First Star I See Tonight-Jack Vance short story

First Star I See Tonight-Jack Vance short story

AKA: The Absent-Minded Professor (author’s preferred title)

The Absent-Minded Professor is a 16/17 page short story first published in Malcom's Mystery Magazine in March of 1954 under the pseudonym of John Van See. It is also known as "First Star I See Tonight." Vance mentioned in the Introduction to the collection The Dark Side of the Moon that he was rather fond of this story. It was influenced by some information Vance received regarding the competition between scientists in academia. 

The story is written in the first person singular and involves the rivalry between two astronomy professors who compete to gain more access time to the observatory telescope. It is more of a mystery story than science fiction.  The main character, Sisley,  is an assistant professor of astronomy who shares observatory time with elderly, fussy, cantankerous full professor named Dr. Patchen.  Sisley’s frustration has reached a breaking point and he has made elaborate plans to deal with Patchen. I thought it was fairly interesting and entertaining story.  I’ve read it four times and rated it a 3 “Liked it.”

Included in the Jack Vance collection titled Light from a Lone Star (1985)

Included in the Jack Vance collection titled The Dark Side of the Moon (1986)

Included in the Jack Vance collection titled Hard-Luck Diggings: The Early Works of Jack Vance, volume 1 (2010)

Included in the Jack Vance collection titled World-Thinker and Other Stories (2017)