The Sword & Planet of Jack Vance: Planet of Adventure

The Sword & Planet of Jack Vance: Planet of Adventure

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The Planet of Adventure series by Jack Vance (DAW and Ace paperback editions)

Today, we come back from our excursion into the realm of Space Opera to our home territory of Sword & Planet fiction. One of the most unique S&P series I’ve ever encountered is the four-book series by Jack Vance (1916 – 2013) generally called the Planet of Adventure series. The stories take place on a planet called Tschai, and feature an earthman named Adam Reith.

In a future in which Earth has starships, a distress signal comes from Tschai, which orbits the “dim and aging” star Carina. An Earth ship is sent to investigate and is destroyed in orbit by a missile from the planet. Adam Reith and a companion escape on a scout ship and manage to make a hard landing. The companion is soon killed by the natives and Reith is left alone. The books chronicle his efforts to survive and return to Earth.

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A Hobo in Space: Starhiker by Jack Dann

A Hobo in Space: Starhiker by Jack Dann

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Starhiker by Jack Dann (Harper & Row, March 1977). Cover uncredited

It’s been a while since I’ve taken a look at a ’70s science fiction novel in this space, and this seems a good book to feature. It’s rather better than some of the books I’ve written about, though it has, as far as I can tell, never been reprinted. And it’s a very 1970s book.

Jack Dann was born in upstate New York some 80 years ago, and after spending some time in New York City moved back to Binghamton, close to his birthplace of Johnson City. He attended SUNY Binghamton, where SF writers Pamela Sargent and George Zebrowski were also students, and Joanna Russ was a Professor. (I don’t know if Dann had contact with Russ at that time.)

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The Double-A Western Detective Agency joins Holmes on the Range (Sorta…)

The Double-A Western Detective Agency joins Holmes on the Range (Sorta…)

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Last year, I did a three-part series on Steve Hockensmith’s terrific Holmes on the Range series. This essay, a comprehensive chronology, and a Q&A which Steve kindly did with me, represent the deepest dive anyone has done on these fun books. Since then, two novels (and a short story) in a spin-off series about the Double-A Western Detective Agency, came out. As well as one Old Red short story. I’m (yet again) listening to the Holmes on the Range audiobooks –  mixing in the short stories in chronological order this time – and loving the series all over again. I’m also reading the second Double-A novel (No Hallowed Ground).

I’ve added some info on the new series at the end of this post. And I’ve updated the Chronology. If I still haven’t convinced you to try that first novel, Holmes on the Range (or the short story collection, Dear Mr. Holmes), give me the benefit of the doubt. Steve’s a really good writer, and these are fun Western mysteries, with a Holmes underlay. Don’t be a saphead. 🙂

There are a lot of ways to go about writing a Sherlock Holmes story. Some folks attempt to very carefully emulate Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s own style, and to turn out a tale that feels as if it might have been penned (or typed these days) by the creator of the great detective himself. No surprise that results vary. GREATLY. Hugh Ashton and Denis O. Smith are the best I’ve found in this regard.

You can find stories ranging from pretty good to not suitable for (digital) toilet paper. I’ve had a half dozen of my own stories published and I’m still working on better voicing the good doctor.

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The Weyland-Yutaniverse, Part III

The Weyland-Yutaniverse, Part III

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Alien vs Predator (20th Century Fox, August 13, 2004)

In celebration of the recent streaming series, Alien: Earth (whether you enjoyed it or not), I have created a new list of films that most certainly exist in the Weyland-Yutani universe, and if not certainly, then enjoy an unbelievably tenuous link to it.

This will be an ordered list of sixteen films, four a week, in reverse order, and is guaranteed to enrage you. The Alien and Predator films, and all those in between, are beloved by some, held sacred by a few, and the subjects of intense debate. My opinions will most certainly not align with yours, but I hope to keep you guessing as to my top four!

#8 – AvP: Alien vs Predator (2004)

Strong link, or tenuous as all hell? Super duper strong.

What’s the link? It has a Weyland in it (more on this later).

What’s it all about? (Alec Guinness voice) “Paul W.S. Anderson… now that’s a name I haven’t heard in a long time… a long time…”*

I told you we weren’t done with Mr. Anderson, and here he is again, surprisingly high up on this list with AvP. P.W.S.A. gets a bad rap, and it’s mostly deserved, but I have certainly enjoyed some of his output, including the first Mortal Kombat flick (1995), the first Resident Evil flick (2002), and the genuinely brilliant, and criminally overlooked horror, Event Horizon (1997). One has to suspect that much of the snarkiness directed his way is through jealousy of him ending up with Mila Jojovich, but I digress.

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Not Your Average Standard: Cahokia Jazz by Francis Spufford

Not Your Average Standard: Cahokia Jazz by Francis Spufford

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Cahokia Jazz by Francis Spufford (Faber & Faber, April 4, 2024)

This is a strange (in a good way) hybrid of alternate history (a 2023 Sidewise Award winner, in fact), syncretism, crime noir, and Christological sacrifice. Oh, and it has a little something to do with jazz, specifically that of the 1920s hot jazz era played in bars and brothels.

Let’s take these in order.  The alternate history is the invention of Cahokia, in reality a prehistoric Native American settlement around some 80 surviving earthworks today preserved as the Cahokia Mounds archeological park located directly across the Mississippi River from St. Louis Missouri, as a Prohibition-era multi-ethnic capital city in a U.S. state formed by an alliance of Native American tribes. Cahokia has its own language, and although Catholic-converted Native Americans comprise the majority, there are various ethnic communities (that’s the syncretism part), including a large African American presence, and, as you might expect, tension among them.

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Tor Doubles #28: Kim Stanley Robinson’s A Short, Sharp Shock and Jack Vance’s The Dragon Masters

Tor Doubles #28: Kim Stanley Robinson’s A Short, Sharp Shock and Jack Vance’s The Dragon Masters

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Cover for The Graveyard Heart and Elegy for Angels and Dogs by Bob Eggleton

Originally published in December 1990, Tor Double #28 contains the fourth story (but third headlining story) by Kim Stanley Robinson, who first appeared in Tor Double #1, and the second, and final story by Jack Vance.

The Dragon Masters was originally published in Galaxy in August 1962. It was previously published as part of an Ace Double (with Vance’s The Five Gold Bands) by Ace Books in 1963. It won the Hugo Award and the Seiun Award.

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Deadly Aliens: Adapting Richard Matheson’s third Kolchak script, Night Killers

Deadly Aliens: Adapting Richard Matheson’s third Kolchak script, Night Killers

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Kolchak the Night Stalker: Double Feature by Richard Matheson and
Chuck Miller (Moonstone, November 2017). Cover art by Mark Maddox

I’ve been asked over the years about the process I used to adapt the late Richard Matheson’s unproduced script for “The Night Killers” into a novella. I thought I’d go ahead today and give a few brief answers.

First, to address the changes I made in the story: It’s not that I think I’m more talented than Richard Matheson, because manifestly I am not. But what I had was very much a first draft script. If “The Night Killers” had gone into production, a lot of things would have been reworked, based on input from Matheson himself, the director, and certainly Darren McGavin. So that’s how I approached it. I regarded the script as a living document that I could have a hand in shaping.

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A Halloween Reading List

A Halloween Reading List

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Ace Double #42900: Tower of the Medusa by Lin Carter, and Kar Kaballa by
George H. Smith (Ace Books, November 1969). Cover art by Jeff Jones and John Schoenherr

I’m working on a Halloween entry for the Swords & Planet League, and on a couple of posts about Jack Vance. In the meantime, I thought I’d run a few covers of books I’ve got in the house here but haven’t actually read yet.

First up are three doubles featuring Lin Carter, two from Belmont and one from Ace. The Tower of Medusa is from Ace, with the backing book being Kar Kaballa by George H. Smith. Some reviews call it S&P but a quick scan suggests more Space Opera to me. After I read it, if it’s S&P, I’ll discuss it further. Cover artist is listed as Kelly Freas but I saw someone claim it has a signature reading “Jones” and that it was Jeffrey Jones. This does not look like a Jones to me and I can’t find any signature on my book.

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And of Course, I Lost My Glasses – A Can*Con 2025 Report

And of Course, I Lost My Glasses – A Can*Con 2025 Report

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Good afterevenmorn, Readers!

I am writing this the day after returning from my favorite genre literary convention ever with a report. Can*Con is the kind of SFF convention I will try very hard to never miss. I went to my first in 2011 (I think? It’s been so long), when I was a little baby writer with one self-published anthology and a couple of sketches to my name. Despite having no clout, no idea what I was doing, and absolutely no connections to anyone or anything in the scene at all, I was warmly welcomed and made to feel like I was an actual real writer with something of value to offer the world.

This is going to sound really corny, but for the anxiety-ridden, personally struggling young me, that was an enormous deal.

I have not missed a Can*Con since.

I figured since not everyone can make it, be they countries or provinces away, and the costs of… well… everything making travelling often prohibited, I thought I’d bring the experience to you. As best I can, anyway. However well I make my report, it’s not the same thing as the experience.

Sorry.

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What I’ve Been Watching: October 2025

What I’ve Been Watching: October 2025

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Well, August was the last time I shared What I’ve Been Watching, and I know you’re always wondering what is getting my attention.

This week we’ve got three British crime shows, one American comedy cop show, and…an action movie.

RETURN TO PARADISE

I have written more than once about Death in Paradise This British cop show, set in a Caribbean island, is one of my favorites, through 117 episodes over 14 seasons. Click here to read about it.

There have been multiple cast changes, with several Detective Inspectors from Britain assigned. One, Humphrey Goodman (played by Kris Marshall), has his own spin-off, Beyond Paradise. Season three just began dropping on Britbox this week, and has been renewed for a fourth.

There’s another spin-off, set in Australia. It’s a bit different. There’s mild tie to Death in Paradise, but it’s not a sequel, like Beyond Paradise is. More on that below.

Anna Samson is DI Mackenzie Clark. She had been a police officer in her Australian hometown, when she dumped her fiance and went off to work in London. She’s under investigation there and returns home. She ends up working there again, where her ex-fiance is the ME, and his mother is her boss – before and again. So, you get the set-up.

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