Book Review: The World Between and Other Stories-Jack Vance

Book Review: The World Between and Other Stories-Jack Vance

Vancelot: Jack Vance in Review, TJ Jones

Ace Double, mass market paperback, 134 pages (other half 119 pages)

Release Date: 1965

Cover art: Jack Gaughan

Contents:

·       The World Between, 30 pages, novelette

·       The Moon Moth, 39 pages, novelette

·       Brain of the Galaxy, 26 pages, novelette

·       The Devil on Salvation Bluff, 24 pages, short story

·       The Men Return, 10 pages, short story

This mass market paperback collection has five shorter works by Jack Vance and includes three novelettes and two short stories.  The highlight is The Moon Moth, a great classic work that is essential reading.  This is an Ace Double. When you flip the book around you will find Monsters in Orbit also by Vance.  This includes the novellas Abercrombie Station (67 pages) and Cholwell’s Chickens (51 pages) which are reviewed under the title Monsters in Orbit.  The print in this book seems rather small even for a mass market paperback. Although this collection is out of print, used copies can easily be located. All of these stories are now available from Spatterlight Press in trade paperback editions. In addition to being in larger font, the Spatterlight releases have the advantage of being the same corrected releases that were issued under the limited and costly Vance Integral Editions (VIE). Below is brief review of each work: 

The World Between-Jack Vance novelette (author’s preferred title), AKA: Ecological Onslaught

The World Between is a 30 page novelette published in May, 1953 in the magazine Future Science Fiction. It is also known as "The Ecological Onslaught."  A potentially habitable planet is discovered by beings from Blue Star and they claim the planet as their territory.  The inhabitants of the planet Kay also claim this planet even though they never filed proof of their discovery.  This puts Blue Star Central and its citizens in direct conflict with the residents of Kay who send fighter craft to confront the Blue Star vessel.  When the Blue Star explorers try to introduce plants to the planet to eventually make it habitable, the Kay citizens, who want the planet for themselves, decide to release diseases and predators to disrupt things. This quickly becomes an ecological battle between two planets with the possibility of a military conflict or even war. It is an interesting story that I’ve read three times and rated a 4 each time.

The Moon Moth-Jack Vance novelette

The Moon Moth is a marvelous work. It is a novelette of 39 pages that was first published in Galaxy Magazine in August, 1961.  It takes place on the planet Sirene where adherence to specific local customs and protocol is more important than money or even life itself. Edwer Thissell was recently appointed as the new Consular Representative from Earth after the previous Representative to Sirene was killed because he violated a social norm. Thissell has been taking lessons to learn to play various musical instruments in order to communicate with the locals.  All communication on Sirene must be made by playing the appropriate musical instruments and singing in a certain respectful way. Social behavior expected on Sirene is so detailed and complex that it is almost incomprehensible to anyone not born in the culture. Slight violations or mistakes might be interpreted as a grave insult or offense and can lead to bodily harm or even death.  All of the Sirene residents also wear special masks as must the four men from Earth.  Only certain types of masks can be worn depending on the status and musical skills of the wearer.  The mask Thissell wears is of the "moon moth." It is a mask of low prestige but a safe one to wear. Thissell is sent a special message by his superiors assigning him the duty of capturing an assassin from Earth who will soon arrive to Sirene.  Unfortunately the message is delayed, and the assassin is able to elude capture.  Thissell must begin the process of tracking him down in the town where he has to interact with the local people. He knows that violating the strict rules of behavior can lead to severe consequences but he also knows that he will lose his job if he fails.  In many of Vance’s writings he creates a world or society that has strange, often seemingly nonsensical rules and social norms that, although absurd to us as outsiders, are in many ways no more strange than ones in our own cultures on Earth.  Masks in Sirene, for example, are like social fronts or facades that we encounter with people in our own culture daily.  Esteem and status in Sirene culture are based on such things as the quality of singing and playing strange musical instruments whereas on Earth, in many places, social status is often based on such things as being a popular musician, actor, or athlete.  If an outsider from another world viewed various rituals, social norms and cultural beliefs on Earth they would probably appear to be as odd and arbitrary as those on the planet Sirene seem to us.  Vance is an amazingly skillful creator of other worlds and these strange worlds often prompt us to recognize the odd and irrational elements of our own culture. The Moon Moth is complex, thought provoking, well thought out and very skillfully written.  I’ve read and reread every published work by Vance and this is probably the finest short work Vance ever wrote. It is essential reading, a real classic and one of the finest short works ever written. I’ve read it multiple times and rate it a 5.

Brain of the Galaxy-Jack Vance novelette, AKA: The New Prime (author’s preferred title)

Brain of the Galaxy, also known as "The New Prime" was first published under the title “Brain of the Galaxy” in the February, 1951 issue of the magazine Worlds Beyond and is a 26 page novelette. It consists of five vignettes with different characters and settings. In the first vignette a man from the twentieth century finds himself naked at a 19th century Boston social coming out party where he is surrounded by 300 guests in formal evening wear.  His memory is fogged so he has no idea how he got there but he must now cope with his situation. In the second setting a different character is in the midst of a losing battle with insect like creatures called Brands.  He has only thirteen soldiers left and must decide what to do.  One option is for him to order his men to attack the main hive of the Brands. In the third setting a man is in an ancient city of ruins seeking a Crown and Shield Parchment that can save his lord’s life.  Otherwise the authorities will nail his lord to an air-sled and send it off to the west.  The parchment could be in “the town’s Legalic, or the Mosque, or in the Hall of Relicts, or possibly in the Sumptuar.  He has eight hours to search before his lord is executed. In the fourth setting a person finds himself in competition to mentally project imaginative images on to a screen using an imagicon but he does not understand his situation or the process. In the fifth and final scene our main character, a soldier is captured and tortured by his enemy, The Racs.  He insists he is not a soldier but is Ervard, “an honest trader in pearls.”  When he is left alone momentarily, he tries to eat straw to choke himself to death.  Later the Racs offer to let him live if he will cooperate with them. It is unclear how these five vignettes are related until toward the end, in the last six pages of the novelette, where it all comes together. I’ve read this five times so far and rated it a 3+ “Liked it plus.”

Devil on Salvation Bluff-Jack Vance short story

The Devil on Salvation Bluff, a short story of 24 pages (7,200 words), was published initially in 1955 in the  book anthology Star Science Fiction Stories #3.  Two missionaries, a married couple, live outside the main city on a planet called "Glory" where their ancestors from Earth crash landed 500 years ago. They maintain a huge clock (which is very symbolic) and adhere to Earth time (and customs) even though it does not apply to this planet which has a number of suns that seem to rise unpredictably. The two missionaries are responsible for "civilizing" the local natives, who live in the wild, by teaching them about manners, social behavior, adherence to schedules, and the importance of time and clocks.  The locals raise goats, run around half naked, live in filthy conditions, refuse to live in the houses that the missionaries built for them, copulate in public and destroy the canals the missionaries make. The chief of the tribe is the only one who speaks their language, but he won't cooperate and calls the giant clock the devil, threatening to roll boulders down on it. The couple are concerned how an upcoming inspection will reflect on them and think the chief must be mentally ill to be so uncivilized, so they decide to take him to one of their hospitals for mental health treatment. Things do not work out as they expect, however.  This is very enjoyable to read and fairly interesting.  I’ve read this four times so far and rate it a 4 “Really liked it.”

The Men Return-Jack Vance short story

The Men Return was first published in July, 1957 in the magazine Infinity Science Fiction and is a 10 page short story.  In the story two universes are overlapped after the law of causality, physics and reality on Earth is rendered somewhat inoperable and matter now fades in and out of existence.  Humans evolved into two different creatures, one rooted in the laws of science and the other having developed in the coexisting world of randomness and surrealism where nothing seems real.  Both groups spend all their time seeking food and are not above eating each other.  As food becomes scarcer, the groups become more desperate.  It is all very bizarre, but I found it rather fascinating. I’ve read it 7 times so far rated it 3 or “Liked it.”