Son of the Tree-Jack Vance novella

Son of the Tree-Jack Vance novella

Son of the Tree is a 125 page novella that was written in 1950 and first published in June, 1951 in the magazine Thrilling Wonder Stories.  It was issued in book form in 1964 as an Ace double or twofer with The Houses of Iszm.  In 1974 Son of the Tree was published as a stand alone novella.  It is currently in print in a high quality paperback edition from Spatterlight Press along with Vance's "The Houses of Iszm."

Joe Smith, from Earth, has been traveling as a passenger on spaceships for two years, going from planet to planet until his money would run low.  Then he would stop and work long enough to buy passage to continue his journey.  His travels are in pursuit of a man named Harry Creath.  We learn that Smith is in love with a woman on Earth and she might be part of the reason for Smith trying to locate Creath.  Smith's motivation is not made clear, however, until toward the end of the story when there is an ironic twist.

Having run out of funds again, Smith ends up on the planet Kyril.  He plans to stay on Kyril only long enough to earn money to continue his pursuit.  On Kyril there is a gigantic Tree that is five miles wide and twelve miles tall and is cared for by the planetary rulers and religious leaders called Druids.  This Tree of Life is worshipped by the Druids and the local population called the Laity.  There are 200 billion Laity who are peasant farmers and laborers and only two million Druids who live in comparative luxury and are in charge of the rites and ceremonies involved in worshiping the Tree.  The Laity believe that if they work very hard and are model citizens that when they die they will be absorbed by the Tree and will become one of Tree's giant leaves.

Smith is befriended by a Mang agent named Hableyat.  He is a representative or spy from the nearby planet Mangtse and offers to help Smith obtain employment.  It is assumed that anyone from Mangtse who visits Kyril is a spy and visa versa.  Both planets are competing economically and ideologically in a manner that somewhat resembles the old Soviet/U.S cold war. 

One of the most recent major issues between the governments of Kyril and Mangtse is that each of them want to form economic ties with the new government on the nearby planet Ballenkarch.  The entire population of Ballenkarch has recently been united under a new prince.  The prince is importing machinery to industrialize the planet.  On Kyril they have no industry so they are dependent on their adversary the Mangs for products.  Ballenkarch also has many valuable mineral and agricultural resources.  The Druids hope to form an alliance with the Ballenkarchs by converting the new prince and his citizens to worshiping the Tree of Life.  The Mang, in the meantime, want to prevent this from happening and hope to form their own economic and political alliance with the new prince of Ballenkarch.  But the Mang are not united and have an extreme political division between the two most powerful political parties.

Smith is very skilled mechanically so is able to obtain a job maintaining and operating air cars for a Druid priestess named Elfane.  One of Elfane's first assignments for Smith is to help dispose of the body of a Mang representative who appears to have been assassinated.  Despite his efforts to avoid politics, Smith ends up in the middle of the intense rivalry between the governments of Kyril and Mangtse.  Smith suddenly gains some funds after he is bribed to keep silent about the assassination.  He then learns that he is about to be murdered so Smith quickly leaves Kyril on a ship to Ballenkarch. 

But Smith's troubles are not left behind.  Much to his dismay he finds that many of the passengers are government agents or even persons he met on Kyril.  These include Priestess Elfane, Hableyat and a Druid who back on Kyril had wanted to kill Smith.  Smith's life once again is in danger, and he barely avoids being electrocuted.  Having his life threatened, however, does not prevent Smith from being attracted to his former employer, Priestess Elfane.  But the gap between him and the priestess is immense because she is a Druid priestess totally devoted to her religion and her planet.  She might even be involved with others who are plotting Smith's demise.

The plot involves espionage, murder, political intrigue, economics, religion, cultural issues and sociological factors.  Eventually it leads to the uncovering of the mystery of the true nature of the Tree of Life and the reason for Smith's long pursuit of Creath.  This early effort by Vance is entertaining, enjoyable and easy to read, but it is not as well written, deeply thought out, or fully developed as many of his other writings.  Vance fans will probably want to read "Son of the Tree."  I would not really recommend it to readers who are new to Vance's writings, though, because there are many better Vance works to begin with. I’ve read this novella four times so far and rate it a 4 minus.

Printed as Son of the Tree/The Houses of Iszm, (1964, Ace double paperback)

Printed as Son of the Tree, (1974, Mayflower)

Printed as Son of the Tree, (1983, Underwood-Miller)

Included in the Jack Vance collection titled Son of the Tree and Other Stories, (2011, Gateway)

Included in the Jack Vance collection titled Nopalgarth (2012, DAW)

Included in the Jack Vance collection titled Dream Castles: Early Jack Vance, vol. 2 (2012, Subterranean)

Included in the Jack Vance collection titled Son of the Tree & The Houses of Iszm (2017, Spatterlight)