Mephitoline

In the Ekcolir Reality.
Original cover art by Earle Bergey

To celebrate the stories of Jack Vance, I've been reading his Magnus Ridolph stories. In "The Spa of the Stars", Ridolph must find a way to protect guests at a resort from predatory dragons, jungle creatures and sea beetles. Along the way, he floats the idea of marketing malodorous Mephitoline as a cure-all. Ridolph is always on the lookout for a new get-rich-quick scheme.

All the events depicted in "The Spa of the Stars" take place on a far planet in the Eta Pisces star system. "The Spa of the Stars" was first published in the July 1950 issue of Startling Stories.

"The Spa of the Stars" is the sixth (of 10) Magnus Ridolph story that I read. I've been wondering when a female character would finally show up. Now, a pleasure resort has opened on the planet Kolama, so we should have some female guests, but sadly the customers of the Spa are being attacked by local wildlife and driven away.

Introductory blurb for "The Spa of the Stars" which features interior art by Virgil Finlay

In the Ekcolir Reality

When Ridolph arrives on Kolama, one of the three remaining guests at the Spa of the Stars is an elderly lady who was attacked by a flying dragon... now she's spitting mad and ready to sue the resort's owner, Joe Blain. Survivors such as the elderly lady are the lucky ones; there is mention of other less fortunate guests who were killed by native creatures. For example, nine guests were killed by sea-beetles on the opening day for the resort!

I like to imagine that in an alternate Reality, female writers such as Joan Vance (the analogue of Jack Vance in the Ekcolir Reality) dominated the golden age of science fiction. The Magnus Ridolph stories flowing from the pen of Joan Vance would have had a somewhat different emphasis.

Imagine the Spa's marketing brochure! Interior artwork for "The Spa of the Stars" by Virgil Finlay

from the Spa's brochure

In "The Spa of the Stars", there is even a female character who speaks a few words: Miss Mayla, the assistant of Mr. Blain. Here is Vance's description of Mayla: "She was slender, flexible, and her flesh had the compelling, clutchable look of a marshmallow". In the face of all the dead customers at the spa, the cheerful Mayla attempts to "make lemonade" and cleverly suggests turning the beach-side resort into a big-game hunting lodge.

Joe is not ready to give up his dream of running a luxury hotel and tourist-friendly resort with "the lobby full of stylish women". Joe crafted a brochure which boasts of the planet Kolama basking in the "tingling radiance" of the white star Eta Pisces. The brochure features the image of "a lovely nude woman with apple-green skin standing under a tree". Joe even has plans for attracting gamblers to Kolama by building a race track.

Sailfin Mollies

In the Ekcolir Reality.

During construction of his resort, Joe had the assistance of intelligent native creatures that he calls "Mollies". Here is how Vance described the Mollies: "... sort of a fat gray shrimp, 4 feet tall, walking on little stumpy legs... with big stary eyes".

The Mollies helped with tasks like digging a hole for the foundation of the hotel. The only problem with the Mollies was their offensive odor. However, during the time when the Mollies were working at the construction site, there were no attacks by the planet's predators such as the dragons.

Blain suspects that the Mollies can repel predators with their foul stench. He journeys into the jungle, finds a village of the Mollies and returns with a bottle of the stinky fluid that the Mollies first concoct and then contentedly wallow in.

Snakes and gorillas of Kolama
in the Ekcolir Reality.
Original cover art by Walter Parke

Music Soothes the Savage Beast
Magnus Ridolph finds a better solution to the problem of the wild animal attacks at the Spa. You will have to read the story yourself to learn his method for defeating dragons, flying snakes and even the sea-beetles.

Maybe in the Ekcolir Reality, Joan Vance could have expanded her role, depicting Mayla as Joe's partner in creating the Spa. I suggest that Mayla could have worked as the "house detective" for the grand hotel at the Spa of the Stars and collaborated closely with Magnus Ridolph, helping discover how to protect the guests from flying snakes and jungle gorillas.

Related Reading: more Vance for May 2020

Next: Jack Vance and the Dark Star

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