Jack Vance, RIP

Your love for Vance must have made quite an impression on me Conn, because that was actually the first thing I thought (after "oh no") when I read the news: "How's Conn going to take it?" But you're right - he had a long life and accomplished a lot and will be long remembered.

Whenever this happens, while part of me is sad for the author and his family and fans, I also find another aspect of what we lose to be really sad - the holes in first-hand SF historical experience - that "living history" has contracted a bit more. This really makes Fred Pohl the grand old man of SF. It's cool that he's still blogging away and passing on his stories. He's got a little writeup of Vance and "The Dragon Masters" up now.

On the bright side, I still have finishing my Dying Earth omnibus and starting on my Alastor omnibus to look forward to and, of course, I expect to track down the Demon Princes someday.
 
J-Sun said:
Your love for Vance must have made quite an impression on me Conn, because that was actually the first thing I thought (after "oh no") when I read the news: "How's Conn going to take it?" But you're right - he had a long life and accomplished a lot and will be long remembered.

Whenever this happens, while part of me is sad for the author and his family and fans, I also find another aspect of what we lose to be really sad - the holes in first-hand SF historical experience - that "living history" has contracted a bit more. This really makes Fred Pohl the grand old man of SF. It's cool that he's still blogging away and passing on his stories. He's got a little writeup of Vance and "The Dragon Masters" up now.

On the bright side, I still have finishing my Dying Earth omnibus and starting on my Alastor omnibus to look forward to and, of course, I expect to track down the Demon Princes someday.
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I understand historically its only Pohl left of the Golden Age authors but i dont like limiting authors to historical dates, their physical life. Vance was special to me because he was one of the greatest writers of the last century who happened to write his stories in SF,Fantasy. His reputation isnt just because he was alive, working in SF Golden Age. I dont care if he wrote his stories in 1950s first or in 1980s.



"His Dying Earth stories were an enormous influence, not only on me but also on fine writers like M John Harrison and China Mieville. He was a fine writer with an absolute lack of pretension who could have made his mark on any form he chose. I can only see his reputation continuing to grow." - Michael Moorcock
 
Connavar said:
I understand historically its only Pohl left of the Golden Age authors but i dont like limiting authors to historical dates, their physical life.
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I wasn't doing that - the same principle will apply in 2030 when all the New Wavers are dead and in 2050 when all the cyberpunks are dead and so on (assuming we haven't managed the immortality trick by then). I just meant that, whenever one goes, there goes their historical consciousness, from whatever period. The window in time is ever-shifting; the past becomes ever-more distant. And it's just one principle - as I mentioned, there's the personal cessation, the loss from a family perspective, the loss from a fan perspective and, as you said, the continuance from a literary perspective.

Either way, it's a sad event but it's a happy thing to notice the wide and loud appreciation of him across the net.
 
Touching Vance tribute on another, unrelated forum, of which I am a member.

Some names, locations altered for confidentiality etc etc.

Quick story. I was a surgical SHO at St Elsewhere and pretty awkward with women. Pretty awkward generally. There was a young, blonde physio floating about (and she did seem to float) who was, frankly, way out of my league so I don't think I'd ever actually spoken to her. One day we were full up so receiving patients were decanted to the gyn wards and I was doing a post-receiving ward round becasue my consultant had gone to Wales to buy a horse (seriously). M. was the physio on the round and walking back to the surgical unit she was menaced by a bee. Bravely, without a care for my own safety, I rescued her from the buzzing varmint and we got talking.

It took me two weeks to work up the courage to ask her out and when I eventually did I discovered she had left for a new job in Timbuktoo. I was gutted and kicking myself for being such a wuss but normally would have left it there. However I was reading Jack Vance's Araminta Station at the time and the young hero, Glawen Clattuc, was experiencing a very similar dilemma with regard to the object of his affections. Vance's prose while styistically complex, also had a charmong simplicity to it and in resolving Glawen's dilemma, he resolved mine. I remember thinking that simply picking up the phone had the potential to change my life. So I did.

I tracked M. down at her new hospital, asked her out and now 25 years and two kids later here we are. Best thing I ever did. I thanked Jack in my wedding speech.

Cheers, Jack
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I looked for something new by Jack
His stories great never failed to be
They said he was gone and won't be back
Tim R. Mortiss has calurgled me.

Written with the abjectest apologies to the memory of the greatest SF writer. I still hold that The Palace of Love is the best SF book ever written and Demon Princes the best series
 
Truly one of a kind, loved his story "The Moon Moth" & "The Dying Earth" books.
Such a unique and exotic writer.
RIP Jack, you were the best.
 
Oh, wow. I only read one of his books. I must remedy that.

R.I.P. Jack.
 
Back in the day, I used to be on the alert for new Jack Vance titles... Now I watch for then on the public domain sites as e-books... His work is missed.
 
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