Posted by Matt Hughes on July 05, 1999 at 10:30:19:
In Reply to: Trivia Question - Vance or not ? posted by Ian Richardson on July 04, 1999 at 22:14:59:
: I've read (years ago) a book where the main character arrives on a planet that has had technology but has lost the memory of it, and treats it as magic - electricity, combustion engines,etc - the character saves himself by revealing that he knows that the lightest petroleum distillate is the best for engines -
I don't think this is by Vance, but I vaguely remember the story and the key line about the distillation process: "What comes first is best." Maybe that will jog someone else's neurons. If I had to guess, I might say it was from Harry Harrison's Stainless Steel Rat or maybe out of the Deathworld books.