This one was a long time coming, as I started preparing it over a year ago and encountered multiple delays and frustrations along the way. It's the longest video I've ever made and is an experimental attempt to combine multiple, somewhat conflicting, objectives in one video. I tried multiple times without success to keep it under an hour. There was too much ground to cover, and I still don't feel like I did his works proper justice. Thanks for your patience, everyone! I hope you find this overview of Vance and his works helpful. I'm also experimenting with UA-cam's algorithm with this video -- as a test, I turned off the automatic upload notification for subscribers to see if the algorithm treats this one differently, which is why you might not have received a notification.
This was so wonderful to watch! I'll be re-watching this one like a classic movie haha. Also, that Songs of the Dying Earth anthology is one of my absolute favorite short story collections. The True Vintage of Erzuine Thale was so decadent, witty, and Vancian. Just a delicious read!
Thanks! It improves with rewatching. :D I too love the Songs of the Dying Earth anthology. It's an essential read for anyone who loves Vance's Dying Earth. Also, the commentary provided in it by each story's author about their experiences reading Vance offers interesting insight into them.
I am only just learning about this video now and only because I thought, "I haven't received a notification from Library Ladder in a while." So, I hope you have gotten the information you needed from your test and will in the future enable subscriber notifications!
The man was incapable of writing a bad sentence. Not all of his books were good, but they were all beautifully written. Also, kudos to Jack for imagining a galaxy-wide civilization devoid of conflict, beyond the personal. One of my favorite writers.
@@ShadowWizard123 He's good! He's weird. Jack Vance is exceptionally talented at describing a place that is totally alien, in a way that you can visualize it. I started with Mazirian the Magician, and I had a blast!
Vance is at the top of my list. I have nearly all his stories in hard or electronic copy. The Dragon Masters and The Last Castle were the first stories of his that I read. Followed by my annual favorite The Dying Earth. But you are right on the mark when you say he was a Mystery Writer. My two favorite seris of his were essentailly Mysteries. The Demon Princes, mystery with a twist we knew who commited the crime but who were they? Then Cadwal Chronicles working to solve a couple of deaths.
Cadwal and The Demon Princes are great fun! I like to think of Vance, not as a fantasy or SF author, but rather as a writer of adventurous mysteries and mysterious adventures that happen to be set in the future. (Lyonesse being a rare exception.)
I had no idea that Songs of the Dying Earth existed! It's just what I needed after finishing Vance's dying earth stories. Also, I'm glad you covered Lyonesse. Definitely his greatest achievement in my opinion.
Songs of the Dying Earth is excellent, and if you can find it (at an affordable price), the Subterranean Press edition is full of very Vancian illustrations by artist Tom Kidd. Vance's Dying Earth stories have had a greater impact on the SFF genre, but I agree with you that Lyonesse is his greatest artistic achievement.
I’ve been waiting for this video for over a year now. I’m glad that its finally out. Modern SFF really needs to rediscover Jack Vance and the artistic genius he contributed to the genre.
Thanks! I spent far more time on it than I initially expected to, but I had a lot of fun in the process (despite the occasional frustrations with delay and rework).
Enjoy the journey, Liam! I spent the past 18 months preparing for this video by working my way through his bibliography, including a lot of rereads, but also quite a few first-time reads. In almost every case, my appreciation of Vance's writing increased with each reread.
The Cugel stories were the first fantasy novels I have ever read (in Hungarian, before I started learning English). They got me into fantasy. I have revisited them not too long ago, and enjoyed them just as much as 25 years ago. And thank you so much for this video!
What a great introduction to the fantasy genre you had! When first published, Vance's off-kilter Dying Earth stories opened a lot of readers' eyes to the idea that fantasy could encompass more than just fairy tales, Conan-style sword & sorcery stories, and retellings/adaptations of mythic folklore. I thoroughly enjoyed rereading them for this video.
I've come across a few of your videos now and I've got to say they are incredibly high quality. I can't even imagine how long it takes to write the script for these videos not to mention actually filming and editing them. I guess I want to say that it's not taken for granted or overlooked how much effort you put into these. I'm looking forward to what you put out in the future.
Thank you for your very kind comment! You're right that my videos involve a lot of effort, but that's part of the fun for me. With each one, I try to make something that I hope will be useful to viewers now and in the future.
First Vance I read was "The Blue World" and I knew before I even read another of his books he was one of my favorite authors. Glad this video finally dropped, worth the wait. Best booktube channel out there.
Your channel has fast become one of my favourites. With your knowledge and breadth of your collection, I feel like I'm listening to an old friend discussing his library, and you have broadened my knowledge of some authors I may never have discovered. I must admit that I felt envious when I saw your impressive library.
Thank you! That's my primary intent, to introduce viewers to authors and works they might never have encountered or might recognize by name but know little about. My hope is that people will gain a greater appreciation of their place in genre history and perhaps develop an interest in reading them. Assembling my library has been a labour of love for more than 40 years. :)
Perfect! The Dying Earth, Tschai: Planet of Adventure, and Demon Princes series all are great entry points, as is his short fiction collection The Jack Vance Treasury.
@@thelibraryladder I have a copy of the Treasury - and have to admit that after your description of his style I immediately paused the video and started reading!
@@thelibraryladder My brain is currently not in the mood for short stories, so I went for the Dying Earth. It's *brilliant*! The sense of humour, the wording (I need the aid of a thesaurus at times, and I love it), pacing and style... Thank you for talking about this magnificent writer, I wouldn't have started reading for who knows how long otherwise 🌌
I picked up the Dying Earth series because you mentioned it in passing in a video. I read the first book (collection?) and loved it. Now that I’m done with Memory Sorrow and Thorn, also thanks to you, I’ll finish Dying Earth. As someone who only started reading again recently, I love finding these great older stories that I haven’t heard of before, thanks for all the recommendations! Edit: also thank you for the captions, now I don’t have to guess on the spelling of books and names.
Wonderful! I'm so glad I introduced you to those terrific classics, and I hope I can help you discover many more in the future. Also, thank you for letting me know of your appreciation for my subtitles. I enter them by hand for each video to ensure their accuracy, adding an extra 1-2 hours to my upload process. I'm happy they're helpful to viewers.
Thanks, and sorry about that! I turned off the subscriber notification option for this video as an experiment to see if YT's algorithm would treat it differently. I'm glad you found it (or it found you) eventually.
I love experiments! I'm going to unsubscribe from your channel to see if and when you next video reaches me.😉 PS: Is Robert McCammon still in the pipes?
@@Seven-Planets-Sci-Fi-Tuber That would be interesting to know. FYI, my next video should be uploaded tomorrow or Saturday, so you won’t have long to wait. (Feel free to resubscribe after the experiment. :D)
@@Seven-Planets-Sci-Fi-Tuber Also, McCammon is still in my queue, but I’m unlikely to get to it in the next few months. I had a lot going on this year unrelated to the channel, and my production pipeline got very clogged as a result.
Same here. I’m subbed but I don’t even see it in my subscription feed. But I saw it in the recommended feed. I love it when a major function of the website can’t even do what it’s built to
Blame me, not UA-cam. I chose not to include this video in the subscriber feed as an experiment to see how the slower rollout would be handled by YT's algorithm. I noted this in a pinned comment on the video as well as in a community post on my channel at the time the video went live. I apologize for any frustration my decision might have caused. Thanks for your interest in my videos!
Oh, my. Jack Vance may well be my favorite SF author of all time, for his unmatched world building and his distinctive writing style. There are many “big names” in science fiction whose work I liked when younger, but for which I do not care at all as an older, more critical reader. But Vance? Vance holds up to re-reading like almost no other author.
I had a great time undertaking the enormous read of Vance's works for this video. Many I had read before, some almost 50 years ago, while others I finally got around to reading for the first time. I was impressed by how well his unique style of storytelling still holds up today.
I love how you do not put a picture from the internet of a book on screen. No, you show the good stuff by showing that you own the book. Your physical library is amazing. Just 10 minutes into your video and I want to read as much of his works as I can.
Thanks! It took me over an hour this morning just to put away all the books I included in the video. I hope you enjoy reading Vance as much as I do. His Dying Earth, Tschai, and Demon Princes series are great entry points, as is his short fiction collection The Jack Vance Treasury.
An excellent and educational video. I always look forward to your videos. It got me down on the floor to count my old Vance books - they're on the bottom shelf. I knew I had the 4 Ace editions of Plant of Adventure books and the Big Planet, but I was surprised to find that I had 14 paperbacks from the late 60's, including 4 Ace doubles with two of his novels or short story collections. I guess I have his pulp-50's work pretty well covered. I read a lot less SF after the early 70's, so his later work passed under my radar.
Thank you! Vance's later writing improved markedly in plotting, structure and character depth in my opinion. I suspect his increasing blindness through the late 1970s and early 1980s had a lot to do with that, forcing him to make substantial changes in his writing process that might have led him to be more thoughtful in what he committed to paper. It shows in 1983's Cugel's Saga, bringing Cugel's story to a conclusion that gives the character more depth than is evident in The Eyes of the Overworld. Also, you might give his Cadwal and Lyonesse trilogies a try. I think they're Vance at his best.
Hey, I love your videos. I'm a Brazilian fan who would love for you to continue the Eternal Champion series. I eagerly look forward to seeing you talk about Elric. ❤❤
Epic! Wonderful video on every level. Thank you for taking the time and thought in putting this together. The selection of artwork was icing on the cake. I was so happy watching this that it bought tears of joy to my eyes. Thanks agian.
Thanks! [Offers a tissue.] Finding and incorporating visual elements that illustrate and reinforce what I'm saying in my videos is one of the most challenging and time-consuming aspects of making them. For this one, I was fortunate to have several illustrated editions of Vance's works in my collection.
Another fantastic, consummate mini-bio pic of a true master of the SFF arts! Really enjoyed the longer format with deeper biographical elements highlighting the author’s literary inspirations/influences and life experiences which informed his evolution as a writer (across multiple genres) and development of his unique voice. Brilliant work sir! Bravo! P.S. Please consider making a separate series touring through the bookshelves of your (clearly) rare, diverse and priceless library- we are fortunate to catch glimpses during your regular content, but a dedicated bit of book collection porn on the side would be very welcome 😉
Thank you! I had my hands full juggling the many topics covered in this video. My goal was to keep it under an hour, but I wasn't able to accomplish that. Regarding your suggestion about bookshelf tours, I'm working on a couple of projects that might scratch that itch. One is a series of comprehensive, long-form videos to serve as visual guides to the history of different genres, showcasing many of the books in my collection while placing them in historical context and (I hope) generating viewer interest in reading them. The first of those videos probably will focus on historical fiction, because I haven't covered it much on my channel to date. I have more than 500 works of historical fiction, many of which are likely to appear in the video. Other genres would follow. The second project might involve regular, short-form coverage of very small parts of my collection that wouldn't go into much depth, but could be more frequent (e.g., highlighting a specific author or book series).
Thanks for your detailed reply. Judging by the comments, I think most viewers are welcoming of the longer format, and your next series sounds like it will indeed go some ways to scratch the itch of those of us keen to see more examples of your collection and relish longer presentations 👍 On a separate note, you are obviously widely read, and aside from more established and critically acclaimed authors, you appear to have a broad spectrum appreciation of “lesser” works including many perhaps considered more mainstream genre fiction including classic Star Trek, Children’s adventure stories, military fiction & Westerns, etc. In this vein, just curious if you’ve ever read anything from the Warhammer Fantasy or 40k universes? (These are my somewhat guilty pleasure and I feel the IPs’ contributing authors’ works are criminally underrated/under appreciated within the bookish community.) Thanks again for sharing your collection with us and creating exceptional content. 🙏
I tried reading a Warhammer 40K novel about ten years ago, but I just couldn't get into it, and I DNFed it after about 100 pages. In my defense, I had no familiarity with the Warhammer game and its universe, so I didn't quite understand what I was reading. Also, I've been advised by others since then that the quality of the Warhammer series varies widely, depending on the author. I don't remember which book I tried to read, but I suspect it was from one of the lesser authors, based on what little I remember of the writing. At some point, I plan to give the series another try. Do you have a good suggestion for an entry point?
@@thelibraryladder I had a similar experience, having only cursory knowledge of WH video games, no idea about the tabletop game, the lore or extensive history of Games Workshop’s literature imprint Black Library (BL). Most fans suggest series by the big guns of BL: Dan Abnett; Aaron Dembski-Bowden; William King; Chris Wraight; Gav Thorpe; Graham McNeill; John French; Guy Haley. Traditionally most read the works of these guys first, which I agree with, but I suggest reading newer authors early too, including Robert Rath; Peter Fehervari; Mike Brooks; Dani Ware; Jude Reid & Rachel Harrison. Many of the early titles are a bit average but the stable of quality writers and their output has rising considerably in the last 20 years. Also, although WH30/40k should be seen as a setting, there are sequenced events which move the lore along and the best way to get up to speed on this without any significant spoilers is... read the Core Rulebook (eBay is a good source); visit this website: warhammeruniverse.com/where-to-start-with-warhammer-40k-lore-the-definitive-guide/ watch this vid (by Leutin09 the premier loremaster on YT): ua-cam.com/video/4npkVEHWjvg/v-deo.htmlsi=e7q6ZZ9_1Mx-g3TM); and visit a great resource for introductory BL reading guides, Track of Words site: www.trackofwords.com/black-library/black-library-guides-2/ and scan through the fan-made wiki: wh40k.lexicanum.com/wiki/Main_Page For WH Fantasy, similarly there is vast lore which is useful to know but not necessarily required. These resources might be helpful: Suggested chronological reading order for Warhammer Fantasy: scifi.stackexchange.com/questions/107800/does-anyone-have-a-chronological-reading-order-for-warhammer-fantasy A Beginner’s Guide to Novels set in the World of Warhammer Fantasy: jacksbedtimereading.wordpress.com/2020/12/01/a-beginners-guide-to-novels-set-in-the-world-of-warhammer-fantasy/ My personal suggestions - just 30/40K books... (TIP: for series, read them in order (except Warboss) but break it up & read other books otherwise the experience can get a bit monotonous - NOTE: they tend to greatly improve with each successive book): Gaunt's Ghosts series (Dan Abnett) Eisenhorn & Ravenor trilogies (Dan Abnett) Ciaphas Cain Series (Sandy Mitchell) Helsreach (Aaron Dembski-Bowden) The Infinite and the Divine (Robert Rath) The Reverie - this is part of the excellent Dark Coil sequence (Peter Fehervari) Vaults of Terra Trilogy (Cris Wraight) Night Lords Trilogy (Aaron Dembski-Bowden) Warboss (Mike Brooks) The Horus Heresy series gives a solid grounding in the lore, but it's a very long series and isn't for everyone. NOTE: Many BL titles had extremely low print runs, so physical copies are hard to come by, but most are available as ebooks/audio books via the WH website (blacklibrary.com) etc.
Wow! That's a very helpful roadmap to WH. Your list of series jogged my memory, and I think my earlier attempt was with a Horus Heresy book (probably the first one in the series). Dan Abnett is the author that others have recommended to me as their first choice, so your endorsement of him gives me more reason to start there. Thank you!
I keep coming back to Vance over and over again in my "getting older" years. The Demon Princes series is like an inexhaustible well. But there are many gems like Emphyrio, Night Lamp, and Araminta Station that have provided me with much entertainment and can be re-read with profit. Incredible author.
I haven't read any of Vance's SF, but your video sold many of them to me. In a way, it's surprising that I haven't got around to them - probably primarily to their lack of availability back in the day - because his Lyonesse Trilogy was one of the most affective reads for me in the entire fantasy genre. It is a magnificent story - beautiful, heart-breaking and delightfully redemptive.
I hope you enjoy his SF works as much as I do. They're a little uneven, as I noted in the video, but fun nonetheless. Lyonesse is one of my all-time favorite fantasy series.
I’m so pleased to see this-I thought I had my eyes open for LL, but somehow I’m still a few weeks late. And of course it is everything I’ve come to expect-judicious, smart, warm; a thorough overview of a writer that’s always been in the background for me.
Thanks for your very kind comment! I apologize for the lack of notification this time. I turned off the automatic subscriber notification for this video as an experiment to see if it affected how YT's algorithm would treat it.
@@thelibraryladder , I saw your note to that effect after I’d written. Your channel, however, is on a very short list of those I check manually for new material every few weeks, so I would have discovered this eventually, algorithms be damned.
Just finished listening to Tales of Dying Earth while on a road trip. Searched out a video on Jack Vance afterwards. This was perfect. Thanks. I’d loved the Planet of Adventure stories, and now I will follow some of your recs. FYI, I once read that Vance was the favorite author of brilliant French cartoonist Moebius. Reading Planet of Adventure, it was easy to see how Moebius was inspired to create his amazing alien world landscapes from Vance. He writes brilliant visuals.
Thanks! I didn't realize Vance was an influence on Moebius, but now that you mention it, I'm not surprised. Their styles seem like a natural fit for each other. I hope you enjoy more of Vance's works!
Thanks, Whitney! I will. So far, the results of my experiment are indeterminate. I hope to have a better picture within the next week or so. I'm glad to finally get this video out. I've been working on it for the past year and a half, and the delays I encountered in recent months while trying to complete it really frustrated me.
As a lifelong fan of Jack Vance, this is a very good overview of his novels, I think I'll be coming back to this to make sure I haven't missed any, and with an eye toward re-reading. Thanks for putting this together. Bookmarked!
Don't be too hard on yourself. I've always found your work excellent and thought provoking. You've actually renewed my interest in building up my library again.
Thanks! I had a lot of fun making this video, despite the unfortunate delays and frustrating rework I encountered. I think assembling a library of books that are meaningful to you is one of life's great pursuits, and I hope you enjoy it as much as I do.
One of my favorite SF books when I was a teen in the 80s was a paperback copy of The Best Of Jack Vance which included "The Last Castle" & "The Moon Moth".
Yes! Can't wait. I found a second-hand copy of the Subterranean Press Vance Treasury just off-chance yesterday, so the timing here is impeccable. Side-question, sorry to ask for more after you just dropped a monster of a video, but any big plans for the Spooky Season? Maybe that Robert McCammon video you mentioned a while back? That feels like a real hole in Horror Booktube.
That's a great find. Those Sub Press hardcovers of Vance's works are getting scarce, and the Treasury volume is one of the essentials. I had really hoped to have the McCammon retrospective ready for spooky season this year, but everything that delayed my Vance video in recent months also pushed back the schedule of the other videos I'm working on (currently, I have seven videos in process at different stages of development). McCammon's still high on my list, but there are a few other videos ahead of it in my production queue. Thanks for checking on it!
Love these videos. You are an outstanding narrator. I am a huge reader, but never have I been into most of the books you’ve discussed, but because of you, I’ve recently read Under Heaven by GGK and loved it. Thank you so much…you keep me in rapt attention. We are blessed to have you as our host
Thank you so much for the kind words! I'm glad you enjoyed Under Heaven. What are some of the books or authors you typically read? I read very widely and am planning to broaden my coverage beyond the somewhat narrow areas I've discussed up to now.
Well first, I hope you understand I definitely was not criticizing the books you’ve chosen to discuss. It forced me to broaden my horizons, and now I want to read Tad Williams.I have several books in my TBR list now thanks to these videos. Several books I’ve read recently that I loved were “ Mischling” by Affinity Konar. The Ralph Peters Civil War series, “the Shipping News” by Annie Proulx, “the Shadow of the Wind” by Carlos Ruiz Zofan. I have the luxury of living next to three Half Price Bookstores within a few miles of each other. That’s my version of Heaven. Thank you for your hard work, it is much appreciated
No worries, I didn't infer any criticism from your earlier comment. :) The Shadow of the Wind is a book that was on my TBR list for years, and I finally managed to read it earlier this year. Wow! What a terrific read. I haven't read the Konar or Peters books. They sound intriguing. I love historical fiction, and one of my upcoming projects is a comprehensive overview of the history and flavors of the genre (potentially spanning more than 250 noteworthy titles).
Thanks! Have you already read the first Demon Princes book, The Star King? If not, you might want to start there because of the background it provides about the main character and his quest for vengeance. The Demon Princes novels are mostly standalones, but they do benefit from reading them in publication order.
@@thelibraryladder I read it maybe a year ago, and it was my first Vance. Fairly enjoyable as a mystery, but I think I've seen only a tiny fraction of his skill. By the way, GRRM just recommended this series to a fellow booktuber at one of the conventions. It's clearly still one of his favourites!
It's remarkable to me how Vance and a lot of other writers of the past where able to successfully write and publish in multiple genres. We don't see that very often nowadays except for a few outliers. I would guess that it's because publishers would push back against authors being more experimental? Thanks for this great overview!
Thanks, Josh! I suspect a central explanation for the multigenre span of many authors back in the 1940s, 50s and 60s is directly related to the supply (or lack thereof) of genre fiction and publishers. Unlike today, readers at that time couldn't easily binge or focus exclusively on a specific genre, such as fantasy or horror, because the supply of available titles was very limited and found primarily in ephemeral media such as the pulp mags. This compelled many fans of genre fiction (including authors) to read widely across many genres, and it prepared those authors to experiment in various genres because they were already very familiar with their forms. There also was an economic incentive to diversify, because SFF and horror were the lowest-paying types of fiction back then. That led many SFF authors to try their hand at thrillers, mysteries, historical fiction, etc., and to incorporate elements of those more lucrative genres into their SFF stories (leading to interesting hybrids), in the hope of attracting the attention of more prestigious (and better-paying) publishers. Today, I think publishers and authors are wary of muddling the brands authors have established for themselves in specific niches. Tad Williams could be considered an object lesson for some, as his forays into different genres (high fantasy, hard SF, horror, urban fantasy, litfic, children's) might have undermined his early trajectory as the face of modern fantasy. I also think many modern genre authors don't read as widely outside their niches as previous generations did, limiting their abilities to experiment in other genres. They've specialized as readers as well as writers.
@@thelibraryladder that's a really great point about genre authors not reading outside of their niches - I never would have considered that, but it makes total sense.
Nice to have you back. Was patiently waiting for the Gary Gygax TSR reference so nice to see. Always hard to believe you’re not an author yourself. Very knowledgeable.
I finally finished this wonderful overview of Jack Vance's works! While I've only read The Dying Earth story, you perfectly described Vance's writing style from what I noticed. He seemed to have a thing for tentacles in that one, didn't he? Fascinating to learn that he was more prominently known as a sci-fi writer. I've seen Songs of the Dying Earth in my Everand subscription, and I was glad to hear your praise for that collection. The Lyonesse trilogy sounds excellent as well!
Thank you, Johanna! I can't recommend Songs of the Dying Earth highly enough, although I suggest reading the Cugel stories (books 2 & 3 in Vance's Dying Earth series) before reading the homage stories written in tribute. Also, I think his Lyonesse trilogy will really appeal to you. It contains a couple of scenes/plot elements that might give you pause, but on the whole I think you'll love it (similar to how you viewed Tigana and its flaws).
I'm now 76 and have been reading JACK VANICE since I was twelve. No author has provided me more entertainment and joy from reading than he has...period.
What better way to start a week than watching an hour-long Library Ladder video? Thanks, Bridger. By the way, you might have already heard, but Guy Gavriel Kay (who I know you're a big fan of) has announced a new book. It's supposedly inspired by medieval France (a return to Arbonne?) and is due out in May of next year.
Thank you for this video. I thoroughly enjoyed it. I’ve been meaning to get my teeth into Vance for some time. (I bought a handful of Spatterlight Press volumes, but I haven’t started any of them yet.) Every time I’ve heard someone talking about Vance, it’s always to praise his work. Just recently, a UA-camr (Library of a Viking) was at Worldcon in Glasgow, and he briefly met George RR Martin there. He asked Martin to recommend a book or a series for his viewers, and Martin recommended The Demon Princes series. If it’s good enough for George RR Martin, it’s good enough for me. On a completely separate note, I wanted to ask you something. You are clearly a very well read person (and a man of impeccable taste). I wonder if you would consider posting a video about your favourite books of all time. (Top ten, top twenty, top one hundred, whatever.) That sort of videos is usually fun (as long as one doesn’t take it too seriously), and it would give us viewers lots of great recommendations. Up to you.
Thanks! I agree with GRRM. The Demon Princes is a fun, fast-paced series that doesn't take itself too seriously. I appreciate your suggestion and interest in my favorite books. To date, I've steered clear of those kinds of videos, partly because of the difficulty I'd have ranking the books. I'm contemplating some future, wide-ranging lists of essential reads in different genres to provide more recommendations for viewers, but they probably won't be ranked in a Top 10 style (despite the YT algorithm's love for those types of videos).
Fantastic video. Vance has long been my favourite writer, and you did his legacy justice. I don’t know if you came across Harold Lamb in your research into his influences, but I’d wager Vance was a fan. Lamb’s work in the pulps was very popular, and Vance’s writing style shares a lot of Lamb’s trademark qualities: fascination with exotic and dangerous settings; highly resourceful and skeptical protagonists, and a wry, laconic humour, most evident in the dialogue. Read a few pages of one of Lamb’s cossack stories, and the tone is unmistakably Vancian.
Thanks! In my research, I don't recall encountering any references to Lamb, but it seems very plausible that Vance had read him, given Vance's love of wry adventures in exotic lands. I too, am a fan of Lamb's fantasy, historical fiction and nonfiction works, and I'll be including some of them in an upcoming video about the history of historical fiction.
I've been reading Vance since junior high and have written a couple of articles about him. This is the best YT Vance clip I've seen and is just excellent overall. BTW, Vance was also a Robert E. Howard fan.
Thank you! I tried to do his works justice, although I barely scratched the surface of most of them. He was a prolific writer. My hope is that it generates more interest in reading him.
Greatly enjoyed his «Lyonesse» Trilogy earlier this year! Looking forward to read his «Dying Earth» and «Demon Princes» stories! Also, Vance, Herbert and Anderson building a houseboat: Now where is THAT movie (or sitcom)!😄
Wonderful! I hope you enjoy those other Vance works as much as I do. Sitcom, indeed! IIRC, the houseboat sank on its maiden voyage because the fiberglass coating Vance had applied on the pontoons was accidentally punctured in transit to the water. Fortunately, they were able to refloat it, although it took some ingenuity on their part.
This was a great and well-formulated video about Jack vance and his work. I have been into him since discovering the Dying Earth in my early 20s in the early 2000s, and since then have read a lot of his work, though not nearly everything yet. You went into things I still had no idea about. Got to finish teh Cadwell books, and read the Alastor ones next I think. The Demon Princes and the Dying Earth stories are my favourites, probably. Was actually a little disappointed with Emphyiro, but it was still Vance so the writing was great.
Thanks! It's always great encountering a fellow Vance fan. Have you read his Tschai: Planet of Adventure series? If not, I'd suggest prioritizing it too. Also, if you haven't read much of his short fiction, The Jack Vance Treasury contains several of his best works (although it does overlap somewhat with the Dying Earth -- about a third of the stories are from the Dying Earth series).
@@thelibraryladder Cheers! I have in fact read Planet of Adventure -- i really liked that series. Alo i thinkt he Derdaine (sp) trilogy has to be one of my favourites. One thing I really love about Vance is that you feel like you are truly immersed in and exploring a world when you read his sf/fantasy. I know world-building is considered a huge asset in modern genre fiction but there's still something uniquely concise and fascinating about the way he does it. The Demon Princes, taken as a whole, is such an immersive experience that goes beyond its simple revenge plot. I have read some of the short fiction, but admittedly not as much as I'd like. Some of it was until recently pretty damn hard to find. I'm a huge fan of short stories and always been sort of curious about what kind of variety Vance might have in this vein. After reading Bad Ronald a couple of years ago, too, I'm really curious to check out some more of his contemporary mystery/thriller fiction, which certainly seems to have a different character in that the language is much more stripped down and economical.
Thanks! I barely scratched the surface in my discussion of most his works, and Emphyrio and Blue Planet definitely deserved more. It was a challenge trying to balance my objectives of providing a comprehensive overview of Vance while keeping the video under an hour (which I didn't quite achieve). I hope it sparks viewer interest in reading more than just his Dying Earth stories.
Having read both Cabell and Vance in the last year, i have to say that if Vance wasn't on record as a fan of The Life of Manuel books, I might die of shock. There is so much of Manuel and Jurgen in characters like Cugel. This video is a wonderful guide to the non-Dying Earth Vance works, which can be intimidating giving how many of them there are. I'm going to check out Emphyrio and The Blue Planet if I see them out in the wild.
Thanks! I agree. The influence of Cabell's Poictesme novels on Vance is very apparent. Alas, very few people today have read Cabell, which is a shame. I think his works would find a welcome audience among some fantasy readers.
@@thelibraryladder It is a shame. I think it probably has to do with how Cabell has been published in the last few decades. Or not published, as the case has often been. Possibly also the fact that his books were controversial in their time, although I really doubt they would be anymore. Not relative to what's available these days.
Yeah, Ballantine was the last major publisher to keep Cabell in print, and that was 45 years ago. Some of the Poictesme books are now available as ebooks through Wildside press, and Neil Gaiman has produced a few as audiobooks in recent years, but I think the reading public's awareness of Cabell has dwindled almost to nothing these days. He was very popular in the 1920s (aided by the controversy, rather than hurt by it), but during the Great Depression, his style of writing fell out of fashion and he never regained the spotlight. My hope is that by calling attention to him in this video, I might spur some viewers might seek out his books.
She's on my list. I'm a big fan of her works. In the meantime, if you haven't already seen it, you might check out the retrospective video that Whitney (@SecretSauceofStorycraft) made about Butler late last year. Here's the link: ua-cam.com/video/GqKrRFY4OJI/v-deo.html
Great overview, and despite him being a giant in the genre, he is a gap for me. I have never read him despite the shelves being smaller back in my childhood. I have the Dying Earth books and some others hanging around.
Thanks! The first three Dying Earth books are essential reads, and I think you might really enjoy his short fiction found in The Jack Vance Treasury, if you're looking for a starting point.
Thank you so much for your excellent videos. I have greatly enjoyed all I have watched. They are always engaging, and your voice provides a hypnotic listening experience. I’ll be listening to some of your book narrations next. I remember reading Araminta Station when I was 20 and marveling at it. And as a D&D player since the first Blue Box, I couldn’t help but be aware of how The Dying Earth saga was one of the inspirations for the game’s creators. I also wanted to suggest something-from your reviews thus far, I believe it to be right up your alley. If you have yet to read the delightful, picaresque Chronicles of Master Li and Number Ten Ox, by Barry Hughart (HYOO-gurt), may I recommend them here to all interested parties? The entire trilogy (Bridge of Birds, Story of the Stone, The Eight Skilled Gentlemen) was published in a handsome omnibus edition (HB & TPB) by Subterranean Press, and is currently in “print” as a very reasonably-priced ebook as well. I only wish there was an audiobook version of this trilogy. I also wish the author, now deceased, had completed all seven books he originally intended for this series. Again, I really appreciate your videos, and look forward to viewing your future offerings. Thank you for sharing your love of books with all fellow bibliophiles.
Thank you for your very kind comment! You must have been reading my mind, because I love Hughart's trilogy, and I'm working on a video that will prominently feature the books. I hope to have it ready sometime next month. Stay tuned!
I’d love to see coverage of Lois McMaster Bujold, Terry Pratchett, Ursula K. Leguin, Margarett Atwood and Philip K. Dick and perhaps even modern day anomalies (mostly because of how wildly successful they appear) like John Scalzi
Vance remains highly underrated. And without Vance we almost certainly don't get Gene Wolfe and The Book of the New Sun, so I will forever be indebted to him. Also, a few years back I just happened to buy a copy of Tales of the Dying Earth (the omnibus that collects all the tales) on eBay and apparently it came from Jack Vance's own estate. The book has a stamp on the title page and everything. Don't know if that makes it any more valuable but I did think it was pretty cool (even it could have been just one of 10,000 copies he had).
My hope is to encourage more people to read Vance so they can recognize the influence he had on many other authors, such as Wolfe. That Dying Earth omnibus sounds like a good find. Your copy probably isn't unique -- the estate likely is selling off extra copies Vance received from his publishers over the years -- but it still has some association value for collectors. With that title, I assume it's a paperback edition, which will limit its future appreciation in value. In contrast, every hardcover edition of the Dying Earth stories, even the book club one from 1999, is quite scarce and valuable these days. If you ever run across a hardcover copy for sale at a modest price, it's probably a very good deal.
where are those black-and-white engraving-like illustrations that you use when summarizing the Dying Earth stories from? I'm looking for a version of the books with illustrations like that, but the only ones I can find have no illustrations.
They're from limited editions of the four Dying Earth books published in the 1970s and 80s. The first three books were published by Underwood-Miller, and the fourth book was published by Underwood alone under his Brandywyne Books imprint. Underwood-Miller also issued a nearly identical reprint edition of the first book, The Dying Earth, in 1994. George Barr did the artwork for the first book, and Stephen Fabian illustrated the other three. Those editions are pretty hard to find these days, as only 500-1,500 copies of each were printed, although affordable copies can still turn up at thrift shops and small bookstores if you're patient and lucky. I was fortunate to find my set of them about 20 years ago when they were considerably less scarce.
Cool. I wonder if Ralph Bakshi is a fan of Jack Vance, The animated film Wizards (1977) takes place in a distant post-apocalyptic future where magic and magical beings have returned.
Thanks! If you're referring to the recent Spatterlight Press editions, I think the cover art is adequate (and even attractive) on some of them, but many really missed the mark for me, particularly when compared to earlier editions. Some of them feel amateurish to me, as if they were the end product of a high school art class project. I hope they replace those covers with better ones at some point, because I think many potential readers _will_ judge those books by their covers and leave them on the shelf.
I've only read the first few dying earth stories but I loved those. He's one of those authors that make me want to be funnier. He makes it seem effortless but I know how insanely hard humor is to write
I read the first Dying Earth collection by Jack Vance, I was underwhelmed, there was some interesting ideas but each story felt nonexistent; each time just as you get invested the story ends and a new one starts I kept expecting the events in previous stories to be concluded in future chapters. Alas these are short stories that standalone in a shared universe. Overall I thought the ideas & prose were interesting with the mixture of Sci-Fi and Fantasy but I think Tanith Lee did something similar but better than Vance in Night's Master & Empress of Dreams. Her prose is poetic but her stories are more complete and the mixture of dark fantasy and purple prose creates a unique, mythic and mysterious atmosphere.
Thanks for sharing your experience with those books. The first book in Vance's Dying Earth series has been misleadingly marketed as a novel since it was first published in 1950, setting the wrong expectation for many readers. The stories in it have some connections between them, but as you noted, most of them really are standalones. For a different experience, you might give the second and third books in the series (The Eyes of the Overworld and Cugel's Saga) a try, because they're actual novels that tell a continuous story of Cugel the Clever and his episodic misadventures. Tanith Lee has said that her Night's Master stories were inspired significantly by Vance's Dying Earth, and the similarity between their works was by design.
Your speech sounds very interesting. As a Frenchman I sometimes have trouble translating - do you have a written version of your commentary that would be easier - thank you.
Hello! If you turn on UA-cam's closed captioning or click the Show Transcript button in the video's description, the English language subtitles are completely accurate. I enter the subtitles manually to ensure their accuracy. Thanks for your interest!
My favorite trait of Vance's character's exemplified best by Cugel the Clever, is that they're smart enough to get into trouble, but not smart enough to easily escape.
Before Vance found an even higher gear for his prose the 1980s, Emphyrio was widely considered among his very best works (and some literary critics in the 1970s considered it to be his absolute best).
@thelibraryladder thank you for the reply sir! I am on chapter 3 of Demon Princes - the opening describing Smade's Tavern made me feel as though I had just started a new "Minecraft world" totally uninhabited. His description of planets and nature really paint the mental imagery, and he does it with such few careful words!
I hope you enjoy the series as much as I do! Keep in mind that the first book (The Dying Earth) is really just a collection of short stories and not a novel, but the second and third books (The Eyes of the Overworld and Cugel's Saga) are novels that tell a continuous story.
Good point! If I remember correctly, Appendix N in the Dungeon Masters Guide cited the influence of de Camp & Pratt's Harold Shea stories in addition to Vance. [P.S.: "dad's magic system?" Are you referring to old school AD&D or are you a Gygax? :D ]
@@thelibraryladder Really? But he was a sailor. He might call it "pit-a-pat" but everybody knew what it was. Anyways, he created a couple of different sports, I think "hussade" is the one I think of as football. The game that had Sherls appeared in quite a few stories. The glorious Sherls. The Sherl for the losing team was in for it. It's kind of a theme. The glorious Sherl, the glorious Cessily Veder in her butterfly costume raped and murdered by Kirdy Wook after her amazing metamorphosis performance, the glorious Flower of Cath at the height of her beauty kidnapped by the Female Mystery cult and put into a cage with a tumescent cretin for the crowd's amusement.
Nice retrospective of Vance. I'm not a huge fan of Vance's writing. I've read quite a bit of his work (and own 14 volumes), but it always felt both arch and insubstantial to me. You used the term "baroque" to describe the writing, which I think is apposite, at least in the sense of "characterized by grotesqueness, extravagance, complexity, or flamboyance" to quote the Merriam Webster definition. Perhaps I was the wrong age when I read them (mostly more than 40 years ago), but for me, he was a better writer of sentences and paragraphs than stories.
Thanks! I tend to think of Vance's strengths and weaknesses as going hand-in-hand. The imaginative worldbuilding and colorful style often mask shortcomings in plot and character development, which is why I described much of his writing as "unbalanced" in the video. I do think his storytelling ability improved substantially toward the end of his career. For example, his Cadwal and Lyonesse trilogies have considerably more substance and polish than his earlier works. If you haven't read them, those are two you might give a try.
@@thelibraryladder Somehow, I have "The Green Pearl", but neither of the other books in the Lyonesse series. I think the Cadwal series was written after I had stopped buying Vance. I'll have to see if I can find a used copy of "Suldrun's Garden" or "Araminta Station" the next time I'm at Black & Read.
Out of curiosity, are you training him to be an interstellar spy/assassin/instrument of vengeance, or will he learn his destiny when you give him a copy the The Demon Princes for his 12th birthday? :D
@@thelibraryladder He is 31, he already has his copy of the demon princes. He 's trained in various martial arts, the spy/assassin training has yet to be started, but he still has time until the intersplits (faster than light propulsion) is invented.
This one was a long time coming, as I started preparing it over a year ago and encountered multiple delays and frustrations along the way. It's the longest video I've ever made and is an experimental attempt to combine multiple, somewhat conflicting, objectives in one video. I tried multiple times without success to keep it under an hour. There was too much ground to cover, and I still don't feel like I did his works proper justice. Thanks for your patience, everyone! I hope you find this overview of Vance and his works helpful.
I'm also experimenting with UA-cam's algorithm with this video -- as a test, I turned off the automatic upload notification for subscribers to see if the algorithm treats this one differently, which is why you might not have received a notification.
This was so wonderful to watch! I'll be re-watching this one like a classic movie haha. Also, that Songs of the Dying Earth anthology is one of my absolute favorite short story collections. The True Vintage of Erzuine Thale was so decadent, witty, and Vancian. Just a delicious read!
Thanks! It improves with rewatching. :D
I too love the Songs of the Dying Earth anthology. It's an essential read for anyone who loves Vance's Dying Earth. Also, the commentary provided in it by each story's author about their experiences reading Vance offers interesting insight into them.
I am only just learning about this video now and only because I thought, "I haven't received a notification from Library Ladder in a while." So, I hope you have gotten the information you needed from your test and will in the future enable subscriber notifications!
The man was incapable of writing a bad sentence. Not all of his books were good, but they were all beautifully written. Also, kudos to Jack for imagining a galaxy-wide civilization devoid of conflict, beyond the personal.
One of my favorite writers.
Well said! There's not a bad sentence in your comment. :D
Any LL video is an automatic like.
same
Same. Never even heard of this author, but I will watch the whole video
@@ShadowWizard123 He's good! He's weird. Jack Vance is exceptionally talented at describing a place that is totally alien, in a way that you can visualize it. I started with Mazirian the Magician, and I had a blast!
This is such an excellent and useful video. I will absolutely use this as a resource in my journey through Vance.
Thanks! It improves with repeat viewing. :D
I hope you enjoy Vance as much as I do.
Vance is at the top of my list. I have nearly all his stories in hard or electronic copy. The Dragon Masters and The Last Castle were the first stories of his that I read. Followed by my annual favorite The Dying Earth. But you are right on the mark when you say he was a Mystery Writer. My two favorite seris of his were essentailly Mysteries. The Demon Princes, mystery with a twist we knew who commited the crime but who were they? Then Cadwal Chronicles working to solve a couple of deaths.
Cadwal and The Demon Princes are great fun! I like to think of Vance, not as a fantasy or SF author, but rather as a writer of adventurous mysteries and mysterious adventures that happen to be set in the future. (Lyonesse being a rare exception.)
Welcome back and what a way to return!
Thanks!
I had no idea that Songs of the Dying Earth existed! It's just what I needed after finishing Vance's dying earth stories. Also, I'm glad you covered Lyonesse. Definitely his greatest achievement in my opinion.
Songs of the Dying Earth is excellent, and if you can find it (at an affordable price), the Subterranean Press edition is full of very Vancian illustrations by artist Tom Kidd. Vance's Dying Earth stories have had a greater impact on the SFF genre, but I agree with you that Lyonesse is his greatest artistic achievement.
I’ve been waiting for this video for over a year now. I’m glad that its finally out. Modern SFF really needs to rediscover Jack Vance and the artistic genius he contributed to the genre.
I agree with everything you just wrote! :D
Library Ladder never disappoints!
Thanks! (I wish my video production process was faster, though.) :D
Got a package with the new edition of The Complete Lyonesse in it coming today, good timing!
Perfect timing! I hope you enjoy it as much as I do.
As a lifelong Jack Vance fan just wanted to say THANK YOU. This video is the most amazing overview on Vance's work that I've ever seen. Subscribed!
Cannot imagine how much time you devoted to this project. Great as usual (more than usual lol)
Thanks! I spent far more time on it than I initially expected to, but I had a lot of fun in the process (despite the occasional frustrations with delay and rework).
Best book content on UA-cam!!
Thank you! I'm so glad there are people like you who enjoy my type of book-related videos. :D
One of my most read authors, and since I still have a good chunk of his bibliography to get through, I don’t see that changing.
Enjoy the journey, Liam! I spent the past 18 months preparing for this video by working my way through his bibliography, including a lot of rereads, but also quite a few first-time reads. In almost every case, my appreciation of Vance's writing increased with each reread.
The Cugel stories were the first fantasy novels I have ever read (in Hungarian, before I started learning English). They got me into fantasy. I have revisited them not too long ago, and enjoyed them just as much as 25 years ago. And thank you so much for this video!
What a great introduction to the fantasy genre you had! When first published, Vance's off-kilter Dying Earth stories opened a lot of readers' eyes to the idea that fantasy could encompass more than just fairy tales, Conan-style sword & sorcery stories, and retellings/adaptations of mythic folklore. I thoroughly enjoyed rereading them for this video.
Well worth the wait! I've been wanting to read Vance for a while now, and am excited to jump in.
Wonderful! I hope you enjoy his works as much as I do.
I've come across a few of your videos now and I've got to say they are incredibly high quality. I can't even imagine how long it takes to write the script for these videos not to mention actually filming and editing them. I guess I want to say that it's not taken for granted or overlooked how much effort you put into these. I'm looking forward to what you put out in the future.
Thank you for your very kind comment! You're right that my videos involve a lot of effort, but that's part of the fun for me. With each one, I try to make something that I hope will be useful to viewers now and in the future.
First Vance I read was "The Blue World" and I knew before I even read another of his books he was one of my favorite authors.
Glad this video finally dropped, worth the wait. Best booktube channel out there.
Thank you for the very kind comment! The Blue World is a fun read and it's a shame that it's often overlooked in favor of his longer and later works.
Your channel has fast become one of my favourites. With your knowledge and breadth of your collection, I feel like I'm listening to an old friend discussing his library, and you have broadened my knowledge of some authors I may never have discovered. I must admit that I felt envious when I saw your impressive library.
Thank you! That's my primary intent, to introduce viewers to authors and works they might never have encountered or might recognize by name but know little about. My hope is that people will gain a greater appreciation of their place in genre history and perhaps develop an interest in reading them.
Assembling my library has been a labour of love for more than 40 years. :)
Perfect timing, I've been thinking about getting into Vance.
Perfect! The Dying Earth, Tschai: Planet of Adventure, and Demon Princes series all are great entry points, as is his short fiction collection The Jack Vance Treasury.
@@thelibraryladder I have a copy of the Treasury - and have to admit that after your description of his style I immediately paused the video and started reading!
@@thelibraryladder My brain is currently not in the mood for short stories, so I went for the Dying Earth. It's *brilliant*! The sense of humour, the wording (I need the aid of a thesaurus at times, and I love it), pacing and style... Thank you for talking about this magnificent writer, I wouldn't have started reading for who knows how long otherwise 🌌
Oh you did it justice. This is an incredibly well produced and realized doc about a sci fi legend. Great job! Superb.
Thank you! I had a lot of fun making this video, and I hope it helps viewers discover and appreciate Vance's quirky charms.
I picked up the Dying Earth series because you mentioned it in passing in a video.
I read the first book (collection?) and loved it. Now that I’m done with Memory Sorrow and Thorn, also thanks to you, I’ll finish Dying Earth.
As someone who only started reading again recently, I love finding these great older stories that I haven’t heard of before, thanks for all the recommendations!
Edit: also thank you for the captions, now I don’t have to guess on the spelling of books and names.
Wonderful! I'm so glad I introduced you to those terrific classics, and I hope I can help you discover many more in the future. Also, thank you for letting me know of your appreciation for my subtitles. I enter them by hand for each video to ensure their accuracy, adding an extra 1-2 hours to my upload process. I'm happy they're helpful to viewers.
This is one of the best video on youtube 🔥
Thank you! I'm very happy you enjoyed it. I had a lot of fun making it.
I never saw a notification nor a recommendation for this one. And welcome back with a bang!
Jack Vance definitely needed a video. You've been missed!
Thanks, and sorry about that! I turned off the subscriber notification option for this video as an experiment to see if YT's algorithm would treat it differently. I'm glad you found it (or it found you) eventually.
I love experiments! I'm going to unsubscribe from your channel to see if and when you next video reaches me.😉
PS: Is Robert McCammon still in the pipes?
@@Seven-Planets-Sci-Fi-Tuber That would be interesting to know. FYI, my next video should be uploaded tomorrow or Saturday, so you won’t have long to wait. (Feel free to resubscribe after the experiment. :D)
@@Seven-Planets-Sci-Fi-Tuber Also, McCammon is still in my queue, but I’m unlikely to get to it in the next few months. I had a lot going on this year unrelated to the channel, and my production pipeline got very clogged as a result.
UA-cam messed up again. This video didn't appear at all in my subscription feed, but in the recommendations
Same here. I’m subbed but I don’t even see it in my subscription feed. But I saw it in the recommended feed. I love it when a major function of the website can’t even do what it’s built to
Blame me, not UA-cam. I chose not to include this video in the subscriber feed as an experiment to see how the slower rollout would be handled by YT's algorithm. I noted this in a pinned comment on the video as well as in a community post on my channel at the time the video went live. I apologize for any frustration my decision might have caused. Thanks for your interest in my videos!
It was my decision, and not UA-cam's fault. See my response above for an explanation. Thanks!
@@thelibraryladder no worries 👍 Gotta do what you gotta do
the depth of knowledge on display and your ability to relay concisely is brilliant.
Thank you for your very kind comment! I'm glad you found the video informative.
Oh, my. Jack Vance may well be my favorite SF author of all time, for his unmatched world building and his distinctive writing style. There are many “big names” in science fiction whose work I liked when younger, but for which I do not care at all as an older, more critical reader. But Vance? Vance holds up to re-reading like almost no other author.
I had a great time undertaking the enormous read of Vance's works for this video. Many I had read before, some almost 50 years ago, while others I finally got around to reading for the first time. I was impressed by how well his unique style of storytelling still holds up today.
I love how you do not put a picture from the internet of a book on screen. No, you show the good stuff by showing that you own the book. Your physical library is amazing. Just 10 minutes into your video and I want to read as much of his works as I can.
Thanks! It took me over an hour this morning just to put away all the books I included in the video. I hope you enjoy reading Vance as much as I do. His Dying Earth, Tschai, and Demon Princes series are great entry points, as is his short fiction collection The Jack Vance Treasury.
An excellent and educational video. I always look forward to your videos. It got me down on the floor to count my old Vance books - they're on the bottom shelf. I knew I had the 4 Ace editions of Plant of Adventure books and the Big Planet, but I was surprised to find that I had 14 paperbacks from the late 60's, including 4 Ace doubles with two of his novels or short story collections. I guess I have his pulp-50's work pretty well covered. I read a lot less SF after the early 70's, so his later work passed under my radar.
Thank you! Vance's later writing improved markedly in plotting, structure and character depth in my opinion. I suspect his increasing blindness through the late 1970s and early 1980s had a lot to do with that, forcing him to make substantial changes in his writing process that might have led him to be more thoughtful in what he committed to paper. It shows in 1983's Cugel's Saga, bringing Cugel's story to a conclusion that gives the character more depth than is evident in The Eyes of the Overworld. Also, you might give his Cadwal and Lyonesse trilogies a try. I think they're Vance at his best.
as always a quality video and well worth the wait
Much appreciated!
Hey, I love your videos. I'm a Brazilian fan who would love for you to continue the Eternal Champion series. I eagerly look forward to seeing you talk about Elric. ❤❤
Thank you! I'm currently working on my next Eternal Champion video, which will focus on Elric. I hope to have it ready in the next few weeks.
Great video Bridger. I adore Vance. He gets better with every reread for me.
Thank you! That's how I felt as I was rereading his works for this video.
Epic! Wonderful video on every level. Thank you for taking the time and thought in putting this together. The selection of artwork was icing on the cake. I was so happy watching this that it bought tears of joy to my eyes. Thanks agian.
Thanks! [Offers a tissue.]
Finding and incorporating visual elements that illustrate and reinforce what I'm saying in my videos is one of the most challenging and time-consuming aspects of making them. For this one, I was fortunate to have several illustrated editions of Vance's works in my collection.
Another fantastic, consummate mini-bio pic of a true master of the SFF arts!
Really enjoyed the longer format with deeper biographical elements highlighting the author’s literary inspirations/influences and life experiences which informed his evolution as a writer (across multiple genres) and development of his unique voice. Brilliant work sir! Bravo!
P.S. Please consider making a separate series touring through the bookshelves of your (clearly) rare, diverse and priceless library- we are fortunate to catch glimpses during your regular content, but a dedicated bit of book collection porn on the side would be very welcome 😉
Thank you! I had my hands full juggling the many topics covered in this video. My goal was to keep it under an hour, but I wasn't able to accomplish that.
Regarding your suggestion about bookshelf tours, I'm working on a couple of projects that might scratch that itch. One is a series of comprehensive, long-form videos to serve as visual guides to the history of different genres, showcasing many of the books in my collection while placing them in historical context and (I hope) generating viewer interest in reading them. The first of those videos probably will focus on historical fiction, because I haven't covered it much on my channel to date. I have more than 500 works of historical fiction, many of which are likely to appear in the video. Other genres would follow.
The second project might involve regular, short-form coverage of very small parts of my collection that wouldn't go into much depth, but could be more frequent (e.g., highlighting a specific author or book series).
Thanks for your detailed reply.
Judging by the comments, I think most viewers are welcoming of the longer format, and your next series sounds like it will indeed go some ways to scratch the itch of those of us keen to see more examples of your collection and relish longer presentations 👍
On a separate note, you are obviously widely read, and aside from more established and critically acclaimed authors, you appear to have a broad spectrum appreciation of “lesser” works including many perhaps considered more mainstream genre fiction including classic Star Trek, Children’s adventure stories, military fiction & Westerns, etc. In this vein, just curious if you’ve ever read anything from the Warhammer Fantasy or 40k universes? (These are my somewhat guilty pleasure and I feel the IPs’ contributing authors’ works are criminally underrated/under appreciated within the bookish community.) Thanks again for sharing your collection with us and creating exceptional content. 🙏
I tried reading a Warhammer 40K novel about ten years ago, but I just couldn't get into it, and I DNFed it after about 100 pages. In my defense, I had no familiarity with the Warhammer game and its universe, so I didn't quite understand what I was reading. Also, I've been advised by others since then that the quality of the Warhammer series varies widely, depending on the author. I don't remember which book I tried to read, but I suspect it was from one of the lesser authors, based on what little I remember of the writing. At some point, I plan to give the series another try. Do you have a good suggestion for an entry point?
@@thelibraryladder I had a similar experience, having only cursory knowledge of WH video games, no idea about the tabletop game, the lore or extensive history of Games Workshop’s literature imprint Black Library (BL).
Most fans suggest series by the big guns of BL: Dan Abnett; Aaron Dembski-Bowden; William King; Chris Wraight; Gav Thorpe; Graham McNeill; John French; Guy Haley. Traditionally most read the works of these guys first, which I agree with, but I suggest reading newer authors early too, including Robert Rath; Peter Fehervari; Mike Brooks; Dani Ware; Jude Reid & Rachel Harrison.
Many of the early titles are a bit average but the stable of quality writers and their output has rising considerably in the last 20 years. Also, although WH30/40k should be seen as a setting, there are sequenced events which move the lore along and the best way to get up to speed on this without any significant spoilers is...
read the Core Rulebook (eBay is a good source);
visit this website: warhammeruniverse.com/where-to-start-with-warhammer-40k-lore-the-definitive-guide/
watch this vid (by Leutin09 the premier loremaster on YT): ua-cam.com/video/4npkVEHWjvg/v-deo.htmlsi=e7q6ZZ9_1Mx-g3TM);
and visit a great resource for introductory BL reading guides, Track of Words site: www.trackofwords.com/black-library/black-library-guides-2/
and scan through the fan-made wiki: wh40k.lexicanum.com/wiki/Main_Page
For WH Fantasy, similarly there is vast lore which is useful to know but not necessarily required. These resources might be helpful:
Suggested chronological reading order for Warhammer Fantasy: scifi.stackexchange.com/questions/107800/does-anyone-have-a-chronological-reading-order-for-warhammer-fantasy
A Beginner’s Guide to Novels set in the World of Warhammer Fantasy:
jacksbedtimereading.wordpress.com/2020/12/01/a-beginners-guide-to-novels-set-in-the-world-of-warhammer-fantasy/
My personal suggestions - just 30/40K books...
(TIP: for series, read them in order (except Warboss) but break it up & read other books otherwise the experience can get a bit monotonous - NOTE: they tend to greatly improve with each successive book):
Gaunt's Ghosts series (Dan Abnett)
Eisenhorn & Ravenor trilogies (Dan Abnett)
Ciaphas Cain Series (Sandy Mitchell)
Helsreach (Aaron Dembski-Bowden)
The Infinite and the Divine (Robert Rath)
The Reverie - this is part of the excellent Dark Coil sequence (Peter Fehervari)
Vaults of Terra Trilogy (Cris Wraight)
Night Lords Trilogy (Aaron Dembski-Bowden)
Warboss (Mike Brooks)
The Horus Heresy series gives a solid grounding in the lore, but it's a very long series and isn't for everyone.
NOTE: Many BL titles had extremely low print runs, so physical copies are hard to come by, but most are available as ebooks/audio books via the WH website (blacklibrary.com) etc.
Wow! That's a very helpful roadmap to WH. Your list of series jogged my memory, and I think my earlier attempt was with a Horus Heresy book (probably the first one in the series). Dan Abnett is the author that others have recommended to me as their first choice, so your endorsement of him gives me more reason to start there. Thank you!
This is the perfect thing to put on to fall asleep to.
Sweet dreams! :)
I keep coming back to Vance over and over again in my "getting older" years. The Demon Princes series is like an inexhaustible well. But there are many gems like Emphyrio, Night Lamp, and Araminta Station that have provided me with much entertainment and can be re-read with profit. Incredible author.
I agree there's a lot to discover in rereads of Vance, which I was happy to experience again over the past 18 months.
I haven't read any of Vance's SF, but your video sold many of them to me. In a way, it's surprising that I haven't got around to them - probably primarily to their lack of availability back in the day - because his Lyonesse Trilogy was one of the most affective reads for me in the entire fantasy genre. It is a magnificent story - beautiful, heart-breaking and delightfully redemptive.
I hope you enjoy his SF works as much as I do. They're a little uneven, as I noted in the video, but fun nonetheless. Lyonesse is one of my all-time favorite fantasy series.
I’m so pleased to see this-I thought I had my eyes open for LL, but somehow I’m still a few weeks late. And of course it is everything I’ve come to expect-judicious, smart, warm; a thorough overview of a writer that’s always been in the background for me.
Thanks for your very kind comment! I apologize for the lack of notification this time. I turned off the automatic subscriber notification for this video as an experiment to see if it affected how YT's algorithm would treat it.
@@thelibraryladder , I saw your note to that effect after I’d written. Your channel, however, is on a very short list of those I check manually for new material every few weeks, so I would have discovered this eventually, algorithms be damned.
FYI, I hope to have my next video up sometime next week.
@@thelibraryladder , I’ll be watching for it.
Just finished listening to Tales of Dying Earth while on a road trip. Searched out a video on Jack Vance afterwards. This was perfect. Thanks. I’d loved the Planet of Adventure stories, and now I will follow some of your recs. FYI, I once read that Vance was the favorite author of brilliant French cartoonist Moebius. Reading Planet of Adventure, it was easy to see how Moebius was inspired to create his amazing alien world landscapes from Vance. He writes brilliant visuals.
Thanks! I didn't realize Vance was an influence on Moebius, but now that you mention it, I'm not surprised. Their styles seem like a natural fit for each other. I hope you enjoy more of Vance's works!
Been waiting for this video for a while! Thank you!
This is top tier content right here. Well done, sir.
Thank you kindly!
😊 you’ll have to let me know how the test goes. I too have been playing with the algorithm lately! So glad to see you upload!!
Thanks, Whitney! I will. So far, the results of my experiment are indeterminate. I hope to have a better picture within the next week or so. I'm glad to finally get this video out. I've been working on it for the past year and a half, and the delays I encountered in recent months while trying to complete it really frustrated me.
As a lifelong fan of Jack Vance, this is a very good overview of his novels, I think I'll be coming back to this to make sure I haven't missed any, and with an eye toward re-reading. Thanks for putting this together. Bookmarked!
Thanks! I hope you enjoy your reread of Vance as much as I did over the past 18 months in preparation for this video.
Don't be too hard on yourself. I've always found your work excellent and thought provoking. You've actually renewed my interest in building up my library again.
Thanks! I had a lot of fun making this video, despite the unfortunate delays and frustrating rework I encountered. I think assembling a library of books that are meaningful to you is one of life's great pursuits, and I hope you enjoy it as much as I do.
Excellent!!
One of my favorite SF books when I was a teen in the 80s was a paperback copy of The Best Of Jack Vance which included "The Last Castle" & "The Moon Moth".
Yes! Can't wait. I found a second-hand copy of the Subterranean Press Vance Treasury just off-chance yesterday, so the timing here is impeccable.
Side-question, sorry to ask for more after you just dropped a monster of a video, but any big plans for the Spooky Season? Maybe that Robert McCammon video you mentioned a while back? That feels like a real hole in Horror Booktube.
That's a great find. Those Sub Press hardcovers of Vance's works are getting scarce, and the Treasury volume is one of the essentials.
I had really hoped to have the McCammon retrospective ready for spooky season this year, but everything that delayed my Vance video in recent months also pushed back the schedule of the other videos I'm working on (currently, I have seven videos in process at different stages of development). McCammon's still high on my list, but there are a few other videos ahead of it in my production queue. Thanks for checking on it!
Love these videos. You are an outstanding narrator. I am a huge reader, but never have I been into most of the books you’ve discussed, but because of you, I’ve recently read Under Heaven by GGK and loved it. Thank you so much…you keep me in rapt attention. We are blessed to have you as our host
Thank you so much for the kind words! I'm glad you enjoyed Under Heaven. What are some of the books or authors you typically read? I read very widely and am planning to broaden my coverage beyond the somewhat narrow areas I've discussed up to now.
Well first, I hope you understand I definitely was not criticizing the books you’ve chosen to discuss. It forced me to broaden my horizons, and now I want to read Tad Williams.I have several books in my TBR list now thanks to these videos. Several books I’ve read recently that I loved were “ Mischling” by Affinity Konar. The Ralph Peters Civil War series, “the Shipping News” by Annie Proulx, “the Shadow of the Wind” by Carlos Ruiz Zofan. I have the luxury of living next to three Half Price Bookstores within a few miles of each other. That’s my version of Heaven. Thank you for your hard work, it is much appreciated
No worries, I didn't infer any criticism from your earlier comment. :)
The Shadow of the Wind is a book that was on my TBR list for years, and I finally managed to read it earlier this year. Wow! What a terrific read.
I haven't read the Konar or Peters books. They sound intriguing. I love historical fiction, and one of my upcoming projects is a comprehensive overview of the history and flavors of the genre (potentially spanning more than 250 noteworthy titles).
Great vid really enjoyed watching this 👍
What a valuable resource! Thank you!
I have The Killing Machine queued up, and look forward to the Dying Earth stories!
Thanks! Have you already read the first Demon Princes book, The Star King? If not, you might want to start there because of the background it provides about the main character and his quest for vengeance. The Demon Princes novels are mostly standalones, but they do benefit from reading them in publication order.
@@thelibraryladder I read it maybe a year ago, and it was my first Vance. Fairly enjoyable as a mystery, but I think I've seen only a tiny fraction of his skill.
By the way, GRRM just recommended this series to a fellow booktuber at one of the conventions. It's clearly still one of his favourites!
Love that this finally came out!
It's remarkable to me how Vance and a lot of other writers of the past where able to successfully write and publish in multiple genres. We don't see that very often nowadays except for a few outliers. I would guess that it's because publishers would push back against authors being more experimental? Thanks for this great overview!
Thanks, Josh! I suspect a central explanation for the multigenre span of many authors back in the 1940s, 50s and 60s is directly related to the supply (or lack thereof) of genre fiction and publishers. Unlike today, readers at that time couldn't easily binge or focus exclusively on a specific genre, such as fantasy or horror, because the supply of available titles was very limited and found primarily in ephemeral media such as the pulp mags. This compelled many fans of genre fiction (including authors) to read widely across many genres, and it prepared those authors to experiment in various genres because they were already very familiar with their forms.
There also was an economic incentive to diversify, because SFF and horror were the lowest-paying types of fiction back then. That led many SFF authors to try their hand at thrillers, mysteries, historical fiction, etc., and to incorporate elements of those more lucrative genres into their SFF stories (leading to interesting hybrids), in the hope of attracting the attention of more prestigious (and better-paying) publishers.
Today, I think publishers and authors are wary of muddling the brands authors have established for themselves in specific niches. Tad Williams could be considered an object lesson for some, as his forays into different genres (high fantasy, hard SF, horror, urban fantasy, litfic, children's) might have undermined his early trajectory as the face of modern fantasy. I also think many modern genre authors don't read as widely outside their niches as previous generations did, limiting their abilities to experiment in other genres. They've specialized as readers as well as writers.
@@thelibraryladder that's a really great point about genre authors not reading outside of their niches - I never would have considered that, but it makes total sense.
The legend returns
Nice to have you back. Was patiently waiting for the Gary Gygax TSR reference so nice to see. Always hard to believe you’re not an author yourself. Very knowledgeable.
Thanks! It's great to be back. If it makes any sense, I've long been a writer, but never a published author.
I finally finished this wonderful overview of Jack Vance's works! While I've only read The Dying Earth story, you perfectly described Vance's writing style from what I noticed. He seemed to have a thing for tentacles in that one, didn't he? Fascinating to learn that he was more prominently known as a sci-fi writer. I've seen Songs of the Dying Earth in my Everand subscription, and I was glad to hear your praise for that collection. The Lyonesse trilogy sounds excellent as well!
Thank you, Johanna! I can't recommend Songs of the Dying Earth highly enough, although I suggest reading the Cugel stories (books 2 & 3 in Vance's Dying Earth series) before reading the homage stories written in tribute. Also, I think his Lyonesse trilogy will really appeal to you. It contains a couple of scenes/plot elements that might give you pause, but on the whole I think you'll love it (similar to how you viewed Tigana and its flaws).
I'm now 76 and have been reading JACK VANICE since I was twelve. No author has provided me more entertainment and joy from reading than he has...period.
I share your love for his works. He's been a favorite of mine for more than 45 years.
What better way to start a week than watching an hour-long Library Ladder video? Thanks, Bridger.
By the way, you might have already heard, but Guy Gavriel Kay (who I know you're a big fan of) has announced a new book. It's supposedly inspired by medieval France (a return to Arbonne?) and is due out in May of next year.
Thanks! I did hear the GGK news, and I'm excited about it. His writing schedule is almost like clockwork as he releases a new book every three years.
Thank you for this video. I thoroughly enjoyed it. I’ve been meaning to get my teeth into Vance for some time. (I bought a handful of Spatterlight Press volumes, but I haven’t started any of them yet.) Every time I’ve heard someone talking about Vance, it’s always to praise his work. Just recently, a UA-camr (Library of a Viking) was at Worldcon in Glasgow, and he briefly met George RR Martin there. He asked Martin to recommend a book or a series for his viewers, and Martin recommended The Demon Princes series. If it’s good enough for George RR Martin, it’s good enough for me. On a completely separate note, I wanted to ask you something. You are clearly a very well read person (and a man of impeccable taste). I wonder if you would consider posting a video about your favourite books of all time. (Top ten, top twenty, top one hundred, whatever.) That sort of videos is usually fun (as long as one doesn’t take it too seriously), and it would give us viewers lots of great recommendations. Up to you.
Thanks! I agree with GRRM. The Demon Princes is a fun, fast-paced series that doesn't take itself too seriously.
I appreciate your suggestion and interest in my favorite books. To date, I've steered clear of those kinds of videos, partly because of the difficulty I'd have ranking the books. I'm contemplating some future, wide-ranging lists of essential reads in different genres to provide more recommendations for viewers, but they probably won't be ranked in a Top 10 style (despite the YT algorithm's love for those types of videos).
Fantastic video. Vance has long been my favourite writer, and you did his legacy justice. I don’t know if you came across Harold Lamb in your research into his influences, but I’d wager Vance was a fan. Lamb’s work in the pulps was very popular, and Vance’s writing style shares a lot of Lamb’s trademark qualities: fascination with exotic and dangerous settings; highly resourceful and skeptical protagonists, and a wry, laconic humour, most evident in the dialogue. Read a few pages of one of Lamb’s cossack stories, and the tone is unmistakably Vancian.
Thanks! In my research, I don't recall encountering any references to Lamb, but it seems very plausible that Vance had read him, given Vance's love of wry adventures in exotic lands. I too, am a fan of Lamb's fantasy, historical fiction and nonfiction works, and I'll be including some of them in an upcoming video about the history of historical fiction.
Welcome back!
I've been reading Vance since junior high and have written a couple of articles about him. This is the best YT Vance clip I've seen and is just excellent overall. BTW, Vance was also a Robert E. Howard fan.
Thank you! I tried to do his works justice, although I barely scratched the surface of most of them. He was a prolific writer. My hope is that it generates more interest in reading him.
Greatly enjoyed his «Lyonesse» Trilogy earlier this year! Looking forward to read his «Dying Earth» and «Demon Princes» stories!
Also, Vance, Herbert and Anderson building a houseboat: Now where is THAT movie (or sitcom)!😄
Wonderful! I hope you enjoy those other Vance works as much as I do.
Sitcom, indeed! IIRC, the houseboat sank on its maiden voyage because the fiberglass coating Vance had applied on the pontoons was accidentally punctured in transit to the water. Fortunately, they were able to refloat it, although it took some ingenuity on their part.
You got automatic line cause do a video of this long is a hardwork, thanks for your effort.
Thank you! It's hard work, but I have fun doing it. I just hope viewers find my videos useful.
Thank you so much for this video!
This was a great and well-formulated video about Jack vance and his work. I have been into him since discovering the Dying Earth in my early 20s in the early 2000s, and since then have read a lot of his work, though not nearly everything yet. You went into things I still had no idea about. Got to finish teh Cadwell books, and read the Alastor ones next I think. The Demon Princes and the Dying Earth stories are my favourites, probably. Was actually a little disappointed with Emphyiro, but it was still Vance so the writing was great.
Thanks! It's always great encountering a fellow Vance fan. Have you read his Tschai: Planet of Adventure series? If not, I'd suggest prioritizing it too. Also, if you haven't read much of his short fiction, The Jack Vance Treasury contains several of his best works (although it does overlap somewhat with the Dying Earth -- about a third of the stories are from the Dying Earth series).
@@thelibraryladder Cheers! I have in fact read Planet of Adventure -- i really liked that series. Alo i thinkt he Derdaine (sp) trilogy has to be one of my favourites.
One thing I really love about Vance is that you feel like you are truly immersed in and exploring a world when you read his sf/fantasy. I know world-building is considered a huge asset in modern genre fiction but there's still something uniquely concise and fascinating about the way he does it. The Demon Princes, taken as a whole, is such an immersive experience that goes beyond its simple revenge plot.
I have read some of the short fiction, but admittedly not as much as I'd like. Some of it was until recently pretty damn hard to find. I'm a huge fan of short stories and always been sort of curious about what kind of variety Vance might have in this vein. After reading Bad Ronald a couple of years ago, too, I'm really curious to check out some more of his contemporary mystery/thriller fiction, which certainly seems to have a different character in that the language is much more stripped down and economical.
Love this
found it two days after upload fwiw. love vance. emphyrio, blue planet could make their own videos. great job putting a broad overview together.
Thanks! I barely scratched the surface in my discussion of most his works, and Emphyrio and Blue Planet definitely deserved more. It was a challenge trying to balance my objectives of providing a comprehensive overview of Vance while keeping the video under an hour (which I didn't quite achieve). I hope it sparks viewer interest in reading more than just his Dying Earth stories.
@@thelibraryladder best part of the video for me is learning what i've left to read rank among your favorites.
Having read both Cabell and Vance in the last year, i have to say that if Vance wasn't on record as a fan of The Life of Manuel books, I might die of shock. There is so much of Manuel and Jurgen in characters like Cugel.
This video is a wonderful guide to the non-Dying Earth Vance works, which can be intimidating giving how many of them there are. I'm going to check out Emphyrio and The Blue Planet if I see them out in the wild.
Thanks! I agree. The influence of Cabell's Poictesme novels on Vance is very apparent. Alas, very few people today have read Cabell, which is a shame. I think his works would find a welcome audience among some fantasy readers.
@@thelibraryladder It is a shame. I think it probably has to do with how Cabell has been published in the last few decades. Or not published, as the case has often been.
Possibly also the fact that his books were controversial in their time, although I really doubt they would be anymore. Not relative to what's available these days.
Yeah, Ballantine was the last major publisher to keep Cabell in print, and that was 45 years ago. Some of the Poictesme books are now available as ebooks through Wildside press, and Neil Gaiman has produced a few as audiobooks in recent years, but I think the reading public's awareness of Cabell has dwindled almost to nothing these days. He was very popular in the 1920s (aided by the controversy, rather than hurt by it), but during the Great Depression, his style of writing fell out of fashion and he never regained the spotlight. My hope is that by calling attention to him in this video, I might spur some viewers might seek out his books.
Would you do a video covering the books of Octavia Butler? Ive only recently discovered her and shes taken over my brain.
She's on my list. I'm a big fan of her works. In the meantime, if you haven't already seen it, you might check out the retrospective video that Whitney (@SecretSauceofStorycraft) made about Butler late last year. Here's the link: ua-cam.com/video/GqKrRFY4OJI/v-deo.html
@@thelibraryladder Lifting up other channels. You truly are the best of us
I can tell you put effort into this one - even had to take off the button down :D
You're right, I broke a sweat on this one. :D
Thanks for watching!
Great video like always! Greetings from Poland :)
Witam i dziękuję!
Great overview, and despite him being a giant in the genre, he is a gap for me. I have never read him despite the shelves being smaller back in my childhood. I have the Dying Earth books and some others hanging around.
Thanks! The first three Dying Earth books are essential reads, and I think you might really enjoy his short fiction found in The Jack Vance Treasury, if you're looking for a starting point.
@@thelibraryladder I see I have the SubPress Jack Vance Reader (got in one of their grab bags).
@@thelibraryladder and I have SFBC Dying Earth collection.
Both of those copies are worth collecting (and reading). Hardcover editions of most of Vance's works are increasingly scarce these days.
Thank you so much for your excellent videos. I have greatly enjoyed all I have watched. They are always engaging, and your voice provides a hypnotic listening experience. I’ll be listening to some of your book narrations next. I remember reading Araminta Station when I was 20 and marveling at it. And as a D&D player since the first Blue Box, I couldn’t help but be aware of how The Dying Earth saga was one of the inspirations for the game’s creators. I also wanted to suggest something-from your reviews thus far, I believe it to be right up your alley. If you have yet to read the delightful, picaresque Chronicles of Master Li and Number Ten Ox, by Barry Hughart (HYOO-gurt), may I recommend them here to all interested parties? The entire trilogy (Bridge of Birds, Story of the Stone, The Eight Skilled Gentlemen) was published in a handsome omnibus edition (HB & TPB) by Subterranean Press, and is currently in “print” as a very reasonably-priced ebook as well. I only wish there was an audiobook version of this trilogy. I also wish the author, now deceased, had completed all seven books he originally intended for this series. Again, I really appreciate your videos, and look forward to viewing your future offerings. Thank you for sharing your love of books with all fellow bibliophiles.
Thank you for your very kind comment!
You must have been reading my mind, because I love Hughart's trilogy, and I'm working on a video that will prominently feature the books. I hope to have it ready sometime next month. Stay tuned!
@@thelibraryladder That is fantastic news! I can’t wait!
Subscribed by title alone.
Optimist who enjoys forays to the other side? Or pessimist who agrees with Vance's worldview? :D
I’d love to see coverage of Lois McMaster Bujold, Terry Pratchett, Ursula K. Leguin, Margarett Atwood and Philip K. Dick and perhaps even modern day anomalies (mostly because of how wildly successful they appear) like John Scalzi
Thanks for the suggestions! I hope to get to several of them in my queue.
Love Jack Vance. Though very few of his characters can be described as very nice.
Lyonesse, my personal favorite.
Vance remains highly underrated. And without Vance we almost certainly don't get Gene Wolfe and The Book of the New Sun, so I will forever be indebted to him.
Also, a few years back I just happened to buy a copy of Tales of the Dying Earth (the omnibus that collects all the tales) on eBay and apparently it came from Jack Vance's own estate. The book has a stamp on the title page and everything. Don't know if that makes it any more valuable but I did think it was pretty cool (even it could have been just one of 10,000 copies he had).
My hope is to encourage more people to read Vance so they can recognize the influence he had on many other authors, such as Wolfe.
That Dying Earth omnibus sounds like a good find. Your copy probably isn't unique -- the estate likely is selling off extra copies Vance received from his publishers over the years -- but it still has some association value for collectors. With that title, I assume it's a paperback edition, which will limit its future appreciation in value. In contrast, every hardcover edition of the Dying Earth stories, even the book club one from 1999, is quite scarce and valuable these days. If you ever run across a hardcover copy for sale at a modest price, it's probably a very good deal.
where are those black-and-white engraving-like illustrations that you use when summarizing the Dying Earth stories from? I'm looking for a version of the books with illustrations like that, but the only ones I can find have no illustrations.
They're from limited editions of the four Dying Earth books published in the 1970s and 80s. The first three books were published by Underwood-Miller, and the fourth book was published by Underwood alone under his Brandywyne Books imprint. Underwood-Miller also issued a nearly identical reprint edition of the first book, The Dying Earth, in 1994. George Barr did the artwork for the first book, and Stephen Fabian illustrated the other three.
Those editions are pretty hard to find these days, as only 500-1,500 copies of each were printed, although affordable copies can still turn up at thrift shops and small bookstores if you're patient and lucky. I was fortunate to find my set of them about 20 years ago when they were considerably less scarce.
Great video! There is always a chance that George Martin watched it and loved.
Thanks! GRRM watching and commenting on a video of mine would make my day/week/month, even if he criticized it. :D
Cool. I wonder if Ralph Bakshi is a fan of Jack Vance, The animated film Wizards (1977) takes place in a distant post-apocalyptic future where magic and magical beings have returned.
I suspect you're right about Bakshi. Wizards definitely has a Vance-like style to it. Thanks for watching!
Why sandbag the cover art on those reprints like that? It just boggles my mind.
Thanks for the video!
Thanks! If you're referring to the recent Spatterlight Press editions, I think the cover art is adequate (and even attractive) on some of them, but many really missed the mark for me, particularly when compared to earlier editions. Some of them feel amateurish to me, as if they were the end product of a high school art class project. I hope they replace those covers with better ones at some point, because I think many potential readers _will_ judge those books by their covers and leave them on the shelf.
Great episode but I just have to ask..
WHY ARE YOU WHISPERING.. LOL
Thanks! I'm not whispering. It's my normal conversational volume, although I was getting hoarse in the latter half, after three hours of filming. :)
I've only read the first few dying earth stories but I loved those. He's one of those authors that make me want to be funnier. He makes it seem effortless but I know how insanely hard humor is to write
His humor tends to be very wry, dry and sly, which is my favorite kind. Pulling it off successfully is an artform itself.
I hope the youngsters out there who have not discovered Vance are inspired by this video.
I read the first Dying Earth collection by Jack Vance, I was underwhelmed, there was some interesting ideas but each story felt nonexistent; each time just as you get invested the story ends and a new one starts I kept expecting the events in previous stories to be concluded in future chapters. Alas these are short stories that standalone in a shared universe.
Overall I thought the ideas & prose were interesting with the mixture of Sci-Fi and Fantasy but I think Tanith Lee did something similar but better than Vance in Night's Master & Empress of Dreams. Her prose is poetic but her stories are more complete and the mixture of dark fantasy and purple prose creates a unique, mythic and mysterious atmosphere.
Thanks for sharing your experience with those books. The first book in Vance's Dying Earth series has been misleadingly marketed as a novel since it was first published in 1950, setting the wrong expectation for many readers. The stories in it have some connections between them, but as you noted, most of them really are standalones. For a different experience, you might give the second and third books in the series (The Eyes of the Overworld and Cugel's Saga) a try, because they're actual novels that tell a continuous story of Cugel the Clever and his episodic misadventures.
Tanith Lee has said that her Night's Master stories were inspired significantly by Vance's Dying Earth, and the similarity between their works was by design.
Your speech sounds very interesting. As a Frenchman I sometimes have trouble translating - do you have a written version of your commentary that would be easier - thank you.
Hello! If you turn on UA-cam's closed captioning or click the Show Transcript button in the video's description, the English language subtitles are completely accurate. I enter the subtitles manually to ensure their accuracy. Thanks for your interest!
My favorite trait of Vance's character's exemplified best by Cugel the Clever, is that they're smart enough to get into trouble, but not smart enough to easily escape.
Well said!
Ghyl Tarvoke and Emphyrio spoke to me in deeply profound ways, HOW did Jack write this nearly 75 years ago
Before Vance found an even higher gear for his prose the 1980s, Emphyrio was widely considered among his very best works (and some literary critics in the 1970s considered it to be his absolute best).
@thelibraryladder thank you for the reply sir! I am on chapter 3 of Demon Princes - the opening describing Smade's Tavern made me feel as though I had just started a new "Minecraft world" totally uninhabited. His description of planets and nature really paint the mental imagery, and he does it with such few careful words!
i hope i get my hands on vances' dying earth series it sounds so good to read.
I hope you enjoy the series as much as I do! Keep in mind that the first book (The Dying Earth) is really just a collection of short stories and not a novel, but the second and third books (The Eyes of the Overworld and Cugel's Saga) are novels that tell a continuous story.
@@thelibraryladder very well aware of it but thanks 👍. I'm currently reading Tigana at the moment first 60 pages and quite good.
Great! Some people get frustrated with the first book because they expect it to be a cohesive narrative, and it's not.
@@thelibraryladder 👍
It wasn't just jack vance that influence dad's magic system. Apparently de Camp's use of magic also influenced the system as well
Good point! If I remember correctly, Appendix N in the Dungeon Masters Guide cited the influence of de Camp & Pratt's Harold Shea stories in addition to Vance.
[P.S.: "dad's magic system?" Are you referring to old school AD&D or are you a Gygax? :D ]
@@thelibraryladderI meant dnd's magic system 😅😅 but auto correct happened
Vance was a great inspiration for Norman Spinrad.
Why do you not have a first edition hard cover of The Pastel City?
I've been asking myself that question for years? :D
@@thelibraryladder probably because I bought up the last one I ever saw for sale. Sorry 😔
Jack Vance is my favorite author, and oh, I think those Sherls lost more than their clothing.
You may be right. Vance sometimes was artfully ambiguous on that topic. :D
@@thelibraryladder Really? But he was a sailor. He might call it "pit-a-pat" but everybody knew what it was. Anyways, he created a couple of different sports, I think "hussade" is the one I think of as football. The game that had Sherls appeared in quite a few stories. The glorious Sherls. The Sherl for the losing team was in for it. It's kind of a theme. The glorious Sherl, the glorious Cessily Veder in her butterfly costume raped and murdered by Kirdy Wook after her amazing metamorphosis performance, the glorious Flower of Cath at the height of her beauty kidnapped by the Female Mystery cult and put into a cage with a tumescent cretin for the crowd's amusement.
Nice retrospective of Vance.
I'm not a huge fan of Vance's writing. I've read quite a bit of his work (and own 14 volumes), but it always felt both arch and insubstantial to me. You used the term "baroque" to describe the writing, which I think is apposite, at least in the sense of "characterized by grotesqueness, extravagance, complexity, or flamboyance" to quote the Merriam Webster definition.
Perhaps I was the wrong age when I read them (mostly more than 40 years ago), but for me, he was a better writer of sentences and paragraphs than stories.
Thanks! I tend to think of Vance's strengths and weaknesses as going hand-in-hand. The imaginative worldbuilding and colorful style often mask shortcomings in plot and character development, which is why I described much of his writing as "unbalanced" in the video. I do think his storytelling ability improved substantially toward the end of his career. For example, his Cadwal and Lyonesse trilogies have considerably more substance and polish than his earlier works. If you haven't read them, those are two you might give a try.
@@thelibraryladder Somehow, I have "The Green Pearl", but neither of the other books in the Lyonesse series. I think the Cadwal series was written after I had stopped buying Vance. I'll have to see if I can find a used copy of "Suldrun's Garden" or "Araminta Station" the next time I'm at Black & Read.
I've always been a fan of Vance, so much so that my son's name is Kirth.
Out of curiosity, are you training him to be an interstellar spy/assassin/instrument of vengeance, or will he learn his destiny when you give him a copy the The Demon Princes for his 12th birthday? :D
@@thelibraryladder He is 31, he already has his copy of the demon princes. He 's trained in various martial arts, the spy/assassin training has yet to be started, but he still has time until the intersplits (faster than light propulsion) is invented.
Vance was red pill before the pill
If you like rogues, read George Fraser McDonald’s Flashman books.
I agree! Harry Flashman is a priceless character.
:D