Book Review: Handbook of Vance Space-Michael Andre-Driussi

 Book Review:  Handbook of Vance Space-Michael Andre-Driussi

Vancealot: Jack Vance in Review, TJ Jones

Sirius Fiction, trade paperback & hardcover, 187 pages

Release Date: 2014

Availability: May be purchased new from Amazon as of 2/24.

Michael Andre-Driussi has done a remarkable job of creating this amazing book which must have involved an incredible amount of time and much dedicated work.  If you read it front to cover, as I did, you will probably want to do so slowly because it is really a dictionary style, dense reference book, one that most Vance fans will probably want to own rather than borrow.  The paperback edition is a high quality trade paperback, but there is also a hardcover issue.  The book's subtitle is "Everyman's Guide to the Planets of the Alastor Cluster, the Gaean Reach, the Oikumene and other exotic sectors from the Science Fiction of Jack Vance."

After the "Contents" and "Abbreviations" sections there is an "Index of Entries" followed by "Tables and Maps."  The main section called "Entries" is an alphabetical listing of all the clusters, stars, planets, moons, places, inhabitants, creatures, etc. that are mentioned or described in Vance's writings--excluding his mysteries where all the settings were on Earth.  "Entries" is followed by a "Star Map Collection" and "Appendices."  The later is especially interesting because it includes: Spaceships, Sports, Tentative Unified Timeline, Source Texts and Their Primary Planets, Concerning the Rigel Concourse, Notes of the Modes or Phases of Marune, Itineraries, Subjective Listings, Secondary Texts, List of Real Stars and Linkages Between Texts.  The timeline is an estimate based on references in the texts and at times involves some conjecture, but it is still fascinating.

As presented in "Handbook of Vance Space," the detailed complexity of Vance's worlds is astonishing.  It helps us to see what an amazingly talented world builder he was.  The text throughout is very well written and beautifully organized.  This is a major contribution to Vance's legacy and all dedicated Vance fans will probably want to own a copy.  It makes a great companion to The Jack Vance Lexicon: From Abiloid to Zygage by Dan Temianka.  Very highly recommended! I rated it a 5.

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