Sjambak-Jack Vance novelette
Sjambak - Jack Vance novelette Sjambak was originally published in July, 1953 in the magazine If Worlds of Science Fiction. It is a 22/29 page novelette. Sjambak has appeared in at several collections of Vance’s shorter works and as a stand-alone, 9x6, 36 page, softcover, book by Wildside Press . Wilbur Murphy is a reporter from a TV series on Earth called "Know Your Universe!" It has two hundred million viewers, but its ratings have been down and his boss wants a story that is very sensational. They hear about a planet called Sirgamesk where the lack of an atmosphere requires humans to wear spacesuits when not in the “mountain valleys, with airtight lids over ‘em.” There are reports of a horseman without a spacesuit who has been riding up to greet arriving spaceships as they are still in flight ten thousand miles above the planet. This horseman “waves to the pilot, takes off his hat to the passengers, then rides back down.” Murphy is sent to t...