Dust jacket by Tom Kidd

Jack Vance, Magician

Like the professional wizards and sorcerers he so often writes about, Jack Vance has long been a master magician when it comes to storytelling, turning out marvelous tricks with words, using his wonderful knack for names, detail and dialog, his fine eye for rendering the vagaries of the human condition to deliver high adventure set on fascinating worlds and in fabulous realms that are second to none.

In a career spanning nearly sixty years, this peerless F&SF Grand Master has taken us from the Dying Earth to Lyonesse, from the Oikumene of the Demon Princes to the farthest corners of the Gaean Reach, Alastor Cluster and beyond, bringing alive on the page magical places we can only dream about.

Dream Castles presents a generous serving of this celebrated magician’s “performances,” ten fascinating tales from his long and influential career, among them his two Miro Hetzel adventures, “The Dogtown Tourist Agency” and “Freitzke’s Turn,” the intriguing “The Narrow Land,” a second outing for Jean Parlier in “Choldwell’s Chickens,” and the classic space opera of “Son of the Tree.”

Dream Castles shows a true magician storyteller perfecting his craft, one moment as journeyman finding a voice all his own, the next as fully-fledged maestro intent on exploring worlds and delivering adventure and wonder in equal parts, the very stuff that dreams are made of.

Table of Contents

The Dogtown Tourist Agency
Freitzke’s Turn
I’ll Build Your Dream Castle
Golden Girl
Sulwen’s Planet
Cholwell’s Chickens
A Practical Man’s Guide
The Narrow Land
The Enchanted Princess
Son of the Tree

From Library Journal:
"...this collection of Vance's early short fiction features some of the many worlds created by one of the genre's most beloved authors... Strong and varied tales from a wordsmith without peer..."

From George R. R. Martin:

“You could say that Jack Vance is the Fred Astaire of letters. Astaire brought such grace and style to his dancing that he made it seem almost easy, just as Vance does when he writes…For inventive plots, wry humor, knowing and ironic dialogue, and imaginative panache, he has no equal in or outside of our genre.”

From Locus:
“One of the strongest and most unmistakable voices and visions the field has produced.”

From Paul Di Filippo:
“Jack Vance's artistry is undeniable…A master stylist, he combines a flair for dialogue (witty), description (painterly) and detail (ornate but never egregious) with an ingenuity of plotting and a fecundity of conceit that is unmatched within the field.”