Jack Vance or There are Doors?

William Ansley · 20 Dec 2002, 20:14 · from urth-v0212.mbox · original

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From: William Ansley <wansley at warwick.net>
Subject: Re: (urth) Jack Vance or There are Doors?
Date: Fri, 20 Dec 2002 15:14:49 -0500
Message-ID: <urth-v0212-2496 at digest.urth.net>
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At 12:23 PM 12/19/2002 -0500, you wrote:
>Hello, all.  I was looking for any opinions here, I am just about to finish
>RTTW, and was looking next either to read Jack Vance's Tales of the Dying
>Earth or Wolfe's There are Doors.  I'm intrigued as to the Vance work to
>see how it influenced the Urth novels, but have never read any Vance
>before.  I also have never read any Wolfe other than the Urth/LS/SS cycle,
>so don't know what to expect from There are Doors.  Any recommendations or
>views on these books from the list?

My recommendation is that you read Jack Vance first. Wolfe is wonderful, of=20
course, but it is nice to branch out once in a while. <g> Also, if you like=20
Vance's _Dying Earth_, you'll probably like the rest of his stuff, and=20
there is quite a bit of it. Then you'll have something to read when you run=20
out of Wolfe.

I am a big fan of Jack Vance, but I feel it is only fair to warn you that=20
if you are expecting the same intellectual work out that Wolfe gives you,=20
you will be disappointed. But Vance is one of the better writers in SF; he=20
certainly has his own unmistakable voice. If you expect to see a lot of=20
direct influence from _Dying Earth_ to _New/Long/Short Sun_, you may also=20
be disappointed. I would say that the influences are of mood and (very=20
broadly) setting, rather than specific persons, places or things.

But, if you are willing to except Vance on his own terms and not as=20
Wolfe-lite, I'll think you'll find a lot to like.

William Ansley

--=20

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