The death of Jack Vance wasn't surprising, given his age, but like anybody else who admired his books, I sort of hoped he'd just keep on going forever.
I never met Vance in person, but I've been reading his novels and stories since around 1955. The first novel of his I remember reading is Big Planet, in the Ace Double edition of 1958. I read a lot more of them after that, and I never read one I didn't like. In the early '70s, I ran across another Ace book, The Fox Valley Murders, by John Holbrook Vance. I knew that was Jack Vance's full name, so I grabbed the book and read it. It's about Joe Bain, a sheriff in a small county in California. I really liked it, and I don't doubt that there's something of Joe Bain in Sheriff Dan Rhodes.
A year or so ago, maybe a bit more, out of the blue, I got a phone call from Vance. I told him how much I loved his books, and he mentioned that he liked mine, too. What a great feeling that was. He told me that he could no longer write because of his near blindness, but that he could still make music. To prove it, he played me a number on the uke and kazoo. Fun stuff. He called again a couple of times, and each time was as much of a thrill for me as the last. He made a old guy feel like a fanboy again.
If you've never read anything by Vance, I hardly know where you should start. Maybe with The Dying Earth, a wonderful collection that influenced generations of fantasy writers. Or with just about anything. You can hardly go wrong with Vance, either for the story or the writing. What a stylist the guy was, one of the best ever. Even though he was 96, he left way too soon.
7 comments:
He played the uke and the kazoo over the phone? What a cool story.
I met him in 1968 at a party at Poul Anderson's house before Baycon (I was there as a friend of a friend). I wanted to talk to him about the Demon Prince novels - he wanted to tell me about his Japanese optometrist and how cheap he got his glasses.
I met him again some years later when he did an autograph session at A Change of Hobbit in Westwood, when I had literally a box full of books for him to sign. He was only signing 5 at a time so I had to go through the line 4 or 5 times.
I'm glad I was able to tell him how much I enjoyed his work. As I have said before, Vance is my favorite writer (though Bill is pretty high up there too).
I started in 1978, with the stories that made up THE EYES OF THE OVERWORLD in back issues of F&SF. The worst story I've read by him so far was elegant and had innovative touches. The best can stand with any literature of any kind I've read.
Thanks for posting this, Bill. Great stuff.
My first Vance was the same BIG PLANET, which I loved. Such a fun book! My second was TO LIVE FOREVER,which had a profound impact on my teenage brain. First book I immediately reread. Third was THE LANGUAGES OF PAO, which I read in it's appearance in the digest Satellite Science Fiction.
And then...well too many to name. All so wonderfully written. I am so thankful he had such a long life and prolific career.
What neat contacts, BC. Thanks for sharing. Pretty neat comments all round. Echoing Marsdon's comments, Vance was not interested in talking about his writing. As I recall when I met him at a Con ~ 30 yrs. ago, we talked about road maps and the most scenic way to cross the country!
Todd Mason sums up his writing well!
Jack Vance had amazing range. He could write mysteries as well as world-class science fiction. Vance was prolific, but he kept the quality high. He was a giant.
Post a Comment