[Keyoke]

I just picked up a book by the artist named Barlowe. If you never heard of him, he does alot of fantasy art, but, he did two trades of art from a variety of books.. Of a variety of characters.. Anyways..


I've often heard of Jack Vance, but, recently, I've had this urge to pick up a book or two of his. I've heard lots about the "Dying Earth" series, but, the one I recently found was something about Nine Princess of Hell or something like.. Anyone know this one?

About a dude who tracks these princes down for revenge..

Thanks

Keyoke

[Corwwyn]

Would that be Barlowe's Guide to Extraterrestrials?

Jack Vance's Dying Earth series (The Dying Earth, Eyes of the Overworld, Rhiallto the Marvellous, Cugel's Saga) are more fantasy than SF, but very good nonetheless (the spell system is the inspiration for the D&D spell system).

When you said Nine Princess of Hell, my first thought was Roger Zelazny's Nine Princes in Amber, but then it occurred to me you may be talking about a Jack Vance novel but unsure of the title.

If so, the series would be The Demon Princes (The Star King, The Killing Machine, The Palace of Love, The Face, and The Book of Dreams).

I really liked this series, especially The Killing Machine and The Face.

[Rob B]

Originally posted by Keyoke
I've heard lots about the "Dying Earth" series, but, the one I recently found was something about Nine Princess of Hell or something like.. Anyone know this one?

About a dude who tracks these princes down for revenge..

Thanks

Keyoke

Yes, The Dying Earth sequence is excellent, though more fantasy than SciFi even though it takes planes thousands or millions of years in our future.

[Moybin]

Read "The Killing Machine" when I was in my teens, 3 decades ago. Have reread the whole set every couple of years.

It has many elements of "The Count of Monte Cristo" but I would not say Vance stole any ideas. The story line is so believable, Vance's worlds are so palpable.

I would personally like to spend a year or two on his planet "Thamber" which is in "The Killing Machine". Smade's Tavern on Smade's World is another place I would like to spend time at.

Understand one thing. Unless you have gone to Oxford, you MUST have a large dictionary at hand for Jack Vance uses large words, and he uses them CORRECTLY.

I think I added 10% to my vocabulary because of reading Jack Vance.

His other series that I LOVE is the "Planet of Adventure" 4 book set. Get the large size volume that has all 4 books in it. It's currently on Amazon.com and eBay.

The title of the series sux... But the aliens and the Planet Tschai are absolutely wonderful. Totally believable, completely alien.

Asimov and Clarke and all the others got a lot of hype in the 60s, 70s, 80s... You get the idea. They overshadowed Vance, which is too bad as his stories are better adventures. Palpable people in plausable situations.

Enjoy.

[ezchaos]

I've never heard of the book by Vance you're talking about, Keyoke, but I did love The Dying Earth books.

One of the villians from Cugel's Saga is in Barlowe's Guide to Fantasy (or whatever the newer book is called).

[fortytwo]

My favourite Jack Vance series is The Cadwal Chronicles
Araminta Station
Ecce and Old Earth
Throy
He has a wonderful way with words. His use of the English language is spell-binding. Definitely on a par with Orson Scott Card and Cordwainer Smith at least

42

[chocky]

The only thing from Jack Vance that I've read was His novella The Last Castle. I read it when I was very young and it is THE book that got me into SF.

[Yama]

The Dying Earth reads like a book of myths.

[Brid14]

I like jack Vance alot, he's a good sci-fi mystery writer.
The Demon Princes are good, as i've read all five books, and i think they're the best of his works that I've read.
The Dying Earth is very good, and very tragic in a way, as you know they're all going to die in a couple of decades.
I didn't finish "Eyes of the Overworld" as I couldn't stand Cugel's personality - wanted to strangle him!
Another good book of his is "Big Planet", which I can definitely recommend.

;)

[Brid14]

To Corwwyn, (you've got a funny way of spelling Corwin)

I just wanted to say that I'm amused that you like the Killing Machine and the Face best. Personally, I think the Killing Machine is the worst. My favorites are the Star King and the Book of Dreams, after that it might be the Face.
That planet in the Palace of Love where they specialise in poisons was creepy.

I, too, expanded my vocabulary a lot when I read JAck Vance