Brains of the Earth-Jack Vance novella
Brains of the Earth-Jack Vance novella AKA: Nopalgarth (author’s preferred title) Brains of the Earth is a 99/101/103/108 page novella that was first published in 1966 in an Ace Double paperback along with "The Many Worlds of Magnus Ridolph.” The title was changed to "Nopalgarth" when it was issued by DAW publishers in 1980. The Vance Integral Edition of 2005 also lists the title as Nopalgarth so this was the preferred title by Vance. It is currently in print in the trade paperback collection titled Chateau d’If and Other Stories by Spatterlight Press. Note: In the DAW issue the novella Nopalgarth was published in a paperback along with two other novellas: The Houses of Iszm and Son of the Tree. This collection was titled “Nopalgarth.” There is no such thing as a series called Nopalgarth, however. I contacted Jack Vance’s son to verify this. Our story begins on Ixax, a dreary planet where an amphibian like creature "evolved into an intel...