Dying Earth is a fantasy series by the American author Jack Vance, comprising four books originally published from 1950 to 1984. Some have been called picaresque. They vary from short story collections to a fix-up, perhaps all the way to novel.
John Holbrook Vance was an American mystery, fantasy, and science fiction writer. Though most of his work has been published under the name Jack Vance, he also wrote several mystery novels under pen names.
Planet of Adventure is a series of four science fiction novels by Jack Vance, published between 1968 and 1970. The novels relate the adventures of the scout Adam Reith, the sole survivor of an Earth ship investigating a signal from the distant planet Tschai.
Planetary romance is a subgenre of science fiction in which the bulk of the action consists of adventures on one or more exotic alien planets, characterized by distinctive physical and cultural backgrounds. Some planetary romances take place against the background of a future culture where travel between worlds by spaceship is commonplace; others, particularly the earliest examples of the genre, do not, and invoke flying carpets, astral projection, or other methods of getting between planets. In either case, it is the planetside adventures which are the focus of the story, not the mode of travel.
Space Opera is a novel by the American science fiction author Jack Vance, first published in 1965 by Pyramid Books. It is a stand-alone work, not part of any of Vance's novel sequences. The term "space opera" is typically used in science fiction literature to connote interstellar adventures, clashes of spacefleets and galactic empires. The use here is literal, however, about an opera company touring in outer space.
Big Planet is a science fiction novel by American writer Jack Vance. It is the first novel sharing the same setting, an immense, but metal-poor and backward world called Big Planet.
City of the Chasch is a science fiction novel by American writer Jack Vance, the first in the adventure tetralogy Planet of Adventure. It follows the attempts of a man stranded on the distant planet Tschai to return to Earth.
Servants of the Wankh is a 1969 science fiction adventure novel by American writer Jack Vance, the second in the tetralogy Tschai, Planet of Adventure. It tells of the efforts of the sole survivor of a human starship destroyed by an unknown enemy to return to Earth from the distant planet Tschai.
The Pnume is a science fiction adventure novel by American writer Jack Vance. The last book in the tetralogy of Planet of Adventure, it tells of the efforts to return to Earth by the sole survivor of a human starship destroyed while investigating a mysterious signal from the distant planet Tschai.
Emphyrio is a science fiction adventure novel by American writer Jack Vance. It tells the story of a young man who overturns the foundations of his world.
The Gray Prince is a science fiction novel by American writer Jack Vance, first published in two parts in Amazing Science Fiction magazine with the title The Domains of Koryphon. Given that the novel's setting, the planet Koryphon, is integral to the plot, The Gray Prince may be said to belong to the science fiction subgenre of the planetary romance. Also significant in this regard is the work's original title, The Domains of Koryphon, which gives prominence to the setting of the conflict narrated in the novel rather than to one of its many characters.
Maske: Thaery is a science fiction novel by American writer Jack Vance, set in his Gaean Reach milieu, which was first published as a paperback by Berkley Books, the science-fiction imprint of Putnam, in 1976. It is about a young man, Jubal Droad, from the Droad caste on the planet Maske, who has a chance encounter with an arrogant nobleman, Ramus Ymph, who almost ends up causing Jubal's death. As Jubal tries to seek a job from the powerful noble Nai the Hever, Jubal finds himself involved with Thaery's intelligence agency. Jubal's desire for revenge overlaps with the intelligence agency's interest in Ramus Ymph, leading Jubal on a planet-hopping adventure to track down his nemesis.
Cugel's Saga is a picaresque fantasy novel by American writer Jack Vance, published by Timescape in 1983, the third book in the Dying Earth series, the first volume of which appeared in 1950. The narrative of Cugel's Saga continues from the point at which it left off at the end of The Eyes of the Overworld (1966).
Ports of Call is a 1998 science fiction adventure novel by American writer Jack Vance. Followed by the novel Lurulu, it tells the story of a young man named Myron Tany on a picaresque journey through the Gaean Reach.
Underwood–Miller Inc. was a science fiction and fantasy small press specialty publishing house in San Francisco, California, founded in 1976. It was founded by Tim Underwood, a San Francisco book and art dealer, and Chuck Miller, a Pennsylvania used book dealer, after the two had met at a convention.
The Blue World is a science fiction adventure novel by American writer Jack Vance. The novel is based on Vance’s earlier novella "The Kragen", which appeared in the July 1964 edition of Fantastic Stories of Imagination.
Lurulu is a science fiction adventure novel by Jack Vance. Published in 2004, it was his last novel. It is the follow up to Ports of Call and continues to follow the character Myron Tany on his picaresque journey through the Gaean Reach region of space.
Nautical fiction, frequently also naval fiction, sea fiction, naval adventure fiction or maritime fiction, is a genre of literature with a setting on or near the sea, that focuses on the human relationship to the sea and sea voyages and highlights nautical culture in these environments. The settings of nautical fiction vary greatly, including merchant ships, liners, naval ships, fishing vessels, life boats, etc., along with sea ports and fishing villages. When describing nautical fiction, scholars most frequently refer to novels, novellas, and short stories, sometimes under the name of sea novels or sea stories. These works are sometimes adapted for the theatre, film and television.
