The beloved science fiction pioneer has died, Locus Magazine says:
SF Grand Master Jack Vance, 96, died May 26, 2013 in Oakland CA. Vance was one of the most influential SF authors of the postwar period, and his visionary imagination and sophisticated, often playful use of language inspired countless SF writers, including Avram Davidson, Harlan Ellison, Matthew Hughes, George R.R. Martin, Michael Moorcock, and Gene Wolfe. His landmark Dying Earth sequence, set in the far future, began with collection The Dying Earth (1950) and continued with novel The Eyes of the Overworld (1966), Cugel’s Saga (1983), Rhialto the Marvelous (1984), and several related stories. Vance redefined the nature of planetary romance with his Big Planet (1952), and continued exploring that universe in sequel Showboat World (1975).
I’m embarrassed to say I haven’t read very much Vance—a couple novellas, I think, and Dying Earth—but I’ve read dozens of books that wouldn’t have existed without Vance pointing the way. For more Vance, check out this Mercury review of The Dying Earth from the archives.
(Via Sarah Weinman.)
Also worth reading: Carlo Rotella’s 2009 profile of Vance for the New York Times Magazine:
“Dan Simmons, the best-selling writer of horror and fantasy, described discovering Vance as ‘a revelation for me, like coming to Proust or Henry James. Suddenly you’re in the deep end of the pool. He gives you glimpses of entire worlds with just perfectly turned language. If he’d been born south of the border, he’d be up for a Nobel Prize.’ Michael Chabon, whose distinguished literary reputation allows him to employ popular formulas without being labeled a genre writer, told me: ‘Jack Vance is the most painful case of all the writers I love who I feel don’t get the credit they deserve. If ‘The Last Castle’ or ‘The Dragon Masters’ had the name Italo Calvino on it, or just a foreign name, it would be received as a profound meditation, but because he’s Jack Vance and published in Amazing Whatever, there’s this insurmountable barrier.'”
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/19/magazine…