of the Hagedorn clan leaders there, Xanten, organizes a final stand against the Meks.

Using animated dialog and interesting customs and interactions, Vance presents humanitarian and ethical issues in a well written and absorbing story.  The Meks might be insect like and nonhuman but they clearly can think for themselves and don’t want to be enslaved anymore.  This is one of Vance’s better works even though it is not among his very finest efforts.  It is a pity that more of Vance's writings did not receive awards. I’ve read The Last Castle several times and rated it a 4 “Really liked it.”

The Miracle Workers-Jack Vance novella

"The Miracle Workers" is a 74 page novella published in July, 1958 by Astounding Science Fiction. The original inhabitants of the planet Pangborn are called First Folk.  They are the size of humans but have foam sacs that bulge from their arms with orange lipped foam vents pointing forward.  Their backs are wrinkled and loose with skin acting as a bellows to blow air through their foam-sacs.  Enormous hands end with sharp chisel like fingers.  The “head was sheathed in chitin.  Billion-faceted eyes swelled from either side of the head, glowing like black opals.”  They lived in fields of moss but were forced to move into the forests when humans arrived sixteen hundred years ago and displaced and marginalized the First Folk who now consider humans to be their enemy.  These humans once had spaceships and advanced weapons and machines but over the years they lost the knowledge and skills that supported their science and technology.

The main character in this novella is Lord Faide, a human who has waged war to unite the various forts on the planet where other humans reside.  Faide’s solders are mostly foot soldiers who carry crossbows and darts and some mounted, armored knights. The only technically more advance weapons Lord Faide has are several untried cannon like device called Hellmouth and one small, single person shuttle that Lord Faide can minimally operate. But they do employ psychic warfare skills called "hoodoo" that the "jinxmen" use telepathically to frighten the opposition soldiers by causing them to have horrible visions of demons. Hoodoo can also be used to insert a demon like mentality into one's own soldiers to turn them into amazingly fierce fighters. “For over a thousand years the keep-lords had struggled for power.”  “None before had ever extended his authority across the entire continent-which meant control of the planet.”  Lord Faide, from Faide Keep, hopes to be the first leader to do so.

As the story begins Lord Faide is advancing with his army toward a human fort at Ballant Keep that is ruled by Lord Ballant.  But his path to Ballant Keep is blocked by a forest that was planted by the First Folk. The forest is full of deadfalls, scythes, nettle traps and other deadly traps set by the First Folk so Lord Faide decides to negotiate with the First Folk by asking them for a guide to help them get through the deadly forest. Initially the First Folk refuse but when they hear that Lord Faide is planning to attack and kill other humans, the First Folk offer to guide them through the forest because “they are pleased to see us killing one another.”

Chapters III, IV, V and VI are devoted to the imaginative battles between Lord Faide’s troops and those of Lord Ballant’s.  Lord Ballant has an ancient weapon called the Volcano and both sides have ordinary soldiers plus jinxmen who employ their hoodoo to create visions of demons and to implant magical forces into their own men to make them into fierce demon possessed fighters, many times stronger than ordinary humans. 

After the battle Lord Faide and his men attempt to return home but find their way blocked by the First Folk who bear large tubes that look like weapons.  The humans are not concerned at first, however, because the “First Folk were a pale and feeble race, no match for human beings in single combat, but they guarded their forests with traps and deadfalls.” Unfortunately for Lord Faide and his soldiers, hoodoo does not work on the First Folk because their brains are not human and the First Folk have decided that they have had enough persecution by humans. They have bizarre weapons unknown to humans, including large wasp like insects that are fired out from tubes like missiles and secretions of foam.  There is a lot of fighting in the story, but I found it to be a creative and fascinating fantasy work.  I’ve read it three times so far and rated it a 4+ “Really liked plus.”

Note:  Spatterlight Press LLC is a publishing company that was created by the family and friends of Jack Vance.  So far they have published 62 high quality trade paperback editions of Vance’s novels (all except three Ellery Queen mystery novels: Strange She Hasn’t Written, Death of a Solitary Chess Player, and The Man Who Walks Behind.) and collections of his shorter works.  These are all based on the Vance Integral Edition (VIE) which were extensively reviewed and edited to be as faithful as possible to Vance’s original writings.  Many of Vance’s works were altered or heavily edited by book and magazine editors with even the author’s titles changed. Spatterlight now offers to the general public access to Vance’s writings the way he originally intended them to be.  In 2023 they began issuing hardcover editions of the same works they had previously printed in paperback.  They also have e-book editions available at: https://jackvance.com/

Spatterlight Vance books are listed here: 

https://jackvance.com/signatureseries/