My Cultural Diet

Jack Vance is one of those classic sci-fi authors whom I’ve often seen bandied about as “one of the greatest ever,” and his fans include genre luminaries George R. R. Martin and Michael Moorcock. Thus, I thought it was high time to finally check him out for myself. As its title suggests, this collection of short stories belongs to the “Dying Earth” genre, which takes place on Earth near the end of its days, where the Sun is dimming, countless civilizations have come and gone, and magic and technology are indistinguishable from each other. Vance’s prose is quite fantastical, and a welcome change of pace. Oftentimes, though, he seems less interested in driving the story forward than dazzling the reader with increasingly florid descriptions of bizarre sights and sounds and arcane-sounding terminology. Much like Gene Wolfe’s “Book of the New Sun” tetralogy — another famous “Dying Earth” title — it’s alternately fascinating and frustrating. Nerdy side note: Dungeons & Dragons’ traditional magic system, in which spells are so complex that wizards can only prepare a certain number at any point in time, was inspired by Vance’s writings, as were certain spells like “Prismatic Spray.”

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