Science fiction grand master Jack Vance died over this weekend.
Vance had been publishing science fiction since 1945 and won several Hugos and Nebula Awards. He specialized in well-defined societies, usually just a little bit decadent; I don’t think anyone has been better at their creation.
Outside of science fiction, he also wrote three novels using the “Ellery Queen” pseudonym.
One of the underappreciated greats of the field.
Man, I’m sorry to hear that, although he lived a long and interesting life. I think he transcended the genre and was a wonderful and funny writers.
I’ve never read his work, but I have often heard him mentioned as the originator of the ‘Vancian’ magic system used in Dungeons & Dragons, with spellcasters having to ‘memorize’ a set out of the array of spells available to them every day. That seems like a small thing, but it has had a tremendous impact on Roleplaying games.
Damn. Loved his stuff as a teen, and it holds up decently when re-reading. Interesting guy, too.
I had no idea he was so old, although I also couldn’t have told you whether or not he was still alive. I first read Star King back in about 1973 and thought “What a fun read! Would have made a good series if he’d written more stories about the other Demon Princes!”. And then…
I read just the one of his fantasy novels, I can’t remember which, but I can bore for Europe about the Demon Princes and have chipped in to Wikipedia with plenty on them. Paging Tim R. Mortiss…
Sad news indeed, but hardly surprising. I’ve been reading about his ill health and failing eyesight for awhile. He wrote his recent autobiography using special software for blind writers.
I’ve been buying up his books at the used bookstores for years now, as very few of them seem to be in print. There is a two-volume omnibus of the Demon Princes novels out, and a one-volume of all the Dying Earth stories, but I think everything else is OOP.
In case anyone didn’t get it, my user name is an obscure reference to The Palace Of Love.
ETA: nice little eulogy here.
Now that Bradbury has passed, Vance was the last of Golden Age generation, wasn’t he? Talk about the end of an era.
Depends who you count as “Golden Age” affiliated. Frederik Pohl, Brian Aldiss, Ursula K. Le Guin, Robert Silverberg, and Harlan Ellison are all still kicking.
Very sad news, he’s one of my favourite authors. I don’t think I’ve ever read a * bad* book by him. In fact a couple of years ago I started a threadto test the Alessan hypothesis:
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Fourteen works were nominated as favourites by Dopers. Can any other author command such a wide range of respect? It’s nice to think he was around to appreciate the respect he had from other authors too - with the tribute colleciton Songs of the Dying Earth coming out a couple of years ago.
You really should read Tales of the Dying Earth a whole lot of the early RPG tropes came from Vance - not just the magic system.
There are a few more omnibus editions floating around - I’ve got the Alastor novelsand the Planet of Adventure novelsin recent one volume paperbacks.
Man, sad to hear that. One of the prizes in my collection is an autographed copy of the Ace double containing The Dragon Masters.
The man could create detailed societies the likes of which very few authors could match. Definitely a sad day.
One if my idols, to whom I owe my on-line identity if not persona. My life has less colour and magic now.
Which was the first Vance novel I read. I adored it, and was an instant convert.
(I had, previously, read “The Last Castle,” so I was already highly inclined!)
My reviews on Amazon.com are under the name “Silas Sparkhammer,” a reference I’m sure you recognize!
Vance is noteworthy for his articulate use of vocabulary. He is a master of connotation. When anyone else would say, “The thief stole the gems,” Vance can say “The thief abstracted the gems.” That very abstraction is key to his appeal.
I love the “Tschai: Planet of Adventure” series. It owes a little to Burroughs’ “Barsoom” novels, but takes things in an entirely different direction. Both this and the “Demon Prince” series are extraordinarily witty. Vance’s humor is dry and droll.
It took the man his entire career, but he finally did manage to write a book with a female protagonist who was more than a sidekick or princess. Wayness Tamm, in “Ecce and Old Earth” (second of the Cadwal Chronicles trilogy) is, I think, his first believable female main character. She’s bright, witty, as clever as any of the male characters in the series, and, in my opinion, a true breakthrough for the author. His female characters, before that, were limited, stereotyped, and secondary, but with Wayness Tamm, he proved himself capable of growth, even in the declining years of his career.
I’m sorry to learn of his passing, but not surprised, given his long run with health issues. He was an original, and he was a genius.
A tremendous talent and I’m pleased he enjoyed the long life that he did. Though I tend to think of his fantasies ( Cugel et al, the Lyonesse trilogy ) as his very best, The Dragon Masters was one of my earliest hooks into sf and still looms large. A pity it is harder to find these days - far too much Vance has wandered out of print.
96 years is a damned fine lifetime and Mr. Vance consistently put out fantastic works of fiction.
My favorites of his have always been The Dirdir and it’s follow-up The Pnume.
I was introduced to Mr. Vance’s novels by an indispensable volume that I’d wager many Dopers besides myself both remember and own: Barlowe’s Guide to Extraterrestrials.
RIP Mr. Vance. Thanks for the words and the music!
I really liked the Lyonesse trilogy. There was something very accessible about it.
Richard Matheson, George Clayton Johnson, and William F. Nolan are also still alive.
Johnson and Nolan only have four more years to go to reach the 50th anniversary of the publication of Logan’s Run.
It’s vaguely defined, to be sure. To me, it covers science fiction writers who published works before 1950.
How very sad, but not unexpected, given his blindness, general poor health and the recent death of his wife, Norma.
I met Jack at a book signing years ago at the old Change of Hobbitt bookstore in Santa Monica where he signed my copy of one of the Lyonesse books. I asked him if he intended toexpand on the small vignettes at the beginnings of the chapters in his Demon Princes books. He laughed and said that he wrote them generally for his own amusement.
I have always loved writing, and if asked to name the writers who influenced my style I would put Jack Vance at the top of the list, along with PG Wodehouse and motor sports writer Henry Manney. Great writers, all.
Ah, those vignettes. I remember them well. There was a Marmaduke episode in all five Demon Princes, the last of which was the longest and the best, and quotations from Life, by Unspiek, Baron Boddissey, along with some reviewers’ notices: “Sixteen volumes of rhodomontade and piffle” being the harshest I can remember. And what a wonderful word “rhodomontade” is, talking of Vance’s creative use of vocabulary. 
A great loss, after a great life.
I’ve been reading him for decades, starting with the little Ace paperback of The Eyes of the Overworld.
I went to Worldcon in Orlando back in 1992 specifically because he was guest of honor, and managed to chat with him and Norma and Jack jr. a couple of times. Even then his sight was failing and he kept confusing me with another foreign fan he had met because we both had black t-shirts on! ‘Are you the Ukranian?’ ‘No, I’m the Scot!’
I ended up sitting beside him at a signing making sure books were open at the right page for signing and putting them in the right place for him to sign, and telling him the titles and so on.
Oh, well; the sun has finally guttered it’s last and gone out.