King of Thieves-Jack Vance short story

King of Thieves-Jack Vance short story

The King of Thieves is an 18 page short story that was first published in November, 1949 in the magazine Startling Stories. This one is pure fun and places Magnus Ridolph on a planet where the inhabitants admire thievery and honor the most successful thieves, such as their king. Ridolph bets with another visitor that he can maintain more of his possessions, and the visitor agrees to place the bet with him.  This visitor cheated Ridolph previously so he is bent on revenge. Both of them seem to have no limits on what they will do to win as each tries to outsmart the other. It is an amusing, humorous story.  I’ve read it four times and rate it a 4.

Included in the Jack Vance collection titled Many Worlds of Magnus Ridolph (1966)

Included in the Jack Vance collection titled The Worlds of Jack Vance (1973)

Included in the Jack Vance collection titled The DAW Edition of “The Many Worlds of Magnus Ridolph (1980)

Included in the Jack Vance collection titled The Complete Magnus Ridolph (1990)

Included in the Jack Vance collection titled Gadget Stories (2005) part of VIE

Included in the Jack Vance collection titled Magic Highways: The Early Jack Vance, Volume 3 (2015)

Included in Magnus Ridolph (2017, Spatterlight) MRS (pb)

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