The material so similar, it is no
easy task to parse Jack Vance’s short fiction into collections. Chronologically in order of publishing one
option, the creators of the Vance Integral Edition instead went another:
thematic -as challenging as it is. While some are easier to
identify than others, Golden Girl and Other Stories, for example, brings together the stories Vance wrote
starring women and The Dragon Masters and
Other Stories his three most successful novellas. Others are less easy; The Potters of Firsk and Other Stories seems to simply have been a
pot collecting miscellaneous stories. Son of the Tree and Other Stories is a
collection somewhere in the middle. The
common thread not immediately apparent, but once the reader delves in, the
motif of space mystery becomes clear—at least for most of the stories. The following are brief summaries of each:
“Phalid’s
Fate” – A man is surgically altered to become a bug-like alien—a Phalid—so that
he can get revenge upon the aliens for killing his brother in their
inter-planetary war, but instead becomes involved in a massive plot. Golden Age science fiction, this novelette is
a middling example of Vance’s style of planetary adventure.
“Chateau
d'If” – Mario is a bored architect until seeing an advertisement for the
mysterious Chateau d’If. Promised an
adventure, he gets more than what he pays for, and must find a way to get
himself out of a major hole. Fully
deserving of novel length treatment, this story is unfortunately a rushed
affair full of gaping plot holes. Though
a fear of trans-humanism plays itself out in realistic style, the remainder has
plot gaps the size of cadillacs, all characterization lost in the process.
“Crusade
to Maxus” - In a drawn out story that would have benefitted from later Vance
wit and focus, Dyle Trave is forced to free his family. Enslaved by the Overmen of Maxus, his plight
is filled with pulpish excitement and adventure, and is not the most memorable
story in the collection.
"Son of the Tree" - Almost as if having a
laugh at writing itself, the protagonist of Son
of the Tree is Joe Smith.
Essentially a galactic vagrant, Smith finds himself on the planet Kyril
searching for the man who stole his love.
Quickly getting caught up in events surrounding Kyril’s gigantic tree of
life and the rival Druids and Mangs fighting for its control, Smith soon finds
saving his own skin is of more importance than getting revenge.
“Shape Up”
– A man responds to an advertisement for a hired gun, but the tests of skill
and physiology he’s asked to perform may not be up to his liking. A whodunnit of a police lineup, this simple
story has the main character, and reader, sweating.
“The
Augmented Agent” – As the title states, this is the story of a police detective
with ‘special’ features. Somewhere
between Robocop and James Bond, Keith’s claws, extra-sensory devices, stored
electricity, inbuilt communication devices take him on a tale of international
espionage. Interestingly, the setting is
near-future Earth and the plot centers around Cold War concerns—not a common
premise for Vance.
"The Man from Zodiac" (aka "Milton Hack from Zodiac") – When a family
business fragments at the death of its founder, the new owner is forced to
uphold a leftover contract. Tensions running high in a neighboring land needing
weapons, his work requires increasing levels of patience dealing with the
idiots involved. Vance dropping some dry commentary on politics and the weapons
industry, the story is, unfortunately, rendered in equally dry terms.
In the
end, Son of the Tree and Other Stories
is a fair collection that focuses on Vance’s short fiction featuring crime
capers, typically of the interplanetary variety. Nothing overtly wrong with the stories,
neither is there anything overtly remarkable.
Published from the beginning of Vance’s career to the middle (1946 –
1967), the quality varies, but is overall mediocre, and is not a recommended
starting point for Vance. Best left to
completists, there are better places to begin reading the master of planetary
adventure.
The material so similar,
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