Wild Isle

source

Since 2012 I have been imagining how to interpret Jack Vance's stories about the future as having been inspired by actual historical events from the Asimov Reality. In that Reality, humans had been given access to advanced technology in order to allow people to spread to thousands of exoplanets where human genetics and breeding experiments could be performed.

Asterothropes: the females
are larger than
the hermaphrodites.

Human breeding experiments? The goal was to create a human variant that could efficiently use the Bimanoid Interface, allowing for a kind of technology-assisted telepathy.

Deep Time
Previously, in the Mallansohn Reality, R. Gohrlay had created the Asterothrope. Asterothropes are a human variant with the ability to use the Bimanoid Interface. As hinted at by Isaac Asimov in his novel The End of Eternity, Noÿs Lambent, an Asterothrope from the far future, was able to use her command of the Bimanoid Interface to control the thought patterns of men such as Andrew Harlan.

see

However, under the restrictions imposed by the Trysta-Grean Pact, Asterothropes could not remain on Earth to help guide Humanity into an uncertain future. According the technical definition used by the Huaoshy, Asterothropes are not human and after the Trysta-Grean Pact was in effect, all non-humans had to be removed from Earth. So, it was back to the old drawing board.

In the Asimov Reality

source

I've previously imagined that the parents of Alice Wroke and Kirth Gersen were Interventionist agents. Among the Interventionists of the Asimov Reality, a fear had arisen suggesting that alien forces were at work, providing dangerous technologies to humans in an attempt to cause the destruction of humanity in a technological catastrophe. One of the great mysteries was how the "Jarnell Intersplit" had been created, providing humanity with faster-than-light space travel.

Agent of Zodiac

In Gersen's time, Zodiac Control, a special investigative unit of the Institute, attempted to take control of the Jarnell Corporation and learn the origin of "sedron pod" space drive technology. However, even centuries later, during the life of Glinnes, mysteries persisted about the origins of both the hierion and the sedron-based technologies that had been provided to humans. Powerful organizations like the Institute and the Historical Institute continued to suppress scientific research efforts and keep many planetary populations isolated as genetic laboratory worlds.

Alice at a Si Shi Shim dance

It seems possible that Alice's father was an agent for Zodiac Control. Endowed with a special femtobot endosymbiont, Howard Treesong was able to influence the behavior of people like Benjamin Wroke, facilitating his rise to the highest levels of the Institute's hierarchy. Treesong discovered that Alice Wroke had inherited her father's ability to partially connect to the Bimanoid Interface. That allowed Treesong to use Alice as his tool for investigating the Cosmopolis contest that had been devised by Gersen (a new sister publication, Extant, was launched to actually host the contest).

original cover art by
Margaret Brundage and
from this cover

I like to imagine that Alice and Kirth had some type of weak telepathic connection to each other via the Bimanoid Interface. As described by Vance in The Book of Dreams, as soon as Alice came within visual range, Kirth looked out the window and noticed Alice standing across the street. Vance tells us that Kirth took an immediate interest in Alice, for several reasons. We are told that the third reason was, "...rising from his subconscious, and perhaps most important of all."

source

Zeta suggests that under the terms of the Trysta Truce, there was very little Overseer activity during the human space age of the Asimov Reality. The IPX was controlled by Overseers and their main efforts were devoted to monitoring the efforts of R. Gohrlay to genetically modify humans.  Ironically, Gersen always distrusted the Institute while maintaining a working relationship with the IPCC.

source

The Final Reality
After much effort and even some help from the Phari, R. Gohrlay managed to create the tryp'At as a new human variant that could remain on Earth in the Final Reality. The tryp'At could efficiently use the Bimanoid Interface and by Viewing the future, R. Gohrlay had come to believe that the tryp'At were needed in order to assure the survival of humans as a species.

source

At the same time when the tryp'At we created, the Ek'col were crafted by the pek and Ekcolir was used to finally end the Time War. Ultimately, R. Gohrlay realized that the tryp'At were a danger to Earth's future, so she engineered a change to the Bimanoid Interface. That forced the tryp'At to end their role as the Overseers of Earth.

Wild Isle

cover by Gino D'Achille

There are several interesting "coincidences" and mysteries in Jack Vance's Demon Princes saga that I like to attribute to the fact that Vance's stories were inspired by actual events but he was restricted from revealing secrets about how we Earthlings are controlled and guided by aliens.

torture at Brinktown

An unexplained coincidence in the first novel in Vance's saga is how, in a very short period of time: 1) Gersen learns the names of the 5 Demon Princes, 2) he also learns that Malagate is an alien Star King and 3) he obtains the encoded location of Teehalt's planet. This odd coincidence is discussed in my previous blog post.

the final novel in the
Demon Princes saga

A mystery in the last novel of Vance's saga is how Benjamin Wroke, who works in a casino on Wild Isle, rises to become a member of the Institute's ruling Dexad. I like to imagine that after the death of Howard Treesong, Alice Wroke and Kirth Gersen visited Wild Isle and investigated the death of Benjamin Wroke. They discovered that Treesong spent considerable amounts of time on Wild Isle trying to maintain his control over profits from the gambling casinos.

source

Benjamin Wroke had been provided with "cover" and established as an employee at one of the casinos. While trying to penetrate Treesong's criminal organization and learn the secrets of his great success as a criminal, Benjamin worked with Treesong in a scam that allowed them both to rise to level 99 members of the Institute. As Gersen suspected, this required considerable "mind bending", which Benjamin and Treesong were able to accomplish by means of their ability to make use of the Bimanoid Interface.

source

However, eventually Treesong murdered Benjamin. In fact, Treesong tried to murder the entire Dexad so that he could take control of the Institute. However, it was the mass murder of the Dexad that allowed Kirth Gersen to obtain and publish a photograph of Treesong. At that point, Treesong was able to use Alice as his spy in an attempt to infiltrate Gersen's operation at Cosmopolis (Extant) magazine.

source

According to Caril Carphen, author of The Demon Princes, Treesong was a master criminal because of his "organizational genius". He was known for the "elaborate methodicity of his programs". According to Carphen: "By all accounts he enjoys the company of beautiful women, none of whom seems to benefit from the association either spiritually of financially. To the contrary, the romances of which anything is known all end tragically, if not worse."

source

It is only through her lucky collaboration with Gersen that Alice avoids becoming another of Treesong's badly-used lady friends.

Related Reading: The Alice Investigations

Next: return to the planet Trullion

Visit the Gallery of Book and Magazine Covers.

Oikumenical Timeline

For his Demon Princes novels, Jack Vance imagined that a new calendar was created for which our year 2000 became the new year zero. In the first three novels, Vance provided the dates for some future events...

734 - Cosmopolis magazine was founded
1029 - the Interworld Police Coordinating Corporation (IPCC) is founded
1404 - "The Wages of Sin" is published in Cosmopolis
1479 - Smade's Tavern is constructed on Smade's Planet
1480 - Lugo Teehalt admitted to Sea Province University
1490 - Kirth Gersen is born

In 1499, Mount Pleasant (on the planet Providence near Ferrier's Cluster), a town of 5,000 people, would not give protection money to Malagate the Woe. Malagate assembled a space fleet with the help of four other "Demon Princes" and destroyed the town, taking the survivors as slaves. Kirth Gerson is one of the few residents of Mt. Pleasant who escaped death and enslavement.

1500 - "When is a Man Not a Man?" in Cosmopolitan
1507 - Robin Rampold is captured by Dasce
1509 - "How the Planets Trade" in Cosmopolis
1520 -  "The City of Mists" in Cosmopolis
1521 - "Smell Your Best" in Cosmopolis
1524 - Gersen visits Smade's Tavern and meets Teehalt
1525 - publication of the 348th Edition of the Popular Handbook to the Planets
1526 - Gersen visits The Palace of Love
1923 - "Smade of Smade's Planet" feature article in Cosmopolis

Extant magazine

When Vance wrote the last two novels in the Demon Princes series, he did not provide any more dates for the events in Kirth Gersen's life. However, I like to imagine that Gersen worked with Karalin Umdys (who was a clone of Jheral Tinzy) for several years in the time gap between the end of The Palace of Love and the events depicted in The Face.

During the course of events as described in The Book of Dreams, Gersen brought into existence another magazine: Extant.

After Alice Wroke and Gersen teamed up to defeat Howard Treesong, they continued to investigate the secret forces that had motivated and guided the Demon Princes. In the Ekcolir Reality, Sam Jaqy wrote a novel called The Femtobot Paladins that explained the source of the femtobots that drove Howard Treesong to commit his monumental crimes.

Reconstructed from the Ekcolir Reality.
image credits

Kirth was led to believe that Karalin had died during their investigation of the Fomalhaut star system. However, Karalin (or her replicoid) lived on and worked with Alusz to investigate advanced alien technologies that had been deployed on the "lost world" of Thamber.

According to my former collaborator, Yōd, Gersen, Alice, Alusz and Karalin were all eventually warned to stop their investigations or face dire consequences. It is easy to imagine that Kirth eventually gave up on his struggle to reveal the secret origins of Malagate and lived out his life in comfort with Alice. Sadly, even the stories that were written about them in the Ekcolir Reality do not provide a clear account of their ultimate fates. It is almost as if someone sanitized the historical record.

We will apparently never receive a clearer account since access to the archives of the Asimov Reality now comes with a serious restriction: you can never leave the AR Simulator. Yōd was never able to confirm that an artificial copy of Araminta Smade exists here in the Final Reality. However, that might not matter because Zeta suspects that Araminta never knew the ultimate fate of Kirth and Alice within the Asimov Reality.

Next: another nomination for the 2018 SIHA award.
More Vance: May 2019 August 2019

Visit the Gallery of Book and Magazine Covers

Obscure Reasons

Smade's Planet

In the novel Star King, Jack Vance wrote that Smade's Planet, a "small stony world in the middle Beyond", was first settled "for a whole set of obscure reasons". The source of the "obscurity" was R. Gohrlay, working during the Trysta truce to genetically engineer the tryp'At, a human variant that would be able to use the Bimanoid Interface.

Making use of the lawless worlds of the Beyond as her laboratory, R. Gohrlay sanctioned and supported many experiments that involved equipping humans with various neuroactive nanite prosthetics. The human subjects in these experiments who could best use the Bimanoid Interface were identified and subjected to an extensive breeding and hybridization program that extended through thousands of years of the Asimov Reality.

The IPX vs Zodiac Control

blue sedronite

Sometimes R. Gohrlay's experiments caused havoc. Some of the nanite-enhanced test subjects became criminals. Among these trouble-makers were the so-called "Demon Princes", including Attel Malagate. Malagate must be viewed as a special case, arising from R. Gohrlay's first attempt to extend her research program to aliens. The Star Kings were unusual aliens in that they had evolved so as to closely resemble humans. Malagate had some ability to use the Bimanoid Interface, but ultimately R. Gohrlay made sure that Malagate was killed, putting an end to his personal genetics experiments on the planets of the Beyond where he had enslaved human populations.

Kirth and Alice vs the Demon Princes

Malagate's chief assistant in conducting human breeding experiments on worlds of the Beyond was a man named Tristano. Tristano had been educated on Earth as an agent of Zodiac Control. When the Institute became aware of Malagate and the fact that a Star King was experimenting on human genetics, they assigned their agent, Tristano, to the task of infiltrating Malagate's criminal organization. As a Zodiac agent, Tristano was equipped with a special set of nanite tools. By inserting special assassin's nanites into the body of a victim, Zodiac Control agents such as Tristano could seemingly kill adversaries by mere touch of their hand.

Smade's Tavern on Smade's planet was established as a base of operations for IPCC agents operating on worlds of the Beyond. Smade was careful to conceal his support for IPCC agents, and, in fact, more criminals of the Beyond visited Smades Tavern than did IPCC agents. It was at Smade's Tavern that Kirth Gersen was put on the trail of Attel Malagate. Smade informed Gersen that a guest at the Tavern (Malagate) was a Star King.

the Sogdian experiments

Gersen was never formally an IPCC agent, but on occasion he performed special tasks for high-ranking IPCC officials. In a sense, Gersen was a deep cover IPCC agent. Gersen was born on a world of the Beyond that was the site of one of R. Gohrlay's human breeding experiments and Gersen had a limited capacity to use the Bimanoid Interface. When the IPX was informed of the fact that Kirth was being trained to hunt down the Demon Princes, Gersen was secretly equipped with advanced nanites supplied by R. Gohrlay. Those nanites were able to defend a person against the assassin's nanites that were used by the agents of Zodiac Control.

Thus, when Gersen engaged in hand-to-hand combat with Tristano, Tristano's nanites were ineffective and Gersen survived the encounter. Tristano was severely injured by Gersen's skilled combat methods, and quite aware of the fact that Gersen must have had nanite-based defenses. Suspecting that Gersen must be an IPX agent, Tristano went into hiding.

Pallis Atwrode

Eventually, after Malagate disappeared, Tristano was forced to assume that Malagate was dead. Pallis Atwrode "retired" from her work at Sea Province University after the death of Malagate. However, Tristano was able to question Malagate's associates (two administrators in the Department of Galactic Morphology) at the University and confirm that Malagate died on a hidden world of the Beyond.

The remaining mystery for Tristano was how Gersen had learned that Malagate was a Star King. Eventually, Tristano questioned Smade on Smade's Planet. Tristano discovered that Smade was protected by his own nanite defenses. Assuming that Smade was an IPX agent, Tristano captured him, took him back to his hide-out world Beyond and subjected Smade to merciless mind-probing.

By this time, it was several years after the death of the last Demon Prince. Kirth Gersen and Alice Wroke were trying to locate the world Beyond where he suspected his mother was being held as a prisoner. In fact, the Institute had taken control of the enslaved populations originally set up by Malagate for his experiments. The Institute's secret projects division, Zodiac Control, feared that Gersen would discover their secret involvement in human breeding experiments Beyond. Tristano was ordered to eliminate Gersen and his partner, Alice Wroke.

At that time, Mr. Smade was already dead, but Tristano informed the IPCC that Smade had been identified as an IPCC agent and was being held prisoner at the Tavern on Smade's Planet. The IPCC was told that Smade and his family would be spared if the "weasel Gersen" surrendered himself at Smade's Tavern.

The Asimov Reality

Kirth and Alice arrived at Smade's planet knowing that they were probably walking into an ambush, but with the help of Araminta Smade, they were able to defeat Tristano. Araminta had inherited her parent's ability to make use of some nanite prosthetics. She went on to become a famous writer. When Azynov began investigating the creation of the tryp'At in the Asimov Reality, one of the people he met inside the AR Simulator was Araminta Smade. With their shared interest in writing, Azynov became quite intrigued by Araminta.

The Final Reality Change

Azynov explained to Araminta that he was from "the real world", outside of the Simulator. Araminta was fascinated by the idea that she was only a simulated person. Azynov promised that he would try to create a replicoid copy of Araminta that could exist in "the real world".

Grean the Kac'hin

He seems to have been successful since an Araminta replicoid did become the assistant of Grean just before the Final Reality came into existence.

Next: The Irhit Intervention

Visit the Gallery of Book and Magazine Covers.

The Alice Investigations

from the Asimov Reality
Original cover art by Michael Koelsch
and Lawrence Stevens.

Every year when August roles around I celebrate the birth of Jack Vance (last year). I like to imagine that the characters Vance included in his Demon Princes novels were actual people who lived about 1,500 years in our future and in the Asimov Reality.

The main protagonist of Vance's five Demon Princes novels is Kirth Gersen. In the final book of the series, Gersen meets Alice Wroke and they work together to defeat the last remaining Demon Prince, Howard Treesong.

Fanfiction
I like to imagine that Kirth and Alice discover that Treesong and his odd life were made possible by advanced technology deployed by hidden aliens as part of their effort to alter the genetic nature of the human species. Treesong was "possessed" by alien infites. Those infites conferred a type of multiple personality disorder on Treesong.

The Alice Investigations
Kirth and Alice first began to understand that Treesong was not biologically normal when they read his autobiographical Book of Dreams.

Other Demons
One of the technologies that Vance included in his stories of the Oikumene is human cloning. By creating several clones of Jheral Tinzy, the Demon Prince Viole Falushe was able to discover that Jheral was genetically predisposed to function as his nemesis.

In his Notes on the Psychology of Jheral Tinzy, Falushe explored his obsession with Jheral and mentioned his sense of helplessness in his seemingly endless pursuit of Jheral. Upon reading Falushe's Notes, Alice deduced that unlike Treesong (who was accidentally invaded by infites), Falushe was himself part of a secret experiment on human nature intentionally performed by hidden aliens.

in the Buld Reality

As part of her investigation of the Demon Princes, Alice became aware of how Karalin Umdys had worked with Kirth to trap Retz and reveal the secret mind control techniques that he had used to control the behavior of Falushe.

Karalin had died in that effort and Kirth was reluctant revive that failed investigation. However, Alice was unwilling to leave the clones of Sogdian in the past. She suspected that like Falushe, her own father might have been targeted by Zodiac Control or the IPX.

The adventures of Gersen and Karalin

Kirth was led to believe that Karalin had died during their investigation of the Fomalhaut star system. However, according to Zeta, there is evidence from the Asimov Reality that Karalin (or her replicoid) lived on and worked with Alusz to investigate advanced alien technologies that had been deployed on the "lost world" of Thamber.

The adventures of Karalin and Alusz

The investigations Karalin and Alusz revealed that Ailett Mayneth was an agent for Zodiac Control.

Pantechnic
Zodiac Control and the IPX worked for centuries to bring into existence a new type of human brain that could function as a Bimanoid Interface. That great effort was not completed until long after both Kirth and Karalin were dead.

From Marune

Eventually, humans expanded through the galaxy and reached Alastor Cluster. Through direct contact with the Phari in Alastor Cluster, a new human science was perfected, the Pantechnic Metaphysic.  Even in those times, more than 1,500 years in our future, humans did not understand the physics of hierions and sedrons, but a few hierion and sedron-based technologies had been given to humans, allowing them to spread between the stars.

in the Ekcolir Reality

In the Ekcolir Reality, Jack Vance was able to publish a much fuller account of events in Alastor Cluster than was the case here in the Final Reality.

With the help of Yōd, I have slowly been filling in our knowledge gaps and constructing a "future history" of events in Alastor Cluster, including the story of how Glinnes and Duissane made contact with the Phari. We are still working to reveal how Vance and Asimov came to be involved in making the hidden history of the Phari accessible to us here in the Final Reality.

August 2018: looking back at Jack's 1952 clones.
July 2018: The Hierion Heretic
Next: investigating the speed of telepathic communication

visit the Gallery of Book and Magazine Covers

Sedron Pods

Reconstructed from the Ekcolir Reality.
image credits

Today's news out of the Hierion Domain is that Asimov's replicoid has finally emerged from the AR Simulation. According to Yōd, Asimov's replicoid tried to "hack into" a concealed part of the Asimov Reality database that holds the secret to how sedrons were obtained for use in interstellar space travel.

Apparently the Asimov's replicoid earned himself a visit with R. Gohrlay. Zeta believes that under the Trysta-Grean Pact, we Earthlings are not allowed to obtain advanced technology from Interventionists. In the Asimov Reality, Earthlings were allowed to use sedron-powered spacecraft, but the alien science and technology that allowed humans to spread through the galaxy in Deep Time are not going to be shared with us here in our universe.

Reconstructed from the Ekcolir Reality.
image credits

These restrictions on alien-derived technology also include hierion-based technologies such as femtobots.

According to Zeta, in the Ekcolir Reality, Sam Jaqy wrote a novel called The Femtobot Paladins that explained the source of the femtobots that drove Howard Treesong to commit his monumental crimes.

In The Jarnell Sedron Pod, Sam Jaqy provided a detailed account of the method that was used to obtain sedrons for use in the Jarnell Intersplit faster-than-light spaceship drive.

Reconstructed from
the Asimov Reality. image credits

Kirth Gersen and Alice Wroke were able to obtain well-preserved tissue from the body of Howard Treesong. Otho Cleadhoe marmelized Treesong after his death. A team of scientists was able to isolate femtobots from Treesong's preserved brain tissue.

According to Zeta, the archives of the Writers Block mention a book called Blue Forest Camp that was written by Alice Wroke in the Asimov Reality. Although hierions were discovered in Treesong's brain, the first practical applications of hierions in human technology did not come until much later, after humans had reached Alastor Cluster.

Yōd believes that the Asimov replicoid had his memories "sanitized" before he was allowed to exit from the AR Simulation.

Next: forbidden knowledge from Deep Time

visit the Gallery of Book and Magazine Covers

Intergalactic Demons

Claustrophobia
As noted by Kat, for his novel The Palace of Love, Jack Vance created "the Mad Poet" Navarth. Navarth was reluctant to leave Earth, comparing himself to Antaeus and saying, "never may I detach my toe from Earth". During the flight through space to visit the Palace of Love on the planet Sogdian, poor Navarth, "simultaneously became afflicted with both claustrophobia and agoraphobia".

Asimov's fear of flying and enjoyment of small enclosed rooms seems at odds with his famous "Galactic Empire" and his science fiction journeys across vast interstellar distances. My own brain came equipped with a powerful system for generating fear of heights, so I know how difficult it is to overcome such "phobias". Recently a candidate gene has been identified that seems to be associated with claustrophobia.

I'm often thinking about brains and human memory processes while writing science fiction (most recently). Sometimes it is amusing when our all-too-faulty neuronal memory systems reconstruct reality for us. Keith described the Demon Princes as being "a group of five intergalactic criminals".

Vance's Demon Prince series is set within our galaxy, among a region of stars not too distant from Earth. I've long concerned myself with Asimov's apparent inability to extend his "Galactic Empire" saga beyond our galaxy. In Vance's fictional universe, might there be  "intergalactic" connections for the Demon Princes?

I've previously thought about writing a fan fiction sequel to The Book of Dreams. I must say...any story that does not involve life forms from beyond our galaxy inflicts me with a tingle of claustrophobia, so let's explore how to bring Vance's Demon Princes saga to the wider stage of intergalactic space.

Alice Wroke flirting
with Henry Lucas at
their Extant office

Intergalactic Demons
What if the Institute is a "front organization" for alien influences from beyond our galaxy? Maybe Alice's father and Treesong were initially working together to penetrate the Institute's Dexad. I imagine that alien forces slip their nanites into some humans such as Treesong. Suppose that Benjamine Wroke was experimenting with ways to take control of those alien nanites and turn Treesong into the tool of Interventionists. In the end, Treesong double-crossed Benjamin Wroke and murdered him.

When Kirth Gersen (in the role of Henry Lucas) first realizes that Alice is an associate of Tressong, he briefly contemplates the possibility that she is a wicked woman. Why else would she work with the "King of Thieves"? However, he soon learns that Treesong is forcing Alice to spy on Lucas and the Extant offices by using threats of violence against her father. Not knowing that her father is already dead, Alice infiltrates the Extant magazine headquarters and reports to Treesong what she can learn from Kirth.

Alice on the verandah at Gladen's Hotel

Eventually Kirth and Alice join forces to take revenge on Treesong. Kirth is already smitten by Alice and over dinner at her hotel on the evening of Gersen's return from space, she vows to never let him out of her sight again.

It is a puzzle for Kirth and Alice: how did Treesong rise to Institute rank 99? Just what advanced technologies might Treesong have at his command?

I've previously speculated that Treesong might be endowed with a nanite symbiont that could account for his "multiple personality" disorder.

In the Exode Trilogy, the Nereids make some advanced technology available to the Interventionists.

Alice, triumphantly
indispensable at
Blue Forest Camp
on Bethune Preserve

If I place Kirth Gersen and Alice Wroke in the Exodemic Fictional Universe then I have to contemplate which might be the most effective groups who are working to speed human technological advancement and counter the Institute's efforts to limit human cultural development.

Vance indicates that the IPCC does try to counter criminals like Treesong, but, as Gersen says, the IPCC is not very effective. Somewhere, hidden away in the many worlds of the growing Oikumene (or maybe Beyond) is there an Interventionist cabal that can turn the tide in the struggle against a mysterious alien force that would unleash criminal demons like Treesong upon humanity?

Moudervelt

Follow the Money
I recently came across some commentary on Vance that took note of how frequently the main characters in his stories have to deal with strangers who try to "extort an extra cent from whoever". Often it is more than just a "cent". A typical example comes in The Book of Dreams when Gersen, who is a billionaire, lands on the planet Moudervelt, the home world of Treesong. He is greeted by a spaceport official who tries to charge a 200 SVU landing fee. Gersen knowingly hands over just 5 SVU while commenting that "some public officers tend either to larceny or daydreaming".

Just down the road in Cloutie, Gersen needs a room for the night. At the Hotel Bon Ton an attempt is made to rent him a room for 83 SVU, but Gersen calmly asks to see the schedule of room rates and suddenly the price of a room drops to 5 SVU. A short time later, Gersen is out strolling through town and an attempt is made to sell him a map (the price is marked 25 centums) for two SVU. Gersen the billionaire calmly argues over the price of the map for the duration of half a page of the novel.

Back in the "golden age" of science fiction, Vance probably sold some of his stories for the painful price of one cent per word. Under such working conditions he figured that he had to turn out a million words a year in order to earn a living. It would not surprise me if Vance pointedly developed the habit of including in his stories little scenes in which haggling over prices not-very-subtly depicted the frugality of a rich character...and by extension, publishers.

Jerdian Chanseth in Skansel
Plaza, Sarjeuz, Dar Sai

I've been trying to imagine how Gersen might spend his money to help the Interventionist cause and defend humanity against an "evil" alien influence. While Gersen might well argue on the street over the cost of a 25 cent item, at other times he is willing to spend money without a qualm. Early in The Book of Dreams Gersen is out on the streets of Pontefract killing time before an appointment. He impulsively buys a set of mechanized chess playing puppets. During this time, playing the role of Henry Lucas, he resides at the upscale Penwipers Hotel, where every day he is dressed in elegant clothes by his valet, providing him with an excellent disguise (normally he wears plain spaceman's attire).

In The Face, the first evening he is in Twanish on the planet Methel, Gersen eats dinner at the Medallion Restaurant. He enjoys the Grand Repast featuring "Authentic Dishes in the Style of the Grand Masters". This meal costs about the equivalent of $300. Later, while contemplating a possible future life of frivolity and comfort in retirement with the charming Jerdian Chanseth, Gersen spends a million SVU to buy the fine house Moss Alrune in the exclusive Llalarkno district.

Drusilla III at Arodin's Temple

In all of the Demon Princes saga, Gersen seemed most comfortable spending money when in the presence of Navarth. In The Palace of Love, Gersen is out on the town for an evening with Navarth and Zan Zu. While searching for Viole Falushe they stop at the Hotel Prince Franz Ludwig for dinner and then they go bar hopping. Dinner, muscatel, champagne, krystallek, coffee and trifles of pastry at the Hotel Prince Franz Ludwig alone cost Gersen more than 200 SVU. When Navarth must throw a carefully crafted party to lure Falushe near, the cost is one million SVU.

At the end of the story, when Falushe has been eliminated and Gersen leaves Zan Zu and her clone sisters (Drusillas III and IV) with Navarth, he provides additional funds to Navarth for their care and rehabilitation.

In my imagined fan fiction sequel to The Book of Dreams, after visiting Terranova and learning that his mother is still alive and living at a hidden Interventionist base on Earth, Kirth and Alice recruit help from Navarth, using the "Mad Poet" and his antics as cover while Gersen penetrates a Interventionist enclave which is hidden in the mountains of the northern Iberian peninsula.

Alice extracting nanites

Finally Gersen's vast fortune becomes useful. The Interventionists help Gersen extract nanites from Treesong's corpse then use his wealth to develop the means to reprogram, control and replicate the nanites. Treesong's nanites developed a defect that caused his multiple personalities and that also makes them vulnerable to "hacking" and reprogramming.

Although Falushe's body is never recovered, Gersen is able to verify that there are also alien nanites in the bodies of Lens Larque, Attel Malagate and Kokor Hekkus. Gersen and Alice travel to Lambda Gruis III where they discover that the bodies of all Star Kings contain a nanorobotic symbiont. Long ago, the pek bioengineered Homo sapiens on the world "Ghnarumen".

That aliens are responsible for our species' origin becomes quite clear. Kirth and Alice learn that Interventionist agents secretly transplanted some of the engineered humans back to Earth. The pek still plan to replace humans with more advanced Star Kings that are still being evolved. Can the Interventionists successfully equip humans with nanites so they can defend themselves against the Star Kings?

almost heaven

Paladins Triumphant
This is my 250th post to this blog. It somehow seems fitting that I am here again indulging myself in the "fan fiction disease" of imagining a sequel to one of my favorite science fiction novels. Sorry about that, Jack!

Princess Gisseth

This blog has become a rather meandering exploration of the science fiction terrain that so fascinates me...

Why would aliens target "a shy brown-haired boy known as Howard Hardoah" growing up on a farm near Gladbetook, Maunish district of planet Moudervelt? In his youth, Howard was transformed and he imagined himself born of Princess Gisseth of Treesong Keep.

The eerie paladin Eia Panice.

What did Vance imagine was going on with the "paladins" who shared Howard Treesong's body? Mewness: There are long roads yet to be traveled and many an inn where I would take refuge.

The alien and eerie Eia Panice has eyes like pale fire. "Eia, as fearsome to enemies as death itself speaks little. His deeds tell their own tale and terror trembles in his wake."

Immir of the graces
(source)

Panice calls together the departing paladins and they topple Howard to his death. Cleadhoe: "The chair was solidly fixed! He could not have tumbled it alone!"

Gersen turned away, "Whatever has happened, it is enough for me." But later, he and Alice must extract the nanites from Howard's corpse and risk re-instantiating the mysterious paladins.

Kirth and Alice eventually realize that some of the "paladins" who haunted Treesong originated as non-human life forms. Maybe Panice, like the Nereids, originated in another galaxy.

Vance indicated that there was some kind of controlled breeding program in Maunish. I assume that program caused Howard's brain to be particularly suitable for hosting an alien nanorobotic symbiont. "Immir" was the intended symbiont for Howard, but something went wrong and multiple artificial life forms took up residence inside him.

2018 rumor: "Vince is currently writing and producing Jack Vance’s seminal five book science fiction series DEMON PRINCES for Paul Allen’s Vulcan Productions, produced by Nick Wechsler and Carole Tomko." (source)
1958 - Vance's story "Parapsyche"

visit the Gallery of Posters and visit the Gallery of Book and Magazine Covers