Dogtown Tourist Agency-Jack Vance novel, book review

Dogtown Tourist Agency-Jack Vance novel

The Dogtown Tourist Agency is a 144 page novel that was written by Jack Vance in 1973 and was first published in 1975 as part of an anthology called Epoch.  In 1980 it was released as "Part One" of the book titled "Galactic Effectuator" along with Vance’s 77 page novella with the same protagonist titled "Freitzke's Turn" as "Part Two."  Galactic Effectuator was reissued in 1980 by Underwood-Miller, in 1981 by Ace Books and in 1983 by Coronet.  In 2005 Dogtown Tourist Agency was published as part of the Vance Integral Edition.  In 2012 it was released in a Subterranean Press collection of Vance works titled Dream Castles.  In February of 2018 it was issued by Spatterlight Press under the title "Miro Hetzel, Effectuator" along with Freitzke's Turn.  This is a new title for the same two novellas that were previously issued under the title "Galactic Effectuator" but with all of the corrections that were included in the Vance Integral Edition.  The high quality Spatterlight Press trade paperback edition is the only edition of the Dogtown Tourist Agency that is currently in print.

The Dogtown Tourist Agency is a novel that stands on its own or may be read along with Freitzke's Turn.  They are different stories but involve the same main character, Miro Hetzel, who contracts work as an effectuator, an interstellar private investigator who must also resolve the problem after investigating it.  There are some similarities between Hetzel and an earlier Vance protagonist named Magnus Ridolph.

Hetzel agrees to meet with Sir Ivon Hacaway, the chairman of the board at Palladian Micronics.  Hacaway's company produces very intricate, technologically advanced products such as robot brains.  Six months ago an unknown company called Istagam began marketing similar items at prices far below market.  Hacaway wants Hetzel to investigate to determine how this company is able to produce these high tech products at such a low cost.  The ships delivering Istagam products pick up their cargo from a planet called Maz which is inhabited by three distinct civilizations residing in different areas of the planet.  These are the Liss, the Olefract and the Gomaz. 

Hacaway wants Hetzel to visit the area called Dogtown in the Gomaz territory.  This is an area beyond Gaean Reach authority and is a refuge for criminals.  The main native inhabitants are the large insect like monosexual Gomaz that live in castles and are constantly at war.  They obsessively battle with other Gomaz tribes in bizarre combat that involves ritualistic movements, reproduction by implanting spawn into the dead foe's thorax and then eating a gland in the back of deceased opponent's neck.  The Gomaz are so violently aggressive that they are not permitted to have any guns or other more advanced weapons because they would, and indeed once tried, to conquer other species and planets.  Gomaz communicate telepathically with each other, view themselves as part of a colony rather than as individuals and have absolutely no fear of death.

After arriving in Dogtown, Hetzel visits the Dogtown Tourist Agency where he meets a young woman who works there.  He eventually strikes up a relationship with her and she later joins him on his adventure.  Hetzel needs permission from the Gaean Triarch, Sir Estevan, before he can rent an air car to travel, however.  When Hetzel arrives at a meeting with Sir Estevan he finds that the Liss and Olefract Triarchs plus two Gomez visitors were just murdered in a shooting spree where Sir Estevan himself narrowly escaped being shot.  Hetzel notices a man quickly leaving the area and follows him to later confront him.  He learns that this man, Gidion Dirby, was present at the shooting and is now the main suspect. 

But Dirby insists that he is totally innocent and has been set up.  Dirby tells Hetzel a very bizarre story of having been kidnapped and then tortured while being held hostage in a nightmarish place where he was given fake food, had a chamber pot poured over his head and was with naked women who would sometimes crawl around on their hands and knees on the floor in front of him while wearing only dominoes.  He was also poisoned, gassed and tormented with psychedelic lights, dancing birds and strange events that seemed like hallucinations.  One day Dirby woke up to find himself released.  He went immediately to report the incident to the Triarch where he unexpectedly encountered the shooting incident.  His story is so vividly detailed and far fetched that Hetzel believes Dirby and offers him temporary sanctuary in his hotel room.  Hetzel offers to assist Dirby to clear himself after he returns from some travels he has planned to conduct his investigation of the Istagam company.

Hetzel's investigative adventures lead to fascinating, ironic and, at times, humorous encounters with a bizarre alien culture where values and behavior are at odds with the interplanetary government that regulates them.  We also encounter clever investigative detective work with mystery and intrigue.  Dogtown Tourist Agency is well written with very good dialogue, vividly described strange alien creatures, and a suspenseful plot.  It is more interesting and better written than the other Miro Hetzel piece, the novella Freitzke's Turn.  I have read it twice now and continue to rate it a solid 4 "Really liked it."

Included in the Jack Vance collection titled Galactic Effectuator, (1980, Underwood-

Miller)

Included in the Jack Vance collection titled Galactic Effecuator, (1981, Ace)

Included in the Jack Vance collection titled Galactic Effecuator (1983, Coronet)

Included in the Jack Vance collection titled Dream Castles: Early Jack Vance, vol. 2,

(2012, Subterranean)

Included in the Jack Vance collection titled Miro Hetzel, Effectuator, (2018, Spatterlight)