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Original interior art by Edward Cartier

Every May, I like to celebrate the fiction of Jack Vance (May 2019). Here in 2020, I could not wait for May. Five years ago, I began reading several of Vance's short stories such as his 1950 story "New Bodies for Old". Here in 2020, I finally read "The Potters of Firsk", which was published seventy years ago in Astounding Science Fiction, May 1950.

Earlier this year, I mentioned that nuclear bombs were a hot (popular) topic for Sci Fi story tellers back in 1950.

Introductory blurb for "The Potters of Firsk" by Jack Vance.

interior art by Edward Cartier

Vance liked to work with clay and he experimented with creating his own glazes. That might explain why he wrote a story about alien potters, but his hobby does not explain why he would think to have the aliens incorporate the bodies of dead people into their pottery.

In the Ekcolir Reality.

Alternate Reality
I like to imagine that in another Reality, there was a female analogue of Jack Vance (named Joan) who might have written somewhat different stories. Possibly not so dark.

In "The Potters of Firsk", Vance quickly transports readers off to the distant planet Firsk, home of humanoid natives called the Mi-Tuun. With metal in short supply on Firsk, the Mi-Tuun use ceramics for many purposes. As illustrated for the story by Ed Cartier, the lady Mi-Tuun routinely go around topless (image top right on this page).

cremation urn, 007

One of my favorite science fiction novels is Assignment Nor'Dyren. In that story about an alien culture, the native humanoids of the planet Nor'Dyren inter their dead inside large pottery jars. There is a similar cultural practice on Firsk, which you need to read about for yourself.

 I led a sheltered life, so I think the first time I was exposed to the idea of a cremation urn was when I saw Diamonds Are Forever (1971). I was shocked to see bright shiny diamonds inside the urn when I was expecting to see ashes.

The potters of Firsk have a problem. They beautifully decorate their pottery with brightly colored glazes, but they don't have access to a nice yellow glaze. Vance had an interest in geology which readers find expressed throughout his stories. Vance cleverly decided to position the village of the potters of Firsk in a range of mountains, close to an active volcano. The potters liked to use heat from the volcano to fire their pottery.

A Feek (source)

Aliens?
Are the Mi-Tuun aliens or humans? Vance often imagined a future in which human explorers had spread from Earth to many distant planets of the galaxy. Some remote colonies then became cut-off from the rest of Humanity for thousands of years. This allowed the local humans to evolve into new humanoid forms, such as the Feek.

"The Potters of Firsk" is told from the perspective of Thomm, who works for the Department of Planetary Affairs. Thomm was once stationed in the coastal city of Penolpan, situated on the lone continent of Firsk.

cover art by Nicholas Bantock

On Firsk, the darkly-pigmented folk of Penolpan are described as "graceful, sensuous and relaxed" with a "quaint" culture. The city of Penolpan has a pleasant warm climate and is laced with a network of green canals. The Mi-Tuun cruise the canals in beautifully decorated boats which they sometimes take out to sea in order to fish. In contrast, the potters appear to be genetically distinct from the people of Penolpan. They are tall, large and have pale skin.

Vance often invented parasitic relationships between different peoples of his imaginary worlds. Probably the most memorable example of this is in his story Emphyrio, but his novel Wyst provides another case in point. The potters of Firsk have an odd social relationship with the people of Penolpan that includes trading their fine pottery for the bodies of the dead Mi-Tuun.

In the Ekcolir Reality.
Original cover art by Earle Bergey
and Rudolph Belarski

Cultural Dispute
While stationed on Firsk, Thomm had a lazy and foolish boss named Covill. Covill threatened to destroy the sacred volcano of the potters with a nuclear bomb. The potters of Firsk didn't like being threatened and so they worked out a deal with Thomm.

There is also a bit of a love story in "The Potters of Firsk". Thomm became enamored with a young woman from the city Penolpan named Su-Then. Thomm gallantly rescued Su-Then from the potters after they had abducted her. The bumbling Covill does not escape so easily from the devious potters.

the Institute

I'm glad I finally got around to reading "The Potters of Firsk". It contains, in embryonic form, some themes that Vance would later develop more fully in his novels. In "The Potters of Firsk", Thomm works for an organization that is known as the "System". Later, Vance developed other such galactic organizations including the Historical Institute.

Next: the May 2020 celebration of Jack Vance's fiction
Related Reading: August 2020 celebration of Vance

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