Jack Vance Popular Books

Jack Vance Biography & Facts

John Holbrook Vance (August 28, 1916 – May 26, 2013) was an American mystery, fantasy, and science fiction writer. Though most of his work has been published under the name Jack Vance, he also wrote several mystery novels under pen names, including Ellery Queen. Vance won the World Fantasy Award for Life Achievement in 1984, and he was a Guest of Honor at the 1992 World Science Fiction Convention in Orlando, Florida. The Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America made him its 15th Grand Master in 1997, and the Science Fiction Hall of Fame inducted him in 2001, its sixth class of two deceased and two living writers.His most notable awards included Hugo Awards in 1963 for The Dragon Masters, in 1967 for The Last Castle, and in 2010 for his memoir This Is Me, Jack Vance!; the Nebula Award in 1966, also for The Last Castle; the Jupiter Award in 1975 and the World Fantasy Award in 1990 for Lyonesse: Madouc. and the Edgar Award in 1961 for the best first mystery novel for The Man in the Cage. His first publications were stories in science fiction magazines. As he became well known, he published novellas and novels, many of which were translated into French, Dutch, Spanish, Russian, Italian and German. An Integral Edition of all Vance's works was published in 44 volumes and in 2010 a six-volume The Complete Jack Vance was released. A 2009 profile in The New York Times Magazine described Vance as "one of American literature's most distinctive and undervalued voices". He died at his home in Oakland, California on May 26, 2013, aged 96. Biography Vance's great-grandfather is believed to have arrived in California from Michigan a decade before the Gold Rush and married a San Francisco woman. Early family records were apparently destroyed in the fire following the 1906 San Francisco earthquake. Vance's maternal grandfather, L. M. (Ludwig Mathias) Hoefler, was a successful lawyer in San Francisco.Vance grew up in the family's large house in San Francisco on Filbert Street. When Vance's father left the family to live on his ranch in Mexico, the family's house in San Francisco was rented out to the father's sister. With the separation of his parents, and the loss of use of the San Francisco house, Vance's mother moved him and his siblings to their maternal grandfather's California ranch near Oakley in the delta of the Sacramento River. This setting formed Vance's love of the outdoors, and allowed him time to indulge his passion as an avid reader of his mother's large book collection, which included Edgar Rice Burroughs’ Tarzan of the Apes and his Barsoom novels and Jules Verne's The Mysterious Island. When Vance explored the nearby town, he started reading pulp fiction magazines at the local drugstore.With the death of his grandfather, who supported the family, which coincided with the economic challenges of Great Depression, the Vance family’s fortune dwindled, and Vance was forced to leave junior college and work to support himself, assisting his mother when able. Vance plied many trades for short stretches: as a bellhop (a "miserable year"), in a cannery, and on a gold dredge. Vance described this era as a time of personal change: “Over a span of four or five years, I developed from an impractical little intellectual into a rather reckless young man, competent at many skills and crafts, and determined to try every phase of life.”He subsequently entered the University of California, Berkeley, and over the next six years studied mining engineering, physics, journalism, and English. Vance wrote one of his first science fiction stories for an English class assignment: his professor commented in a scornful tone, "We also have a piece of science fiction"—Vance's first negative review.He worked as an electrician in the naval shipyards at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, being paid "56¢ an hour," and worked for a time as part of a degaussing crew. The attack on Pearl Harbor took place about a month after he resigned his employment there.Vance graduated in 1942. Weak eyesight prevented military service. He found a job as a rigger at the Kaiser Shipyard in Richmond, California, and enrolled in an Army Intelligence program to learn Japanese, but washed out. In 1943, he memorized an eye chart and became an able seaman in the Merchant Marine. In later years, boating remained his favorite recreation; boats and voyages are a frequent motif in his work. He worked as a seaman, a rigger, a surveyor, a ceramicist, and a carpenter before he established himself fully as a writer, which did not occur until the 1970s. From his youth, Vance had been fascinated by Dixieland and traditional jazz. He was an amateur of the cornet and ukulele, often accompanying himself with a kazoo, and was a competent harmonica player. His first published writings were jazz reviews for The Daily Californian (his college paper), and music is an element in many of his works. In 1946, Vance met and married Norma Genevieve Ingold (died March 25, 2008), another Cal student. Vance continued to live in Oakland, in a house he built and extended with his family over the years, including a hand-carved wooden ceiling from Kashmir. The Vances had extensive travels, including one around-the-world voyage, and often spent several months at a time living in places like Ireland, Tahiti, South Africa, Positano (in Italy) and on a houseboat on Lake Nagin in Kashmir. Vance began trying to become a professional writer in the late 1940s, as part of the San Francisco Renaissance, a movement of experimentation in literature and the arts. His first lucrative sale was one of the early Magnus Ridolph stories to Twentieth Century Fox, who also hired him as a screenwriter for the Captain Video television series. The proceeds supported the Vances for a year's travel in Europe. There are various references to the Bay Area Bohemian life in his work. In the 1950s, Vance started a pottery and ceramics hobby, buying a kiln; this interest was an influence on his story "The Potters of Firsk” (1950). Science fiction authors Frank Herbert and Poul Anderson were among Vance's closest friends. In the early 1950s, when Frank Herbert was a reporter, he interviewed Vance, and the men became friends. They moved to Mexico with their families to establish a "writer’s colony" at Lake Chapala, near Guadalajara. In 1962, Vance, Herbert, and Anderson jointly built a houseboat which they sailed in the Sacramento Delta. The Vances and the Herberts lived together near Lake Chapala, Mexico, for a while. Vance's interest in houseboats led him to depict them in “The Moon Moth” (1961), The Palace of Love (1967), and in chapter 2 of Wyst: Alastor 1716 (1978).In the early 1980s, Vance became increasingly interested in sailing, and he started building a 36-foot trimaran. Later, he owned Venture (a 17-foot cutter-rigged boat), Columbia (a 35-foot ketch-rigged boat), and finally Hinano (a 45-foot boat). While Vance derived pleasure from his sailing hobby, his increasingly poor eyesight.... Discover the Jack Vance popular books. Find the top 100 most popular Jack Vance books.

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  • Vandalen des Weltraums synopsis, comments

    Vandalen des Weltraums

    Jack Vance

    Das Weltraumzeitalter hat begonnen. Die inneren Planeten des Sonnensystems sind besiedelt. Vance beginnt den Roman mit einem, aus heutiger Sichtweise, altbackenem Vorwort. Es zeigt...

  • Weltraumoper synopsis, comments

    Weltraumoper

    Jack Vance

    Die Neunte Kompanie, eine Musikgruppe vom geheimnisumwitterten Planeten Rlaru, verschwindet während einer Gastspielreise auf merkwürdige Art und Weise spurlos von der Erde. Dame Is...

  • Miro Hetzel synopsis, comments

    Miro Hetzel

    Jack Vance

    In Miro Hetzel finden sich zwei Geschichten um den galaktischen Effektuator Miro Hetzel: „Das Touristenbüro von Hundsheim“ „Die Nächste bitte!“ Auszug aus einer der Geschichten:...

  • Mon nom est Vance, Jack Vance synopsis, comments

    Mon nom est Vance, Jack Vance

    Jack Vance

    C’est avec l’humour irrésistible qui le caractérisait que Jack Vance, grand maître incontesté de la sciencefiction, a écrit cette autobiographie. Le lecteur n’y trouvera pas de dét...

  • The Strange Journeys of Colonel Polders synopsis, comments

    The Strange Journeys of Colonel Polders

    Lord Dunsany

    An inspiration to many for his style and prose, Lord Dunsany was a pioneer for fantasy fiction, inspiring such famous writers as H. P. Lovecraft, J. R. R. Tolkien, and Neil Gaiman ...

  • Purgatory Mount synopsis, comments

    Purgatory Mount

    Adam Roberts

    An interstellar craft is decelerating after its centurylong voyage. Its destination is V538 Aurigae ?, a nowempty planet dominated by one gigantic megastructure, a conical mountain...

  • Modern Classics of Fantasy synopsis, comments

    Modern Classics of Fantasy

    Gardner Dozois

    While humanity has been telling fantastic stories for millennia, fantasy fiction has only come into its own as a genre in the latter half of the twentieth century, as the works of ...

  • Modern Classic Short Novels Of Science Fiction synopsis, comments

    Modern Classic Short Novels Of Science Fiction

    Gardner Dozois

    The novella is, in the words of Gardner Dozois, "a perfect length for a science fiction story: long enough to enable you to flesh out the details of a strange alien world or a biza...

  • Wereldbedenkers synopsis, comments

    Wereldbedenkers

    Jos Lexmond

    Jack Vance was decennialang de meest gelezen SFschrijver in de lage landen. De Amerikaanse SF en Fantasy Grootmeester schreef in totaal 140 romans, novelles en verhalen, waarvan er...

  • Die neuen Sprachen von Pao synopsis, comments

    Die neuen Sprachen von Pao

    Jack Vance

    Pao – eine Welt mit Abermilliarden von Einwohnern, welche die Höhen und Tiefen des Lebens stoisch über sich ergehen lassen und riesige Versammlungen abhalten, um ihr gemeinsames Su...

  • Sklaven der Klau synopsis, comments

    Sklaven der Klau

    Jack Vance

    Die USA in den 1950er Jahren. Die Lekthwaner sind auf die Erde gekommen und haben Handelsbeziehungen aufgenommen. Sie sind eine technisch fortgeschrittene Rasse und den Menschen in...

  • Die Wannek synopsis, comments

    Die Wannek

    Jack Vance

    Tschai II Nachdem Adam Reith Freundschaft mit dem Emblemmenschen Traz Onmale und dem Dirdirmann Ankhe at afram Anacho geschlossen und es mit den Khasch und den Khaschmenschen zu...

  • Emphyrio synopsis, comments

    Emphyrio

    Jack Vance

    Vor etwa 2000 Jahren lebte ein Mensch, der die Welt befreite, indem er die Wahrheit verkündete. Heute lebt ein junger Mann, dem die Geschichte des Befreiers für sein Leben und sei...

  • Lurulu synopsis, comments

    Lurulu

    Jack Vance

    Lurulu ist die unmittelbare Fortsetzung zu Kaleidoskop der Welten und Jack Vances Schwanengesang, wie er selbst gesagt hat. Myron Tany ist weiterhin mit dem Trampfrachter Glicca u...

  • Der Anome synopsis, comments

    Der Anome

    Jack Vance

    Durdane I Im Alter von neun Jahren hörte Mur einen Mann in der Ruhekate seiner Mutter scherzhaft einen Fluch im Namen des Mannes ohne Gesicht rufen. Später, nachdem der Mann sei...

  • Magnus Ridolph synopsis, comments

    Magnus Ridolph

    Jack Vance

    Magnus Ridolph ist ein Detektiv, der seine Fälle durch Überlegung löst, nicht durch körperliche Anstrengung. Er ist kein muskelbepackter Adonis, sondern ein gesetzter älterer Herr....

  • Die Dirdir synopsis, comments

    Die Dirdir

    Jack Vance

    Tschai III Noch immer sitzt Adam Reith auf Tschai fest. Nun tut sich ihm eine Geldquelle auf: die Carabas – das Jagdrevier der Dirdir. Schatzräuber und Glücksritter versuchen, m...

  • Kaleidoskop der Welten synopsis, comments

    Kaleidoskop der Welten

    Jack Vance

    Myron Tany träumt davon, Raummann zu werden. Als seine Tante Hester Lajoie an eine Raumyacht kommt, setzt er alles daran, mit an Bord zu kommen. Doch das Arrangement dauert nicht s...

  • The Jack Vance Treasury synopsis, comments

    The Jack Vance Treasury

    Jack Vance

    Nebula and World Fantasy Grand Master Jack Vance is one of the most admired and cherished writers of science fiction and fantasy in the world, and is one of the truly important and...

  • Songs of the Dying Earth synopsis, comments

    Songs of the Dying Earth

    George R.R. Martin & Gardner Dozois

    This tribute anthology celebrates the work of SF/F legend Jack Vance, featuring original stories from George R. R. Martin, Neil Gaiman, Dan Simmons, Elizabeth Moon, Tanith Lee, Tad...

  • Clarges synopsis, comments

    Clarges

    Jack Vance

    Clarges, die Stadt am Fluss Choral, ist die letzte zivilisierte Metropole der Erde. Die Menschen dort gehen ihren Strebschaften nach, um sich den Aufstieg in die nächsthöhere Stufe...

  • The Furthest Horizon synopsis, comments

    The Furthest Horizon

    Gardner Dozois

    It is the essence of science fiction to chart the possibilities of the future, but it takes the hand of a master to capture the farthest reaches of timefutures almost unimaginably ...

  • Polystom synopsis, comments

    Polystom

    Adam Roberts

    Adam Roberts' fourth novel is his most ambitious yet. In a feat of extraordinary world building he creates a universe where a breathable atmosphere extends out between the planets,...

  • Aiming High synopsis, comments

    Aiming High

    Atsuo Inoue

    'I have no intention of making small bets' Masayoshi SonIn order to understand what's happening in Silicon Valley, you just need to look at Masayoshi Son.There is no one in the wo...

  • Die Pnume synopsis, comments

    Die Pnume

    Jack Vance

    Tschai IV Die Pnume sind die auf Tschai Einheimischen. Sie leben unter der Erde in einem riesigen Höhlensystem, haben ihre Augen und verlängerten Arme überall auf der Oberfläche...

  • Der azurne Planet synopsis, comments

    Der azurne Planet

    Jack Vance

    »Die Kastenunterschiede hatten beim Schwimmblattvolk schnell ihre althergebrachte Bedeutung verloren. Anarchisten und Kuppler waren vollständig verschwunden. Ehen zwischen den Kast...

  • Die Khasch synopsis, comments

    Die Khasch

    Jack Vance

    Tschai I Adam Reith stürzt mit einem Scoutboot auf Tschai ab, einem Planeten der die Sonne Carina 4269 umkreist – 212 Lichtjahre von der Erde entfernt. Das Mutterschiff wurde ab...

  • Die Roguskhoi synopsis, comments

    Die Roguskhoi

    Jack Vance

    Durdane II Etzwane bestellte eine Schale geeisten Weins und Exemplare der örtlichen Zeitungen. Finnerack nahm ein Kelchglas Wein entgegen, zeigte allerdings keinerlei Interesse ...

  • Die Asutra synopsis, comments

    Die Asutra

    Jack Vance

    Durdane III Etzwane trank nachdenklich von seinem Bier. Ifness sah ihm steinern von der Seite her zu. Etzwane fragte: »Studieren Sie immer noch die Asutra?« »Das tue ich.« »Gl...