Date: Fri, 20 Dec 2002 15:14:49 -0500
From: William Ansley 
Subject: Re: (urth) Jack Vance or There are Doors?

At 12:23 PM 12/19/2002 -0500, you wrote:
>Hello, all.  I was looking for any opinions here, I am just about to finish
>RTTW, and was looking next either to read Jack Vance's Tales of the Dying
>Earth or Wolfe's There are Doors.  I'm intrigued as to the Vance work to
>see how it influenced the Urth novels, but have never read any Vance
>before.  I also have never read any Wolfe other than the Urth/LS/SS cycle,
>so don't know what to expect from There are Doors.  Any recommendations or
>views on these books from the list?

My recommendation is that you read Jack Vance first. Wolfe is wonderful, of 
course, but it is nice to branch out once in a while.  Also, if you like 
Vance's _Dying Earth_, you'll probably like the rest of his stuff, and 
there is quite a bit of it. Then you'll have something to read when you run 
out of Wolfe.

I am a big fan of Jack Vance, but I feel it is only fair to warn you that 
if you are expecting the same intellectual work out that Wolfe gives you, 
you will be disappointed. But Vance is one of the better writers in SF; he 
certainly has his own unmistakable voice. If you expect to see a lot of 
direct influence from _Dying Earth_ to _New/Long/Short Sun_, you may also 
be disappointed. I would say that the influences are of mood and (very 
broadly) setting, rather than specific persons, places or things.

But, if you are willing to except Vance on his own terms and not as 
Wolfe-lite, I'll think you'll find a lot to like.


William Ansley


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