Vancealot: Jack Vance in Review

Jack Vance Book Collection Review: The Narrow Land Vancelot : Jack Vance in Review, TJ Jones DAW Books , mass market paperback, 176 pages Release Date: 1982 Cover art: Wayne D. Barlowe Contents: ·        The Narrow Land , 23 pages, novelette ·        The Masquerade on Dicanthropus , 15 pages, short story ·        Where Hesperus Falls , 8 pages, short story ·        The World Thinker , 25 pages, novelette ·        Green Magic , 12 pages, short story ·        The Ten Books , 21 pages, novelette ·        Chateau d’If , 61 pages, novella This is a mass market paperback that is out of print but can be easily found used.  The print is typically small but dark and clear so I can read it with reading glasses, something I’m not able to do with most mmps....

Narrow Land, The- Jack Vance novelette This is a 23/43 page novelette that was first published in July, 1967 in Fantastic magazine.   It is a fascinating story that I found totally engaging and thought provoking.   One thing that makes it very unusual is that the protagonist is an alien creature that hatches on a beach and then crawls to the water where it tries to survive while exploring its environment. Vance is a superb master at creating other worlds.   In this story he creates a world from the perspective of an alien creature who must learn about his new world while trying to figure out who and what he is. Through Vance's masterly use of language, I actually felt like I was viewing the world from the consciousness of this creature.   It is amazing how much Vance can create in so few pages. Our main character, Ern, learns that he is one of what he refers to as " water children " and that there are different types of children, some with single crests and other...