Slaves of the Klau-Jack Vance novel, book review

Slaves of the Klau-Jack Vance novel

AKA: Gold and Iron (author’s preferred title)

Planet of the Damned

Gold and Iron was Vance's preferred title for this 125/158 page novel.  It was first published in December of 1952 by Standard Magazines in a magazine issue titled Space Stories.  One of the stories in that issue was by Vance but the title was changed from Vance’s title of “Gold and Iron” to “Planet of the Damned”.  In 1958 Ace published it in paperback book form as an Ace Double with Big Planet.  They changed the title to “Slaves of the Klau" and made major cuts in the text.  When it was published by Coronet as “Slaves of the Klau” in paperback in 1980 they restored the text without the Ace cuts.  In 1982 Underwood-Miller published it in a limited edition, again under the title Slaves of the Klau.  They used the original edited magazine version.  The novel was finally published under Vance's preferred title of "Gold and Iron" in 2002 in the Vance Integral Edition but the mawkish ending was modified after Vance indicated that he had not written it.  The original manuscript of Gold and Iron was subsequently located and it was learned that Vance had written the mawkish ending but apparently forgot that he had done so.  When Spatterlight released their edition it was under Vance's preferred title of Gold and Iron and it included Vance's original ending that was in the manuscript.  Although the original ending is indeed quite maudlin, I prefer it to the more abrupt ending in the VIE edition. It is currently in print in a trade paperback by Spatterlight Press.

In the title "Gold and Iron," gold refers to the Lekthwan woman Komeitk Lelianr whose "skin shone lustrous gold" and iron refers to our main character Roy Barch from Earth who has an iron will and a constitution to match.  Vance indicated that he was rather fond of this book.  Although it is not one of his very finest efforts, I found that I liked it better after rereading it.  I've now read it three times, once in the Coronet edition (121 pages), once in the Ace double (126 pages) and finally in the Spatterlight Press edition (145 pages).  The Spatterlight edition includes a four page forward by Ted Gioia. 

The story begins on Earth where our main character, the Earthling Roy Barch, works as an attendant for Markel the Lekthwan.  Lekthwans are an advanced human like species from another planet that visited Earth where some of them now live.  They shared much of their highly advanced technology with Earthers.  Their medications, for example, significantly decreased the death rate of humans.  But for Barch their arrival was a personal disaster.  Like his father Barch studied to be a scientist, but when the Lekthwans arrived, all of his knowledge and training was obsolete and he could no longer function as a scientist.  Now he is little more than a servant.  Earthers had considered themselves unique in the universe but were now feeling inferior to another more advanced species.  For many years the rather benevolent Lekthwans have been at war with the brutal, warlike Klau who capture and enslave species from other planets to work in their factories and mines.  The Klau, fortunately, had not yet discovered Earth.

Markel is visited by his family, including his wife and anthropologist daughter.  Barch falls in love with Markel’s beautiful Lekthwan daughter, Komeitk, who seems to like Barch but not romantically.  When Aarch asks if she could ever love him, for example, she replies, "We Lekthwans are a peculiar race. Try to think of us as impersonal beings."  Barch is able to spend social time with her, though, and takes her one evening to hear the Yerba Buena Jazz Band.  This is a famous San Francisco area jazz band that broke up in 1950 but is humorously transported into the future in this novel.  It allows for several pages of discussion about jazz music between the jazz loving Barch and a cultural anthropologist from an alien world.  As a jazz fan, I found this section totally delightful. 

The disparity between the optimistic, independent, self-reliant Barch and the highly intelligent but rather effete Komeitk provides contrast throughout the novel.  Barch is a very Vancean protagonist, with even less of a dark side than most.  His only obvious personality flaw is that he is rather arrogant.  But he is arrogant in his self-confidence and not a braggart or egoist.  As Komeitk said about jazz music, "It's too forthright, too uncompromising."  Barch's reply to her was, "We live with this drive, this thrust to the future--a dynamism that speaks in music."  Later in the novel he even tries to bolster his own morale by thinking to himself, "Confidence bred confidence...Be arrogant in your confidence."

When Barch and Komeitk return home after the concert, they find that Earth has been invaded by the Klau and they are taken hostage to be transported to a planet where they will be worked like slaves.  Komeitk is resolved to her fate and feels no hope.  Barch feels "like an ant in a thrashing machine" and vows that, "if there's a way out of this Magarak slave-camp, I'll try to find it."  Komeitk tells him that he needs "to think realistically, to limit your idealism by possibility."  Barch never gives up, telling her "Who says it cannot be done, if we give ourselves entirely?"  Escaping from the Klau, surviving in the wild and returning home all seem like unrealistic dreams, but to Barch they are practical goals to be accomplished after obstacles are overcome with clear thinking, careful planning, hard work and determination.

Some interesting alien creatures are depicted in the story, although they are not as fully developed as in some of Vance's later works.  There are some loose ends in the story with a few scenes that might seem improbable, but these did not bother me at all.  The plot is rather simple but is still interesting, with plenty of adventure and intrigue.  At one point Barch and others are pursued by Klau warriors called Podruods who hunt them for entertainment.  Instead of simply hiding Barch proposes that the tables be turned and that they hunt the Podruods.  A similar alien hunting idea with a twist would later be developed in even more detail in one of Vance's amazing masterpieces "The Dirdir."

The novel also introduces a number of interesting inventions including "air-sandals" that levitate the wearer to be able to walk in the air and describes how on other planets "ships are grown, like you Earthers grow cabbages...they grow their dwellings, their ocean-ships, their air-ships."  In "The Houses of Iszm," a novella written by Vance a year later, he depicted trees that grew into multilevel houses with plumbing, etc. but here they also grow into spaceships and nautical ships. 

Gold and Iron is interesting and easy to read and should appeal to most Vance fans.  There are other writings that would be better starting points for readers who are not yet familiar with Vance's wonderful writings.  (Moon Moth, Blue World, Dragon Masters, Cugel's Saga, Last Castle, Suldrun's Garden, Star King, etc.)  Overall I think Gold and Iron is underrated although it might require repeated readings in order to better appreciate it.  Although this is not one of Vance's  masterpieces, it has a lot of Jack Vance in it and is not lacking in interest or appeal despite the melodramatic ending.  I’ve read this novel four times and liked it better after rereading it. I rate it a 4 “Really liked it.”