Posted by David Pierce on February 05, 1999 at 23:33:43:
In Reply to: Anyone else write like Vance? posted by Howard Ayee on February 05, 1999 at 11:49:22:
: Does anyone know of other writers like Jack? --Howard
Howard, there are a significant few authors whose works vibrate with wit, color, and shock, and betray a study of our modern master's primers. Vance was pricked by the novels of Swift and Cervantes; Spinrad, Bayley, and Rowley (and the early, uncorrupted Anthony) were smitten with Vance: they've assimilated his jazz of creating cultures, locales, cuisines, and have produced distinct musics. Spinrad's "Void Captain's Tale" contains passages descriptive of food that are worthy of Vance, and even Dickens and Tolstoy. Bayley's terse mind-blasts of alchemically space-warped tavern intrigues ("Pillars Of Eternity")convey sharp surpises reminiscent of romps through Vancian reaches. Rowley's "Fundan" books, like the works of Defoe, Swift, Butler, and Vance, present alien atmospheres that resemble our own in disturbing, provocative ways. Another Twentieth Century author, Edmund Schmitz, deceased, was stylistically very different from Vance, yet his novels are charged with force comparable to what Jack can generate. In a critical essay, Spinrad acknowledges that Vance's importance to literature equals that of Twain, Wells, and James. I here assert that the finest books of Spinrad, Bayley, Rowley, and Schmitz belong on shelves not far removed from the planks upholding the Stacks Of Vance.
David Pierce
Silverthorne, CO