Posted by Steven R. Harbin on March 04, 1999 at 18:37:24:
In Reply to: Re: What other authors do you like? posted by Ken on March 02, 1999 at 02:37:04:
: Perhaps a new budding author is out there now reading Ports of Call or Night Lamp and is being influenced to turn out some Vance-like and Vance-caliber work.
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: I don't think Night Lamp and Ports of Call are some of Vance's best works. I hope new authors would be more influenced by his Dying Earth stories or the Lyonesse trilogy. Other good works by Vance (in my personal opinion) include The Dragon Masters, The Last Castle, The Planet of Adventure series, and the Demon Prince series.
Mea Culpa! I agree wholeheartedly with your assessment of Night Lamp and POC as not being in league with Vance's best-my own personal favorites being Lyonesse and all the Dying Earth series. I was not clear in stating that a new reader might read those newer books of Vance's and then being influenced to seek out those better works. You're point is well taken. As to the gentleman who responded that he had been writing for a long time and was getting discouraged, I seem to remember that it took Ray Bradbury years before he got anything published. I would encourage any aspiring writer NEVER to give up, especially one is smart enough to have been encouraged by Vance.