Posted by Mike Barrett on June 28, 1999 at 13:39:14:
I've never really given too much thought to the Baron. Certainly his observations suggest that he could indeed be a mouthpiece for Vance, but Vance in playful mode.
Still vaguely on the same subject - as will become clear later on - I wonder if anyone out there is familiar with "The Thirteenth Majestral" from 1989, subsequently reprinted as "Dinosaur Park, by Hayford Peirce? The original title is of course splendidly Vancian, and the lead character's name is as well - Kerryl Ryson. It's astonishingly like Vance throughout, with the opening chapter - and the structure of the novel - reminiscent of "Emphyrio". Listen to the opening sentences :-
"At the urgent summons of Lord Blaibeck of Phaetan, Majestral Doyaine, the prisoner had been brought to the Crystal Tower atop the Adamantine Overlook in the hours before dawn on the nineteenth day of Hespheros in the year 28,395 FIP. Here the paralysed outworlder, a certain Lumlo Haiston of the planet Ambrose had been examined under mindflow by the twelve Palantines who comprised the Colloquy of the Duze Majestrals."
Vancian or what? And it goes on like that! The reason I am reminded of it is that a certain Baron Bodissey actually appears in the book, as an exalted scholar who comes to an extremely sticky end in Chapter 19. It's an excellent read - I completed it for the fourth or fifth time last year - cleverly plotted and with some lovely touches. I actually started to think that maybe this was a JV pseudonym when I first read the book!
It is possible to open it almost anywhere and come up with good examples of names - the love interest is Yveena Soolis, the villains include Lord Mesmer of Frotz, the winner of the Games is denominated Preeminent Citrine, there is a boat called "the Languid Endeavour", a spaceship called "Meritorious Repose", place names like Ferramontes Landing, Tibbitane Plateau, Tumbling Springs and Amaranth....
According to the blurb on the cover, Peirce has written "many short stories" although I've never come across any. His other two novels are nothing like this one, although "Napoleon Disentimed" is a splendid book, almost as good as "The Thirteenth Majestral". Intriguingly, "Napoleon Disentimed" has a quote by JV on the back cover in which he describes Peirce as debonair, witty...among the most entertaining of all science fiction writers" I don't think I've ever seen Vance quoted on a book before, and hey didn't I read in an interview somewhere that he never read science fiction?
Peirce is well worth finding - and yes he does spell it like that, and not Pierce as one might expect - although he doesn't seem to have had any books published for some years. Anyone know anything about him?
Finally, to go off at a complete tangent, I see that "Dark Side of the Moon" has been bid up to $255 on e-bay, for an unsigned trade edition. Is it really that rare?
Mike Barrett