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- The Moon Moth
Promotional short story printed book distributed at conventions. - Chateau d'If
Promotional short story printed book distributed at conventions. - Short Stories 1 - The World-Thinker and other stories
- Short Stories 2 - Sail 25 and other stories
- Short Stories 3 - Chateau d'If and other stories
- Short Stories 4 - Golden Girl and other stories
- Short Stories 5 - The Moon Moth and other stories
- Short Stories 6 - Wild Thyme and Violets and other stories
- The House On Lily Street
The House On Lily Street Welfare worker Paul Gunther is killed when he looks into the blackmailing of some of his cases. Lieutenant George Shaw leads the murder investigation, which touches on the jazz community and beatnik culture of Oakland in the early 1960's. - summary from the official Jack Vance website - The Dark Ocean
The Dark Ocean Betty Haverhill leaves San Francisco on an Italian freighter bound for ports in El Salvador, Panama, Venezuela, Spain and Italy. Among the passengers is Mik Finsch, a mysterious man-of-the-world. Betty's mild flirtation with Mik ends in a fight and the suicide of one of the passengers. Another "suicide" leaves no doubt in Betty's mind that Finsch is a murderer, and soon she's fighting for her own life. - summary from the official Jack Vance website - The Flesh Mask
The Flesh Mask San Giorgio High School athlete Robert Struve's face is disfigured by an accident. Humiliated at a party by four popular girls, he lashes out - and as a result is sent away to reform school. Struve receives reconstructive surgery which transforms his appearance, then goes into the Army. Back in San Giorgio several years later, one of the girls is murdered, her face mutilated. A second girl is killed, and a third. Who could the murderer be? - summary from the official Jack Vance website - Bad Ronald
Bad Ronald Misfit teenager Ronald Wilby accidentally kills a neighborhood girl, and his hyper-protective mother hides him between the walls of their house. Years pass, and Ronald's mind slips into delusional fantasy. When his mother dies a new family with three teenage daughters moves in. Things go badly when Ronald decides the youngest belongs in his imaginary world. - summary from the official Jack Vance website - The Rapparee
The Rapparee The galaxy is full of wealthy planets and haughty aliens who guard the technology of interstellar travel. Earth must pay a price for use of the space drive, and this rubs Paddy Blackthorn the wrong way- so he sets out to steal the secret. The powerful Shauls capture and dump him on a barren planet - yet here he acquires five golden bands containing the very data he is after. The information is coded - and while Paddy solves the puzzle he must evade a galactic manhunt! - summary from the official Jack Vance website - The Houses of Iszm
The Houses of Iszm The people of Iszm live in homes which are alive. Their dwellings are elaborate, hollow trees, wherein the very walls, floors - even furniture and plumbing - are all part of a living plant. For decades, inhabitants of other worlds, including Earth, have been trying to steal a female house seed, but every attempt has failed. This is the story of a most ingenious plot to carry off a prize worth billions: one seed from the Houses of Iszm. - summary from the official Jack Vance website - Son Of The Tree
Son Of The Tree "The Tree ruled the horizons, shouldered aside the clouds, and wore thunder and lightning like a wreath of tinsels - it had come to be worshipped by the first marveling settlers on Kyril". Joe Smith arrives from Earth and soon is caught up in a political plot between opposing worlds. Ultimately he discovers the true, horrific nature of The Tree of Life... - summary from the official Jack Vance website - Bird Isle
Bird Isle Coves has more land on Bird Island than he can use. So he sells, using proceeds to renovate his hotel. He's happy with his buyers until he finds that none are exactly what they said they were. And one - or more - is bent on trouble. - summary from the official Jack Vance website - The View from Chickweed's Window
The View from Chickweed's Window Orphan Luellen Enright is sent to live with her aunt and uncle's family in San Francisco. Lulu has trouble with her new family and eventually is sent to a state home. She returns as a young woman to regain her father’s legacy, and uncovers an ugly family secret. - summary from the official Jack Vance website - The Fox Valley Murders
The Fox Valley Murders Ausley Wyett's release from prison after sixteen years in prison is an event of many consequences for the residents of San Rodrigo County, California. Five men whose testimonies led to Wyett's conviction receive threatening letters, and one by one become victims of fatal accidents. But there is no evidence of murder. For Acting Sheriff Joe Bain, proving Wyett's guilt - or innocence - is more than a matter of justice; while campaigning to be elected Sheriff, he must stubbornly protect Wyett from townspeople who insist upon immediate arrest - or a lynching. - summary from the official Jack Vance website - The Pleasant Grove Murders
The Pleasant Grove Murders In this second mystery novel of the Sheriff Joe Bain series, the appealing and energetic Sheriff of San Rodrigo County, California, is once again beset by extraordinary complications and diversions in the midst of trying to solve three brutal hammer murders. His career is threatened with a political smear, his ego damaged losing a fight with a suspect, and his bachelorhood threatened by several wonderfully bizarre encounters with a lovely young woman named Luna. - summary from the official Jack Vance website - The Genesee Slough Murders
The Genesee Slough Murders Cover for the unfinished third Joe Bain novel. The plot outline is included in the Joe Bain omnibus edition, and this cover was created in order to include it in the omnibus cover image. - The Joe Bain Mysteries
The Joe Bain Mysteries Bucolic San Rodrigo County, nestled in California's Coast Range, is home to communities of truck farms, fruit orchards, and sleepy gas stations. The passing of old sheriff Cucchinello has left county law enforcement in the hands of officer Joe Bain, single father of a teenage daughter. The responsibilities of the acting sheriff are suddenly complicated — in a dangerous way — when residents of Fox Valley and Pleasant Grove begin to die under violent and unlikely circumstances. Acting Sheriff Bain is caught between the political necessities of an upcoming election, and the urgent need to solve grisly crimes committed against ordinary folk of Rodrigo County. Published together in the Joe Bain omnibus are The Fox Valley Murders and The Pleasant Grove Murders, hard-to-find examples of Jack Vance's masterful detective fiction from the '60s. Vance brings rural California from a half-century ago to vivid life, and introduces a variety of intricate characters with all the detail readers expect from his fantasy and science fiction works. These two books, with an accompanying outline for a third entry in the Joe Bain series, The Genesee Slough Murders, demonstrate Vance's ability to transport his readers into a seamlessly-crafted locale, teeming with believable characters who grab your interest from the first page. - summary from the official Jack Vance website - This Is Me, Jack Vance! Or More Properly, This Is I
This Is Me, Jack Vance! Or More Properly, This Is I Enjoy the ride as Jack Vance takes you on an informal trip through his life. Starting with his memories of childhood in a privileged San Francisco family, Vance leads us through lean times, picking fruit during the Depression, pranks at Cal, experiences at sea during the War, his early writing, and life in California in general, before marrying Norma; then a hard-working adulthood distinguished by writing, travel, colorfully noisy parties, and through it all- a deep love of traditional jazz music. Fans of Vance's writing will enjoy glimpses of the events which shaped and colored his fiction. Includes a photo section with 65 pictures. - summary from the official Jack Vance website Cover created utilising a self-portrait taken by the author. - Strange People, Queer Notions
Strange People, Queer Notions While in Rome, art student Chuck Musgrave is offered a job painting pictures of Positano, a picturesque town south of Naples. When Chuck arrives in Positano, strange things begin to happen. It becomes clear that not all foreigners living in Positano are there for the scenery! - summary from the official Jack Vance website Cover created utilising an original photograph of Positano by the author. - The Man in the Cage
The Man in the Cage Junketing around the Mediterranean in petty smuggling operations, Noel Hutson liked to think of himself as a gallant adventurer. But in the middle of a North African desert kasbah, with a truckload of contraband, the American feels less and less like a swashbuckling hero. Forced to reload his truck with a very suspicious cargo, he writes to his family asking for help. Noel disappears, and his brother Darrell comes to find him. Darrell's search takes him to the ancient city of Fez, and into the desert- along the way meeting fanatics, beautiful women, and villains. An exciting suspense novel about an American making his way through a restless society of smuggling, murder, and North African politics. Winner of the Edgar Award, 1961. - summary from the official Jack Vance website - The Deadly Isles
The Deadly Isles A young scientist with ties to a family fortune survives a murder attempt while working in Tahiti. He discovers the identity of the assailant, but not the motive. For this, he follows the would-be murderer aboard an island-hopping passenger/cargo schooner bound for the Marquesas. - summary from the official Jack Vance website