Book Review: Wild Thyme and Violets and Other Unpublished Works-Jack Vance

Book Review: Wild Thyme and Violets and Other Unpublished Works-Jack Vance

Vancealot: Jack Vance in Review, TJ Jones

Spatterlight Press trade paperback, 318 pages

Release Date: 2018

Foreword: Paul Rhoads

Cover art: Howard Kistler

Contents:

·       Foreword: Reaching for the Essence, Paul Rhodes, 14 pages

·       Cat Island, fragment, 5 pages

·       The Genesee Slough Murders, outline for a novel, 25 pages

·       The STARK, outline for a novel, 49 pages

·       Wild Thyme and Violets, outline for a novel, 16 pages

·       Clang, synopsis for a screenplay, 7 pages

·       The Magnificent Red-hot Jazzing Seven, synopsis for a screenplay, 12 pages

·       The Kragen, novella, 66 pages

·       Guyal of Sfere, revised excerpt from a novel, 23 pages

·       The Telephone was Ringing in the Dark, outline for a mystery novel, 78 pages

·       Dream Castle, revised short story, 18 pages

This is a collection of mostly previously unpublished shorter works by Jack Vance, including some fragments, outlines and synopses that were first published in the very limited Vance Integral Edition (VIE).  This collection begins with an excellent fourteen page forward by Paul Rhoads titled Reaching for the Essence that describes the contents. The book should appeal to dedicated Vance fans and completists, but would probably be of little interest to regular readers. For those fairly new to Vance there are other Spatterlight Vance collections that I’d recommend such as The Moon Moth and Other Stories.  I’ve read everything every published by Vance, all of it at least twice, and most of it three times or more but after reading this collection only twice I doubt I’ll read it again. Devoted Vance fans will certainly want a copy but it will probably have limited appeal to other readers.

This release is a high quality trade paperback edition that is based on the Vance Integral Edition (VIE) that is the revised and author approved edition of the writings of Jack Vance.  Many of the original writings of Vance were edited, altered, expanded or cut by editors, especially shorter works that were published first in science fiction and fantasy magazines.

Cat Island-Jack Vance fragment

"Cat Island" is a fragment of short fiction written in 1946 that is 5 pages long and was not previously published until the Vance Integral Edition was released in 2006.  It has been described as an "unfinished children's story" and also as a "previously unpublished excerpt from a novella."  It is not science fiction or a mystery and it seems more of a social satire than a fantasy.  We can only wonder what it would have become if Vance had continued to work with it.  The story begins with a large ship lost at sea.  The sole survivors are thirty two cats who abandon ship and board a life raft.  On the fourth day adrift at sea their raft lands on a beach and the cats decide to hold council.  They discuss ways of trying to increase the probability of being rescued, but they finally agree that it is hopeless and that the best course is to set up their own society.  They decide to name their island Cat Island.  The island is later invaded by dangerous enemies of the United States and the cats decide to align with the U.S. Marines to combat the invaders.  Cat Island is a rather silly piece and will probably be of interest only to the most devoted Vance fan.  Rated 2 or “Okay”

Genesee Slough Murders-Jack Vance outline for a novel

"The Genesee Slough Murders" was written in 1966 and is a 25 pages long outline for another mystery novel involving Joe Bain, a likeable, competent sheriff in a rural imaginary county in northern California.  The Genesee Slough Murders: Outline for a Novel was first published in 1994 in The Work of Jack Vance: An Annotated Bibliography and Guide. Although this has been referred to as "an outline for a novel," it is much more than just an outline.  It is more of a Joe Bain mystery novelette with some of the chapters left as summaries.  It appears that Vance was going to expand the story into a full novel or at least a novella.  Despite its brevity, the story has a beginning, middle and end, although the resolution and ending seems rushed.  It has some interesting characters, an appealing setting, some Vancian humor, and a snappy dialog with enough intrigue to engage the reader.  Joe Bain is the clever but down to earth sheriff in the fictitious northern California county of San Rodrigo that has a long levee running through it and seems very similar to San Joaquin or Sacramento counties which are listed as being nearby.  Bain and his seventeen year old daughter, Miranda, live together in a small house in a rural setting near the levee.  Another character we have seen in other Joe Bain novels is the news reporter, Howard Griselda, who is self-serving and often a troublesome to Joe Bain, whose police work he frequently criticizes despite Bain's stellar performance.  Bain initially investigates a local home burglary which he cleverly and efficiently solves.  Next he is involved with keeping the peace at a protest rally on the levee where hippies in trees urinate down in protest while other demonstrators on the ground attempt to block a bulldozer from knocking over the trees.  The roots of the trees are endangering the levee, but public opinion is divided between those who want to protect the trees and those (especially the farmers and local newspaper) who want to protect the levee.  Joe is encouraged from both sides to make arrests and can't seem to please either side.  Soon after the protest he receives a report of a car crash in the slough with a dead woman and baby in the car.  Two days later three people are shot and killed in their homes in separate but probably related incidents.  Joe investigates an irascible old man who lives on a houseboat and has been shooting at water skiers with a gun with the same caliber as the murder weapon.  One of the men killed had a previous run in with one of the hippies, named Dakota Slim, so Joe also visits him and is "oinked" at by one of the other hippies.  Joe is warned about this hippie when he is told, "Don't fool with him," says Dakota Slim.  "He's trained in yoga." 

The Genesee Slough Murders had the potential of being one of Vance's better novels.  I did like and was fascinated by the story even though it is only partially completed.  It will probably appeal, however, mostly to dedicated Vance fans rather than the general public or mystery readers.  I rated it a 3 "liked it."

The Stark: The Voyage and the People-Jack Vance outline for a novel

"The Stark or The Stark: The Voyage and the People" was written by Vance in 1954 and first published in 2005 in the Vance Integral Edition.  In 2012 it was made available as an eBook.  It has been described as 'an outline for a novel" and as "an outline for a series).  Under "Contents" this story is referred to simply as "The Stark" but on page 31 in the book it is listed as The Stark: The Voyage and the people.  29 chapters are listed but a number are very sketchy and some near the end do not have chapter titles.  The outline is 49 pages long.  Even though it is an outline, it has a beginning, middle and end, although some chapters are one sentence summaries.  The story is pure science fiction.  On Earth, a research assistant at Mt. Wilson Observatory discovers that a star is headed for the sun, is predicted to arrive in about 22 years and will destroy the Earth.  After this information is made public some scientists suggest that all countries unite to work on a project to build a giant spaceship named The Stark that will accommodate all of Earth's people.  It is anticipated that this project will take at least 20 years to complete.  Russia, under strict communist rule, decides to cooperate with the U.S. and all the other countries in the world join in as well.  This unity lasts until the ship is completed and leaves Earth.  Soon, however, "A rash of societies, political alignment, associations for the promulgation of various ideas breaks out."  Among these groups are the Non-conformists, Golden Rule Society, Optimum Humans, Socratic Society, Ecumenists, and Social Ecologists  The Stark is a huge ship but its immense size means that many people are far apart and communication is fragmented.  Conflicts and disagreements increase until all of the people originally from Europe revolt and declare independence.  Some groups manipulate to try to take control of the ship while other groups chose not to be in control because they don't want to be blamed when things go wrong.  Generations later a new race lives in the bow of the giant ship while the stern has unruly criminals, fugitives and other unsavory characters. "The Stark is divided into two groups, antagonistic, irreconcilable and mutually incomprehensible."  (It sounds somewhat similar to U.S. politics but even worse.)  In the foreword Paul Rhoads attributes much of Vance's theme in The Stark to Vance's long time interest in the writings of Oswald Spengler.  Rhoads summarizes Spengler's main thesis as stating that "cultures rise, flower, then decay and fall."  Avid history readers such as myself will recognize many similarities to the history of humankind.  Some countries and groups of people unite while others disband.  Religions, politics, belief systems and self-interest cause disharmony and even violence among various people.  Perhaps Vance is simply holding up a mirror for us. The story, although an outline, is filled out enough narrative to engage one's attention, but The Stark will probably appeal mostly to devoted Vance fans.  It has much potential and we can only imagine what the completed novel might have been like.  I’d rate it a 3 “Like it.”

Wild Thyme and Violets-Jack Vance outline for a novel

Wild Thyme and Violets is a 16 page outline for a novel that was drafted by Vance in 1976 and first published in the Vance Integral Edition in 2005.  The setting is in the town of Gargano which has about 400 houses and a nearby castle owned by Marquis Paul-Aubry Alcmeone del Torre-Gargano who resides there with his mute 17 year old daughter, Alicia.  It begins on a Saturday market day.  Mersile, a traveling mountebank, and his helper, Etheny, set up a booth decorated with thaumaturgical symbols where they sell balms, elixirs and papers with magical signs.  Mersile, a rather classic type of Vancian character, also casts horoscopes, lances boils, pulls teeth and lays a concertina while his helper dances.  Parnasse, the mayor, is there along with Lucian, an artist.  The mayor longs for a son but his wife has not been able to conceive despite their use of extracts, exercises and astrology. Parnasse decides to hire the artist Lucian to paint his wife Madame Clotilde "in a state of full gestation."  Right after the painting is completed, Parnasse's wife suddenly becomes pregnant.  When other people inquire about the cause of the pregnancy, Parnasse insists that there is a secret behind the pregnancy but it is not related to prayer, hypnosis, cabalistic symbols or the pregnant portrait of Lucian's.  He offers to employ his secret on any of the wives and daughters of his citizens. Next we find ourselves at an important festival at Gargano called the "All-Hallows Eve" with the Marquis and his daughter, Alicia, attending.  Lucian tries to intervene when Alicia is accosted by some rowdy revelers.  When the she and her father return to their castle afterward, Lucian follows and watches Alicia while she stands in front of her bedroom window in her night dress.  When she falls (apparently jumps) from the window into the moat, he rescues her and takes her to his home and then tells her, "You threw your life away; I found it and took it for myself and now you are my very own."  Alicia remains quiet but is cooperative. A priest complains to the Marquis about the scandal of Alicia living unmarried with a man.  The priest and the Mother Superior take Alicia away from Lucian and put her in a convent.  Lucian, in the meantime, contrives a plan to rescue her but is caught and sent to jail.  Alicia slips away from the convent and returns to the castle.  The story continues focusing on Alicia and Lucian with more adventure than plot.  Wild Thyme and Violets had much potential but as it is written, is rather lacking in character and plot development.  It will likely appeal mostly to dedicated Vance fans. I rated it a 3+ or "liked it plus."

Clang: Concept and Synopsis for Screen-play-Jack Vance screen-play draft

"Clang: Concept and synopsis for screen-play" was first published in 2005 as part of the Vance Integral Edition.  It is included in the Spatterlight Press high quality paperback titled Wild Thyme and Violets and Other Unpublished Works.” The work is 7 pages of sketchy text with some dialog about a sport called Pugilistics.  The sport consists of prize fights between robots eight feet tall that resemble humans.  Gambling and organized crime play a key role. The setting is in the future were citizens lead sensible and placid lives.  Football has become a "well-padded version of touch-tackle" and boxing has been banned.  Only one violent spectator sport is allowed and that is because the participants are robots.  Adding to the attraction of the sport is gambling which is controlled by organized crime called the Syndicate.  Sweigart's Robotics turns out "superbly destructive fighters," some of them weighing two tons.  A competing robotic business is Bell Robotic Shops operated by Dill Archer an engineer.  Archer borrowed money for his business from Joe Perkins, our main character, but lost it to the Syndicate when gambling on one of his own robots.  He can't repay his loan to Joe and Joe's partner Henry Tamm so Perkins and Tamm ends up owning Bell Robotics while retaining Archer as their engineer.  While reviewing the tapes of the last fight where Archer lost all of his money, Joe sees that the opponent fighter illegally clamped the feet of their robot.  Joe decides to build a new type of robot called the Black Angel that has memory circuits that must be programmed by a person who encloses himself in the shell of the robot and practices various simulations.  In a new major event fight Joe's robot will face a fierce robot, called Sweigart's Scorpion, that is backed by the Syndicate.  To insure a win the Syndicate kills Joe's partner Tamm and sabotages the neck joint of the Black Angel.  Can Joe get his robot running again in time for the big fight?  To what extremes will the two sides escalate their tactics with more deaths and sabotage?  Joe has a conscience but is strong and determined.  His partner has already been murdered so the Syndicate appears to have no boundaries, legally or illegally and also has more money to compete. Vance might have developed this draft into an interesting and possibly humorous work.  As it stands, though, it is very sketchy.  You can follow the storyline but much of it is abbreviated or only hinted at.  I don’t think this piece will be of much interest to readers other than hard core Vance fans.  I gave it a 3 minus rating or “Liked it minus.”

The Magnificent Red-Hot Jazzing Seven: Concept and Synopsis for Screen-Play-Jack Vance screen-play synopsis

"The Magnificent Red-Hot Jazzing Seven: Concept and synopsis for screen-play" was first published in 2005 in the Vance Integral Edition.  Vance was an avid jazz fan and even played the coronet, ukulele, kazoo, and harmonica.  He often included in his novels characters who were musicians.  In his mystery novels especially there are often reference to jazz music and musicians.  This 12 page synopsis seems like a tribute by Vance to one of his favorite passions.

This story is set in 1927 in the Midwest, and Vance states that it is intended as part of a sequence to The Seven Samurai and The Magnificent Seven.  The former is a great, classic Kurosawa film and the latter is a movie based on a similar theme but featuring cowboys instead of samurai.  Vance here replaces samurai or cowboys with jazz musicians. Our story begins with a former cornet jazz musician, Joe Bush, who can no longer play his horn because a former fiancée knocked out some of his teeth by hitting him over the head with a bottle of Old Smiley.  He now works as a night clerk in a cheap hotel in Des Moines.  Joe is approached by two of his old friends who own a roadhouse called Blue Goose in a town in southern Indiana.  The Blue Goose is having to compete with The Riverview Hotel where only the best bootleg is served and a fancy orchestra plays regularly.  The Blue Goose is unable to compete so the owners want Joe to assemble his old jazz group and play for free until the roadhouse makes a profit.  They even advance Joe $120 to purchase some dentures so he can play his cornet. Joe begins by recruiting his old tuba player who is now with The Salvation Army Band in South Chicago.  Next he recruits his former piano player while tricking a gambler out of his Packard automobile.  He then drives to Davenport to talk with his former trombonist who joins them by physically running away from his domineering wife to jump in the back of the Packard.  Joe then visits the jail from where his old clarinetist is being released.  One of the more difficult recruits is his former banjo player who is in a hospital in a catatonic coma.  They decide to use his old banjo to try to cure him.  Recruitment of the seventh musician is completed when he engages his former drummer who has been playing his drums in a circus disguised as a trained bear.  Joe's new group, the Red-hot Jazzing Seven, then replace the Catfish Spasm Band at the Blue Goose and the competition is on as they compete with The Riverview Inn and their jazz musicians.  Both establishments will go to great lengths to bring in customers. The piece is still sketchy in many places but will probably be interesting and enjoyable for Vance fans to read.  I read it twice and rated it a 3 or "Liked it.”

The Kragen-Jack Vance novella

"The Kragen" by Jack Vance was first published in July, 1964 as a 62 page novella length work in the magazine Fantastic Stories of Imagination.  (Here it is 66 pages.) Most of "The Kragen" was incorporated into Vance's novel "The Blue World" which was published in 1966 and was 192 pages long.  In "The Kragen" the complex, interesting and highly structured society of the people who live on the Blue World is only hinted at.  "The Kragen" is more of an adventure story while “The Blue World” involves world building and has much more psychological, sociological and anthropological material.  Each work deserves to be read alone.  In both stories the human residents live on small lily pad like islands on a planet that has no dry land and was settled over a hundred years ago by their ancestors.  Both stories also feature a long lived squid like sea monster creature called King Kragen.  A kragen is a giant, fairly intelligent, squid like sea creature that is featured in both works, but in the novella almost the entire focus of the story is about King Kragen and how the people relate to and cope with him.  Although there are many kragens, there is only one giant kragen called King Kragen who dominates the residents and is even worshipped by some of them.  Each person is a member of a caste that performs certain duties, some related to feeding, worshiping or communicating with King Kragen.  Among these castes are the Bezzlers (priests who worship King Kragen, the top ranking caste) and Incendiaries (those in charge of secret methods of communicating with King Kragen).  The Bezzlers and Incendiaries consider themselves superior to other castes and carefully guard their hidden knowledge about King Kragen and their means of communicating with him.  Our main character, Sklar Hast, is a hoodwink who sits in a tower winking hoods as a means of communication between islands.  When King Kragen fails to appear to protect his sponge garden from another invading kragen, Sklar Hast wants to handle matters himself by chasing away or even killing the kragen that is eating all of his sponges.  The Bezzlers and Incendiaries forbid such action, saying that it will offend King Kragen who is their sole protector and must be obeyed.  The general population takes various sides and there is a confrontation between the two factions.  I have read the Kragen several times and rated it a solid 4 “Really liked it.”

Guyal of Sfere-Jack Vance chapter or excerpt from the novel The Dying Earth, chapter 6, Revised 2005 version

Guyal of Sfere was first issued as 42 page chapter six in the 1950 Jack Vance novel “The Dying Earth.”  This novel is also known as “Mazirian the Magician” and “Tales of the Dying Earth, Book I.”  (In this collection it is 23 pages long.) Since then Guyal of Sfere has appeared as an excerpt in a number of collections of shorter works.  ISFDB labels it as novella length but I don’t list it as a novella because it was first published as a chapter of a novel and not as an independent work.  There is also a 2005 revised version that was in the Vance Integral Edition and is also in this collection. I slightly prefer this edition to the older one.  Guyal irritates his parents and others by constantly asking questions.  Such questions have included "Why do squares have more sides than triangles?" and "What is beyond the sky?"  Guyal's father finally decides to send Guyal to find the Museum of Man where he can meet the Curator who reportedly has the answers to all questions.  He provides Guyal with magical protection so that Guyal is safe as long as he stays on the trail and does not leave it.  Guyal encounters a strange man who plays the flute but turns out to be something other than what he appears.  Later he meets some men from Saponce who coax him off the trail to welcome him.  He is warned not to touch a sacred section of land.  Guyal's horse is spooked, however, and accidentally steps on the sacred area.  The other men tell him he has violated a strict Saponid law and arrest him despite his appeals.  They quickly convict Guyal of "impertinence, impiety, disregard and impudicity."  As penalties he has to swear never again to repeat his crime and to judge a beauty contest called the Grand Pageant of Pulchritude.  The third penalty will not be disclosed to him until he has complied with the first two.  It is the third penalty, however, that ends up being dangerous to him.  The rest of the story is humorous and entertaining.  I especially enjoyed the quirky twists and the ending. This is a dense story with much symbolism and mythology that improved for me with repeated readings.  I’ve read it numerous times and rated it 5.

The Telephone Was Ringing in the Dark-Jack Vance outline for a novel

"The Telephone Was Ringing in the Dark" was apparently written in 1962 and is an outline for a novel.  It was first published in 2005 as part of the Vance Integral Edition.  This 78 page work is more than just an outline, however, even though it is obviously incomplete.  The story will probably appeal mostly to Vance fans rather than the general reader.  But it is an intriguing piece and could have been one of Vance's more interesting novels if it had been completed. Our story begins with a late night telephone call to our main character Marsh.  The caller asks to speak with "Boko."  Even though he is told that he has the wrong number he continues to call back.  After the third call Marsh asks the caller if he is deaf or stupid and the caller objects to being called stupid.  The caller calls back four more times that night to wake Marsh up and call him stupid.  In the morning Marsh writes down 33 slight variations on his own phone number and begins calling all the numbers asking for Boko. Eventually Marsh reaches a number where he is told that Boko is a Mr. Binkins and that he is not in.  Marsh obtains another number for Binkins and also looks up all the Binkins in the phone book.  Eventually Marsh reaches Binkins by phone.  He learns that only one of Binkins’ friends calls him by "Boko" and obtains the name of this friend.  Marsh then goes to great lengths, taking many complex steps to locate and obtain revenge on the late night caller.  But an unexpected twist in the plot makes this caller think that damage to his car is due to Marsh when, in fact, it is not.  An elaborate scheme of revenge develops involving loans, real estate purchases, phone tapping, physical assault, impersonations and several deaths.  The plot is quite fascinating and if Vance had added more of his great dialogue and converted the brief summaries to actual narrative, I think this mystery novel might have been one of his more better ones.  It has a beginning, middle and end and is interesting to read but is clearly not a final draft or completed novel.  I liked it, was engaged by it and think it had much potential.  But, given its incompleteness, I'd have to rate it a 3 or "liked it."

Dream Castle-Jack Vance short story (author’s revision), AKA: “I’ll Build Your Dream Castle” (original version)

"Dream Castle" is an 18 page short story that was originally published in a 15 page abbreviated version in September 1947 in the magazine Astounding Science Fiction under the title "I'll Build Your Dream Castle."  According to the International Speculative Fiction Data Base: "In 1982, Vance revised this story to create Dream Castle, which is longer and with significantly revised wording.” This revision was done by Vance for the book Lost Moons, a collection of short works by Vance that was published by Underwood-Miller in 1982.  I've read the original magazine version and the 1982 revision and preferred the revised one.  Vance himself did not care for this story and in his introduction to the 1982 collection Lost Moons he said this story and another one called The World-Thinker were both “so embarrassing that I rewrote a few stand-out passages, a lick-and-a promise operation rather like putting rouge on a corpse.” Dream Castle features an intelligent and enterprising protagonist named Farrero, a fairly recent graduate who designs and markets homes for a contracting firm.  His boss, Angker, wants him to sign over patents that he created when he was in school. When he refuses to do so, he is immediately fired.  Farrero strikes out on his own even though he does not have a contractor's license.  His ideas are revolutionary and very profit making so that he is soon in competition with his old firm.  They decide to try to rehire him or at least attempt to duplicate what he is doing, but Farrero seems to have anticipated this.  I have read both the original 1947 release and the revised 1982 version multiple times and liked the revised version somewhat better.  I rated it a 4 or “Really Liked it.”

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/