Figure 1. Woman-shape; interior art for "Noise". |
Golden Girl's visit to Earth (Ekcolir Reality) |
It is clear that Vance's story "Noise" does not try to wander very far away from an Earthly tale about a shipwrecked sailor. Howard Evans drifts through space for a week in his lifeboat and then he lands on a planet with air to breath and water. He sends out a distress signal and waits for rescue. I've previously complained about old science fiction stories that portray every stray planet of the universe as being habitable.
in the Ekcolir Reality |
In 1951 and 1952 there was a series of 10 articles by James Blish in Thrilling Wonder Stories in which he speculated on the likelihood of there being life on other planets besides Earth. Blish took science courses in college and he was a good candidate to summarize what scientists in the early 1950s were thinking about the possibility of life on other planets.
For the October 1952 issue of Thrilling Wonder Stories, Blish's essay was called "Earths of Other Suns". Here is how he summarized his previous essays on the possibilities for life on the other planets of our Solar System (Figure 2, below):
Figure 2. The first paragraph of "Earths of Other Suns" |
In the absence of any data from astronomers concerning planets in other star systems, Blish did a lot of hand-waving and then pulled a number out of his hat, suggesting that our galaxy might hold 200,000 planets so much like Earth that they could support human life.
abundant terrestrial planets of the galaxy (image source) |
Planets of a red sun (image source). |
In the Ekcolir Reality |
Eventually, Evans is rescued and returned to Earth, but he is unhappy. On Earth, he complains of "noise" and he wants to return to the exoplanet. I like to interpret this story as depicting an ability of Howard Evans to telepathically "tap into" some ancient alien civilization. When living in isolation on the exoplanet, he is able to "tune his brain" to the aliens, but then he is no longer comfortable living among humans; their thoughts seem like noise.
Alien telepathy in the Ekcolir Reality |
Rhodomagnetics. Also published in 1952 (in Rhodomagnetic Digest) was Vance's story "Seven Exits from Bocz". You can read the story at this website. Vance once wrote: "Seven Exits From Bocz is so baroque that only a fan magazine would publish it." I'll say that as a science fiction story about telepathy, Seven Exits From Bocz is "out there". The story concerns a sort of "mad scientist", Dr. Horzabky, who performed telepathy experiments with abused and dying prisoners at the Bocz death-camp, in Kunvasy.
entrance to the big bug universe |
In 1927, Huxley made use of the idea that large numbers of people might be able to effectively combine their individually weak telepathic powers. In 1952, Jack Vance ran with that idea... in a strange direction...
Figure 3. Creating the 7 exits. |
The 7 "pictures". 1) "merely a shading of blacks, dull browns and purples". 2) "the shapes seemed unreal, and when the mind reached to grasp them, they appeared to slip away from comprehension, and the colors equally odd - nameless off-tones, bright tints the eye saw but could not name". 3) "horizontal lines and stripes of gold,
silver, copper, and other metallic colors". 4) a scene with what might be trees, but "everything as it would appear inside out". 5) "an intricate framework of luminous
yellow-white bars on a black background, the framework filling all of
space with a cubical lattice, the parallel members meeting at the
picture's vanishing point" 6) "a grayish-pink blur". 7) looks like a mirror; "light refuses to penetrate it".
strange alternate universes |
You will have to read Seven Exits From Bocz to learn what use Dr. Horzabky made of the portals to other universes and why Nicholas Trasek has come to visit Horzabky.
Vance's first published (1945) story was "The World-Thinker" in which an alien named Laoome was able to construct new universes just by thinking. Vance must have liked that idea enough to return to it again for use in Seven Exits From Bocz.
in the Ekcolir Reality |
Isaac Asimov published a similar story in 1987 called "Left to Right". In Asimov's story, a physicist, Dr. Forward, built a ring-shaped device that could "reverse the polarity" of an object that passed through the center of the ring. The physicist was prepared to test the device and was not worried about unwanted side-effects. If any thing went wrong, you could just pass through the inverter a second time. Right?
Figure 4. image source |
Also in 1952. I previously mentioned Vance's story about telekinesis, "Telek". In "Telek" there is a "dramatic" scene with a "showdown" between two men with telekinetic powers. That scene is similar to another paranormal "showdown" scene in Vance's story "Parapsyche", published in 1958.
I suspect that Vance was able to amuse himself by taking any random bit of paranormal silliness and trying to shape it into a science fiction story. I think of it as progress in the science fiction genre when some old example of magical fantasy can be re-written as a science fiction story in which the "magic" is explained by an imaginary future technology.
interior art for "Telek" by Van Dongen |
As shown in the image to the left, Vance imagined using telekinesis to travel between the planets of the Solar System while wearing a spacesuit. For Figure 4, above, I imagined that for a similar story written in the Ekcolir Reality, the clunky spacesuit could be replaced by "simply" using telekinesis to keep sending a steady stream of oxygen into one's lungs.
the creed of Atkinson |
Jean Parlier; a clone |
Four other stories from Vance in 1952 were "Abercrombie Station", "Cholwell's Chickens", The Kokod Warriors, "Sabotage on Sulfur Planet". The first two of these stories were constructed around the use of future technology for human cloning, a Sci Fi plot element that I find irresistible.
According to Nick Gevers, Jack Vance's 1952 story "Big Planet" was "revolutionary" and "perhaps the first attempt at a convincingly complete imaginary world in genre SF". I've tried to read "Big Planet" in the past and could never get through it because I'd rather be reading other (better) stories by Vance that he published later during his career.
Figure 5. cover art by by Walter Popp |
Yes, that plot (above) would be too boring for Vance, so in his imagined HiTek™ future, where it is a trivial matter to fly spaceships between the stars, the particular spaceship of our hero (Glystra) crash-lands on Big Planet and we are off on horseback for a hair-raising adventure among the unruly natives.
Nancy; A.K.A. Natilien-Thilssa interior art for "Big Planet" |
I expect the "unreal" in Sci Fi, so in my case, the question is, "Why should I read "Big Planet" when I already read another version of this same plot in Vance's The Killing Machine?"
Full Page. The page 1 illustration for "Big Planet". |
Right on page one of the story, as it was originally published in Startling Stories, was a full page illustration (see the image to the right) letting the reader know just what kind of adventure they were getting into by reading "Big Planet". In The Killing Machine, Vance included a mechanical centipede that was used to terrorize the primitive people of the planet Thamber. For big planet, we need to be prepared for our encounter with the griamobot, a terrifying "sea river monster".
Figure 6. Editorial commentary that promises "fascinating people" in Vance's "Big Planet". |
Topless teaser. Sadly, this was 1952, before nipples had been invented. |
Every misfit from Earth could buy a spaceship and go to Big Planet, but nobody brought any metal to the metal-poor planet, so there could be no HiTek™ society. In fact, distant Earth tries to prevent people from bringing metal to Big Planet. How? By means of.... Plot...
I have to wonder if Vance had dreams of actually providing readers with an account of a 40,000 mile walk across Big Planet. Maybe he felt there were 40 novels to be had, all taking place on this one world, one novel for each 1,000 miles traveled. Fortunately, Vance realized that his Big Planet was a failed concept and he abandoned Big Planet.
Figure 7. cover art by Ed Emshwiller |
Yes, these particular soldiers are on their way to Nancy's village, on a mission to kill Glystra and his away team. Lesson learned: no matter how ginormous Big Planet is, you will always run into exactly the right person who is needed in order to advance Vance's plot.
But we should not be surprised that the soldiers are so quickly hot on the trail of Glystra. Firstly, having been bumped on the head during the crash landing, Glystra was in a coma for his first three days on Big Planet. Yes, Vance assures readers that the spaceship crash was so violent that nobody should have survived... but all 8 members of Glystra's team survived.
Figure 8. Cover art by Carlo Jacono |
Since they work for the Evil™ Lysidder, the soldiers are armed not only with assorted rocket guns and ray guns, but also an imported SuperDuper™ ray gun that can quickly wipe out an entire village in just a few moments of blasting. Glystra simply walks into the soldiers' camp and takes control of the SuperDuper ray gun, setting the tone for this adventure. Vance relentlessly stacks the odds against Glystra, but then Glystra wins every time because he's the most fascinating person on Big Planet.
1978, after the discovery of nipples |
By page 43 of the story, Vance makes it clear that Glystra would like to ravish the cute Nancy, but he restrains himself. Approaching the great Oust river, two nomad girls (Motta and Wailie) ask to be made slaves. I suppose that is a depiction of them in the Stephen Hickman cover art shown in the image to the left.
Figure 9. Cover art by Manchu |
Vance was so happy with the idea of travel-by-wire that he later recycled the idea for his Durdane Series (see Figure 9). Yes, on Big Planet, where there is no metal, there is a long-distance travel network of high-tension cables (monolines).
cover art by Jim Burns |
I'll Flip Your Burger. After traveling a great distance by monoline, Glystra and his team arrive in the city Kirstendale where Glystra is assigned the topless servant girl that was shown above, (Topless teaser). Descended from Earthly aristocrats, the residents of Kirstendale all take turns living as aristocrats part of the time, but mostly also as servants (sometimes topless) and workers, so as to support the city's appearance of a haven for the wealthy. Several of Glystra's group are seduced by the luxury of Kirstendale, but the rest continue on their dangerous 40,000 mile journey across Big Planet.
Fictional Chemistry. After a journey of a thousand miles away from the Evil™ Lysidder, Lysidder casually flies into Myrtlesee Fountain using an aircar, and now he is ready to question Glystra while Glystra is under the influence of a powerful "truth serum" drug.
the power of vitamins (excerpt from "Big Planet") |
cover art by Jim Burns |
Maybe Vance had plans for sequels to Big Planet, but eventually he moved in another direction... towards smaller more manageable planets of the Beyond such as those that grace his Demon Princes novels. Vance could not completely walk away from Big Planet. I suppose I'll have to eventually read Vance's Showboat World, but I'm daunted by warnings that it is essentially fantasy, not science fiction.
Alusz, along for the ride, too. Vancian adventure: have ray -gun, will travel by horseback. |
Nancy vs Alusz. Well, what about the relative merits of Nancy from Big Planet and Alusz from Thamber? The protagonist in The Killing Machine, Kirth Gersen, describes Alusz as "honorable and generous and kind", too good for the dark path of his life.
Yes, it is true, Gersen basically stole a vast fortune from Alusz, taking the cash for his selfish needs, but, on the other hand, Alusz can be an irritating nag. Gersen is better off without her. Take the money and run. Gersen is destined to end up with his soul mate, Alice, not the spoiled princes Alusz.
Nancy seems like a good match for Glystra, although she is not very dynamically deployed by Vance as a character in "Big Planet". She's just sort of there... along for the ride.
And, by the way, I still have not completely read all of "Big Planet"... I simply had to skim some of the most tedious parts. Sorry, Jack... I tried.
cover art by Patrick Woodroffe |
Vance's Recycling Projects. In "Big Planet", Vance imagined that Nancy could be disguised an a nun during her trip to Earth. In the Cadwal Chronicles (specifically, in the third novel, Throy), when the failed Peefer, Kathcar, tries to slink away from Cadwal unnoticed, he uses as his disguise the false identity of Madame Furman, a Mascarene Evangel. When Vance had an idea that he enjoyed, he would recycle it. Nobody can fault Vance for all the fun he had while creating his tales.
in the Ekcolir Reality |
See also: celebrating the first century of the Vance Era.
Related Reading: the rhodomagnetic robots of Jack Williamson AND "Planet of the Damned" (1952) by Jack Vance.
Next: baseball in science fiction.
visit the Gallery of Book and Magazine Covers |
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