Andreas Irle has
received sufficient orders to publish the Lyonesse trilogy.
This will be a limited printing, so order soon.
30 Jan 2006
Andreas Irle has started a project to publish all
of the out-of-print Vance works
as print-on-demand (POD) books, starting with the Lyonesse trilogy in March.
14 May 2005
Todd Treichel reports that "Washington Post literary
critic Michael Dirda hosts a weekly on-line chat, and this week a poster
asked who Jack Vance is and what he writes. Dirda, who is more of a
supporter of genre fiction than many mainstream critics, had this to
say: 'Science fiction and fantasy. In these fields he is revered, quite
properly, as a god. Vance possesses a wonderfully ironic style--reserved,
august, tongue-in-cheek, recherche--and those who love his work read
everything he writes. I suggest trying The Dying Earth or The Eyes of the
Overworld, or a collection like The Best of Jack Vance. For more details,
you might look for the long piece on Vance that I wrote for a Scribner
reference volume devoted to fantasy writers edited by E.F. Bleiler.' Link
to transcript.
12 Mar 2005
Official Vance Integral Edition
signed bookplates are now available to VIE subscribers of full sets for a
nominal charge. Click here for info.
The latest Locus
Magazine (Dec) has a favorable review of Lurulu by Faren
Miller. "The resulting concoction may not seem quite as fresh-made as
the latest in 21st-century space opera, but its heart is rich, and
descriptive icing à la Vance will always be divine."
In the same issue Nick Gevers reviews Black Brillion
by Matthew Hughes; "If you're
an admirer of the science-fantasies of Jack Vance ...", "... a
flair for reified metaphysics surpassing anything conceived by
Vance."
01 Dec 2004
Hans van der Veeke reports: "According to Warp, a
Dutch magazine from the publisher Meulenhoff, Jack Vance is working on a
new novel. Warp had a 2 page story about his new book and himself in the
latest issue."
23 Nov 2004
Many have reported that Lurulu is now
generally available in the US. Fokke de haan reports that De wilde
vaart (Ports of Call) has been reprinted in The
Netherlands for the fourth time, at the same time "De lokkende verte"
was published there. Scans of the Dutch editions are available at Fokke's
website.
15 Nov 2004
Margriet Schuurman reports: "I'm a big Jack Vance fan from the
Netherlands, and yesterday I've bought "De lokkende verte",
as the Dutch translation of Lurulu is called. You can see
details in my Live
Journal."
08 Nov 2004
You can view an edited version of the SciFi Buzz TV program from 1987
that featured a story on Jack Vance here.
You can also read the transcript.
29 Sep 2004
It's getting close to the deadline for ordering books from the Vance
Integral Edition, including the two stand-alone preliminary volumes.
Don't miss out! Tell all your friends.
07 Sep 2004
Fokke de Haan reports "just wanted you to know that
the first edition of Lurulu has already been published by Andreas
Irle in Germany. The book has been out a few weeks now! So the real
first edition is, for the first time, a German one! Andreas translated the
manuscript in a record time, I think, and had the book printed. It's a
hardback edition, with no dustjacket."
Annemarie van Ewyck reports "I
have been the Vance translator for The Netherlands for some time now, and
am currently working on Lurulu. I am supposed to turn it in
september 15 for publication later this year."
02 Sep 2004
Anders Monsen reports that Amazon has posted the cover
picture for Lurulu on their website.
18 Aug 2004
Rich Thomas reports that "TOR have finally updated
their scheduled publication list and, as previously suggested, Lurulu is
listed for a Dec 04 hardcover release: http://www.tor.com/schedule.html.
Furthermore, Amazon lists it as having 208 pages and an ISBN of
0312867271."
06 Jul 2004
James Wilson reports that "George
R.R. Martin addresses fans' disquiet over the delays in his finishing
his A Feast of Crows novel. He cites Vance's Demon Prince
series as an extreme example of delay."
08 Jun 2004
Author David Weinstein was kind enough to send me a copy
of his book, The Forgotten Network: Dumont and the Birth of American
Television; I had sent him copies of the Jack Vance Captain
Video scripts. There's a short section about the SF authors who
wrote episodes, including this: "No kinescopes ... by these talented
authors remain, but a set of scripts written by Jack Vance
exemplify the way Vance provided riveting outer space action while
incorporating current psychology, sociology, and a dash of Cold War
politics."
04 May 2004
Matt Hughes reports that "Jack Vance" is used
as a teaser on the Locus
website for the May issue. It's also mentioned in the table of
contents, "with news in this issue about Jack Vance, George R.R.
Martin, ..." The news is a single line of text in "Books
Delivered": "Jack Vance finished Lurulu for Beth
Meacham at Tor." (Ed
note: I'm not complaining; he got top billing!)
In the same issue, Matthew Hughes' novelette
"A Little Learning" got a nice mention by Nick Gevers:
"Matthew Hughes Archonate novelette, "A Little Learning",
is the essence of fanciful extravagance, the tale of a resourceful
apprentice magician tracing some of the more dangerous routes through the
human noosphere; this amorphous terrain ... all drawn by Hughes with an
orotund gusto reminiscent of - who else? - Jack Vance."
07 Apr 2004
A new Pelgrane book, The Primer of Practical Magic
has been released. It is an adaptation of Dying Earth material for
use with Dungeons and Dragons. More information is available from
the Pelgrane Press
website.
17 Jan 2004
I have posted a scan of a review of The Dying Earth
in the December 1976 issue of Delap's F&SF Review magazine. You
can view part one and part
two. Part one is a huge file to make it readable.
05 Jan 2004
It has been reported that Thom
Hartmann dedicated his book Unequal Protection to "Jack
and Norma Vance."
The second draft of Lurulu is finished.
17 Oct 2003
Rafaël reports "The French version of the Dying
Earth RPG edited by ORIFLAM is about to be released," and has sent me
some pictures and text. The original is in French,
and I have provided a primitive Google English
translation.
14 Oct 2003
Gregg Parmentier reports "I was Fan GoH to David
Drake's author GoH at Icon in Iowa City, IA this past weekend. When I
mentioned on a panel that Jack Vance was my favorite author, Drake
immediately agreed."
Jacques Garin of the French
Jack Vance website has the following news to report: French editor Le
Bélial published two Vancean anthologies. The first is Croisades
with 4 stories; La grande bamboche (Rumfuddle, 1973), Les
oeuvres de Dodkin (Dodkin's Job, 1959), Les faiseurs de
miracles (The Miracle Workers, 1958), and Les seigneurs de
Maxus (Crusade to Maxus, 1951.) The second is a Bifrost Special
(Bifrost is a French SF
magazine) Les Univers de Jack Vance (Vance's Universes) with
5 short stories (never before translated into French, the original text is
from the V.I.E.) and several
books reviews; Point de chute (Where Hesperus Falls), La
gaffe monumentale de Dover Spargill (Dover Spargill's Ghastly
Floater), Le syndrome de l'homme augmenté (The Augmented
Agent), Rassemblement (Shape-Up), and Maîtres de
maison (The House Lords.) Also, on September 19th, Delcourt,
the French comics editor, published the 5th episode of Tschaï :
Dirdir 1.
03 Oct 2003
John Vance had this to say about Robert Palmer:
"Robert Palmer visited us on two or three occasions, for the first
time back during the 'Addicted to Love' tour. After that he telephoned
every now and then, typically in the middle of the night, with his
companion Mary Ambrose, full of cheer and appreciation for some turn of
Vancian phrase (he loved Cugel). Dad of course was compelled to critique
Robert's musical tastes, and always encouraged him to turn to jazz; who
knows, maybe he had an influence. Robert will be missed."
26 Sep 2003
Mick Scannell reports that singer Robert Palmer has died.
Mr. Palmer has been quoted that he desired to produce a movie version of Eyes
of the Overworld, and in the novel Night Lamp, the sun is
called "Robert Palmer's Star."
14 Jul 2003
Simon Rogers reports that "a new map of the Scaum
Valley is now available from Pelgrane
Press, and we are offering all three maps of the Dying Earthas a collection.
David Williams reports that the July issue of Locus
says "Jack Vance resold The Gray Prince, The
Dragon Masters, and Maske: Thaery to ibooks
via Chris Lotts of the Ralph Vicinanza Agency." The same issue has
Vancean references on page 23.
26 Jun 2003
Stefano Masserdotti reports that Mondadori Urania
published a new book containing the novels Space Opera and Dacre,
as well as 6 short stories. He also has provided a picture
of the cover.
12 May 2003
Stacy Phillips has contributed a poem,
one that I can easily relate to.
Klaas de Vries from The Netherlands has a new
comprehensive Vance site.
18 Apr 2003
Simon Rogers reports that "the latest Excellent
Prismatic Spray has been released: Ascolais and the Land of the
Falling Wall, The Excellent Prismatic Spray Double Issue 4/5. A double
issue of the XPS, cunningly disguised as an adventure supplement, this
fine collection of adventure material includes the long-awaited
speculative map of the Dying Earth. With contributors such as Robin D Laws
and Ed Greenwood, and articles on vat creatures, mermelants and religion,
it is the best XPS yet."
11 Feb 2003
Gregg Best reports that "Jack Vance is the scheduled
Guest of Honor at Marcon
this year. This is a convention in Columbus, Ohio, taking place Memorial
Day weekend."
7 Feb 2003
George Pendleton has received an email from Patrick
Nielsen Hayden regarding Lurulu: "Jack Vance is very
old, blind, and infirm, and we were beginning to believe this book would
never be finished. However, Beth Meacham, his editor, heard from him a
couple of weeks ago that the book is actually done and now it simply has
to be read by his wife and given a final polish. So we eagerly expect it
in a month or three, and we'll publish it sometime in 2004." [Note:
"infirm" is probably overstating the case --MB]
27 Jan 2003
Rafaël 'Fianosther' Verbiese reports that "there
are Dying Earth and Jack Vance related pages in my French
website 'les
arpenteurs de rêves.'"
09 Jan 2003
Jacques Garin (www.jackvance-fr.com)
reports that "French editor Nestiveqnen has just published Sur
les traces de Cugel l'Astucieux (On Cugel's path), an
anthology with 12 shorts stories written by 12 French SF writers. Vance
gave his authorization to use the Dying Earth as background to these
stories."
Jacques also reports that "Delcourt, the French
comics editor, published the 4th episode of Tschaï
:Wankh 2."
