Book Review: Fantasms: A Bibliography of the Literature of Jack Vance Daniel J. H. Levack and Tim Underwood

Book Review: Fantasms: A Bibliography of the Literature of Jack Vance

Daniel J. H. Levack and Tim Underwood (Authors)

Vancealot: Jack Vance in Review, TJ Jones

Fantasms: A Bibliography of the Literature of Jack Vance was published in 1978 so it is somewhat dated and obviously does not include works Vance wrote after that date.  But it remains a labor of love by the authors, Daniel Levack and Tim Underwood and should still be of interest to Vance fans today.  It placed fifth in the 1979 Locus Awards for the Best Reference Book.  The paperback version of this was limited to 900 copies.  Hardcover was limited to 100 signed copies. It is 91 pages long.

In the Introduction it is explained that all English language writings of Vance are covered, including science fiction, fantasy and mystery and that title changes are cross referenced.  Some foreign language issues are also included.  The chapter "Books" lists all of Vance's book publications in alphabetical order with black and white photos of the front covers of the books.  "Notes On Books" includes the interesting note that Vance did know acknowledge authorship of the three Ellery Queen novels.  These novels include The Four Johns, The Madman Theory and A Room to Die In.  A note next to each of these books states, "Rewritten by the publishers."  This seems to imply that so many changes were made by the publishers that Vance no longer identified with them. 

The fourth section is titled "Stories" and includes shorter works by Vance.  Most are listed with the total number of words in them.  I found this information to be interesting because the standards of the Science Fiction Writers of America defines short stories, novelettes, novellas and novels by the number of words in the story.  The classification is not based on the number of pages because pages vary from publication to publication.  Fortunately ISFDB (Internet Speculative Fiction Data Base) indicates the classification of each Vance work so whenever I review a work I know if it is a short story (less than 7,500 words), novelette (7,500-17,000 words), novella (17,000-40,000 words) or a novel (40,000+ words.)  In the Stories section there are also black and white photos of many of the magazines that included the Vance work listed.

"Series and Connected Stories" lists the Jack Vance book series.  I found it interested that they were listed as Alastor [Cluster], Joe Bain, Big Planet, Cugel the Clever, Dying Earth, Gastel Etzwane (Durdane), Kirth Garsen [sic, should be Gersen]  (The Demon Princes), Miro Hetzel, Jean Parlier, Adam Reith (Tschai) [Planet of Adventure] and Magnus Ridolph.  It does not list the so called series “Nopalgarth” (Son of the Tree-1951, House of Izm-1954, and Brains of the Earth-1966).  The Cadwal Chronicles had not yet been written nor had the last two novels in Tales of the Dying Earth. 

In the section titled "Pseudonyms" we are reminded of the other authorship names Vance used including Peter Held, John Holbrook, Ellery Queen, John Van See, Jack Vance, John Holbrook Vance (his real name) and Alan Wade.  It lists which publications were issued under each name.

The section Chronological Order of Publication of Vance's Work begins in 1945 and ends at 1978 and includes both novels and shorter works.  It was fascinating for me to see what he published each year.  Some years were much more prolific for him and I could also see the evolution of his writing, especially since I've have read all of his publications.  Some of Vance's very early works were actually extremely well written.

A short, but interesting, section is titled "Jack Vance Television Appearances."  I'm not sure how many Vance fans know that Bad Ronald and The Man in the Cage were adapted for television and that Vance wrote six Captain Video episodes.  As a Vance completist I'd love to see all of these.

If you are a Vance fan you will probably want to purchase a used copy of this book.  Although the other information is readily available on the Internet, I like having it in book form and especially appreciate the some of the highlights I've mentioned.  Although this is a book that will have limited appeal, for Vance aficionados such as myself it is very desirable.  I imagine with so much information being available on the Internet now that an updated bibliography in book form is unlikely to be published.  But if an updated version with additional photos (preferably in color) came out, I'd jump at a chance to purchase a copy.  Recommended for Vance devotees.  Rated 5.

P.S. For more updated Vance publication information readers may check out the site at the Internet Speculative Fiction Data Base:  https://isfdb.org/cgi-bin/ch.cgi?136