Jack vance

ALL THREE ALASTOR NOVELS IN ONE VOLUME The Alastor Cluster: A sprawling system of thirty thousand live stars and three thousand inhabited planets, the cluster is ruled by the mysterious Connatic. He sees all and knows all, but with five trillion people contained within such far-flung boundaries, sooner or later something is bound to give. Each story is centered on a particular world of Alastor, each with its own peculiar customs, a staple of Jack Vance's writings: Trullion: Alastor 2262 (first published in 1973), Marune: Alastor 933 (1975), and Wyst: Alastor 1716 (1978).

Grand Master Jack Vance's haunting tale of the search for identity across time and space.

ALL FOUR PLANET OF ADVENTURE NOVELS IN ONE VOLUME Stranded on the distant planet of Tschai, young Adam Reith is the sole survivor of a space mission who discovers the world inhabited - not only by warring alien cultures, but human slaves as well, taken early in Earth's history. Reith must find a way off the planet to warn Earth of Tschai's deadly existence. Against a backdrop of baroque cities, sumptuous palaces and riotous inns, Reith will encounter deadly wastrels and murderous aliens, dastardly villains and conniving scoundrels. And always a random beauty in need of rescue...

Throy (Book 3 of 3, The Cadwal Chronicles, Russian translation) The Conservancy of Cadwal has a new Charter - thanks to the courage of Glawen Clattuc and his beloved Wayness Tamm. But this has not brought peace to the people of Cadwal - instead, it has polarized them. Led by exiles, anti-Conservancy forces continue work to open Cadwal to commercial exploitation, while a new extremist faction seeks to restore Cadwal to entirely natural condition. In the middle are the governors of the planet, and their police force. Newly-promoted Commander Glawen Clattuc is charged with apprehending the conspirators wherever they might flee, but he also has a personal agenda. After twenty years, he will solve the mystery of his mother's death. Cadwal is a planet of extraordinary beauty. To protect it, the "Naturalist Society" has set up a Charter which allows only limited settlement on the planet in order to enforce the laws of the Conservancy. These laws forbid extensive human habitations, mining and other exploitation activities. Only six "Agents" and their staff are allowed to reside permanently on the planet: their main function is to prevent other humans from establishing residence, although tourists are allowed in specially designed lodges, overlooking sites of natural beauty and interest.

Araminta Station (Book 1 of 3, The Cadwal Chronicles, Russian translation) At the remote end of Mircea's Wisp, far out on the galaxy's Perseid Arm, is the Purple Rose System, containing the three stars Lorca, Sing and Syrene. Around Syrene swings the spectacular planet Cadwal, which the now defunct Naturalist Society of Earth long ago chartered to forever protect from exploitation. Cadwal is administered from Araminta Station - where young Glawen Clattuc wonders what the future may hold for him in the hierarchic, constrained society of Cadwal. His budding relationship with the lovely Sessily Veder ends with her mysterious disappearance, casting Glawen into a strange adventure, and the unraveling of a potent conspiracy. Cadwal is a planet of extraordinary beauty. To protect it, the "Naturalist Society" has set up a Charter which allows only limited settlement on the planet in order to enforce the laws of the Conservancy. These laws forbid extensive human habitations, mining and other exploitation activities. Only six "Agents" and their staff are allowed to reside permanently on the planet: their main function is to prevent other humans from establishing residence, although tourists are allowed in specially designed lodges, overlooking sites of natural beauty and interest.

Ecce and Old Earth (Book 2 of 3, The Cadwal Chronicles, Russian translation) The planet Cadwal has an ecosystem unique in the human-explored galaxy. A thousand years past it was set aside as a natural preserve, protected by law and covenant against colonization and exploitation. But there is a conspiracy to open the planet and its rich resources to commerce. Glawen Clattuc must find who is behind the sabotage, and bring them to justice - but discovers that his own family is involved Ancient crimes will be discovered, along with the key to the crisis which threatens Cadwal. Cadwal is a planet of extraordinary beauty. To protect it, the "Naturalist Society" has set up a Charter which allows only limited settlement on the planet in order to enforce the laws of the Conservancy. These laws forbid extensive human habitations, mining and other exploitation activities. Only six "Agents" and their staff are allowed to reside permanently on the planet: their main function is to prevent other humans from establishing residence, although tourists are allowed in specially designed lodges, overlooking sites of natural beauty and interest.

Wyst: Alastor 1716 (Russian translation) The Alastor Cluster is made up of thirty thousand inhabited planets whose sole protector of law is the mysterious Connatic. On Wyst, world 1716 of the Cluster, can be found a Utopia - or so it seems; in one great city live millions of people, sharing alike, working in absolute equality for just a few hours a week. But there is something decidedly strange about it all... It is a tumultuous destiny of a young and naive artist, Jantiff Ravensroke, to discover the sinister truth.

Trullion: Alastor 2262 (Russian translation) Trullion - world 2262 of the Alastor Cluster - is a water-world of fens, mists, and idyllic islands set in clear oceans whose teeming richness provides food for the taking. The Trill are a carefree and easy-living people, but violence enters their lives during raids of the Starmenters, freebooting galactic pirates who live short, perilous lives in pursuit of adventure, rape and pillage. Then there's the planet-wide game of hussade - when the Trill's passion for gambling drives them to risk all - even life itself, on the hazardous water-chessboard gaming fields. Their prize? The beautiful sheirlmaiden...

Marune: Alastor 933 (Russian translation) From his fabulous palace on Numenes, the Connatic rules the sprawling Alastor Cluster, and tracks the doings of each of his trillion or more subjects. But there is one man he knows nothing about; the past life of the wanderer called Pardero is a complete mystery. Pardero himself has two goals: first, to find out who he is, then to find his enemy - the person who stole his memory. He discovers that his home is the mysterious Marune, a planet lit by four shifting suns, and Pardero makes his way there - to be hailed as the Kaiark Efraim, ruler of the shadowed realm. Uncovering his lost identity had been comparatively simple, but finding his sworn enemy would be more difficult...

Madouc (Book 3 of 3 in Lyonesse series, Russian translation) The World Fantasy Award - winning third volume of the LYONESSE trilogy brings attention to the faerie changeling Madouc. Where princess Suldrun once meekly endured the proprieties of Castle Haidion, Madouc defends herself with rotten fruit. Vexed, King Casmir arranges a contest to marry her off, but Madouc has other ideas, and enlists the stableboy "Sir Pom-pom" on an impromptu quest to find her real father. During their travels, they encounter swindlers, faeries, trolls, ogres, a knight in search of his youth, and a relatively pedestrian item known as the Holy Grail. As the sorcerers Shimrod and Murgen investigate portents of cataclysm in the world of magic, Casmir plans a murder that will bring all the lands under his iron rule; however, his ambitions will be complicated by one small but important oversight - he's failed to allow for Madouc

Suldrun's Garden (Book 1 of 3 in Lyonesse series, Russian translation) A monument of fantastic literature to stand beside such classics as Dune and The Lord of the Rings, Lyonesse evokes the Elder Isles, a land of pre-Arthurian myth now lost beneath the Atlantic, where powerful sorcerers, aloof faeries, stalwart champions, and nobles eccentric, magnanimous, and cruel pursue intrigue among their separate worlds. In this first book of the trilogy, Suldrun's Garden, Prince Aillas of Troicinet is betrayed on his first diplomatic voyage and cast into the sea. Before he redeems his birthright, he must pass the breadth of Hybras Isle as prisoner, vagabond, and slave, an acquaintance of faeries, wizards, and errant knights, and lover to a sad and beautiful girl whose fate sets his undying hatred for her tyrannical father - Casmir, King of Lyonesse.

The Green Pearl (Book 2 of 3 in Lyonesse series, Russian translation) In this second volume of the Lyonesse trilogy, THE GREEN PEARL, King Aillas of Troicinet defends the peace of the Elder Isles against both the Ska marauders who once enslaved him, and the wicked King Casmir. While organizing the unruly barons in the frontiers of his land, Aillas goes out of his way to capture the lovely Ska noblewoman who once stung him with her disregard. When he gets separated from his men, his dream of forcing the lady's recognition becomes the toil of dragging an obstreperous captive across lands governed by Casmir's henchmen. Meanwhile, the world of magic has gone on the move. The concentrated malice of the witch Desmei has manifested as a green pearl, breeding lust and envy and death; and a sorcerer in Casmir's employ abducts the princess Glyneth, in a bid to draw Aillas and friends on a hopeless rescue mission across a bizarre and deadly alternate world.

The Anome (Book 1 of 3 in Durdane series, Russian translation) The land of Shant on the planet Durdane is ruled by a purposely anonymous dictator called the Anome or Faceless Man. He maintains control by virtue of the torc, a ring of explosive placed around the neck of every adult in Shant. The minstrel Gastel Etzwane lives in Shant - a country of cantons, each independently dictating its own law and customs. The enforcement of law is simple, quick, and inevitable: death by decapitation, from an explosive torc clamped around each citizen's neck by authority of a single man, the Anome. For millennia Anomes have ruled Shant, dealing death as they see fit - and none dares defy them, until Gastel Etzwane risks his head to expose the Anome's identity and to end the tyranny of these faceless men forever.

The Pnume (Book 4 of 4 in Tschai series, Russian translation) The Pnume are native to Tschai, living underground in a vast network of caverns with their human slave-species, the Pnumekin. Historians of Tschai, the Pnume collect its past with scholarly disinterest; they hear rumors of Adam Reith - a man who claims to come from another planet, named Earth - and they want him for permanent display in Foreverness, museum of Tschai life Reith must survive the Pnume tunnels, if he is ever to return to Earth. Tschai is a planet orbiting the star Carina 4269, 212 light-years from Earth. It is populated by three alien, mutually hostile species; the displaced, native Pnume; and various human races, some of whom live as slaves or clients of the aliens. Each of the four novels relates Reith's adventures with one of the species, and is named after that species.

The Wankh (Book 2 of 4 in Tschai series, Russian translation) After crashing on Tschai, Adam Reith's scout ship is impossibly damaged. Reith must find another vessel to return to Earth. Having rescued the beautiful Ylin-Ylan, Reith is assured of assistance from her father if he delivers her back to Cath; but as events unfold, he is forced to make a dangerous choice. Inevitably he must risk everything against the enigmatic Wankh - and their devious human servants, the Wankhmen. Tschai is a planet orbiting the star Carina 4269, 212 light-years from Earth. It is populated by three alien, mutually hostile species; the displaced, native Pnume; and various human races, some of whom live as slaves or clients of the aliens. Each of the four novels relates Reith's adventures with one of the species, and is named after that species.

The Brave Free Men (Book 2 of 3 in Durdane series, Russian translation) The land of Shant on the planet Durdane is ruled by a purposely anonymous dictator called the Anome or Faceless Man. He maintains control by virtue of the torc, a ring of explosive placed around the neck of every adult in Shant. Where the Anomes once ruled stands young Gastel Etzwane, facing a mortal threat to his homeland. Hoards of red Roguskhoi, armed by an unknown enemy, have swarmed out of the southern bogs to slaughter men, despoil women, and spread waves of terror. Through the peace imposed by the tyranny of the Anomes, men of Shant have lost the art of weaponry and war. Now Gastel must revive those skills to forge Shant's citizens into an army: an army of the free.

The Dirdir (Book 3 of 4 in Tschai series, Russian translation) Adam Reith has failed twice to acquire a spaceship. He decides to build a ship from scratch, but this requires vast resources; his only hope is to win valuable sequins away from the terrifying realm of the Carabas, hunting preserve of the Dirdir. Even then, his greatest adversary is the cunning, monstrous Aila Woudiver... Tschai is a planet orbiting the star Carina 4269, 212 light-years from Earth. It is populated by three alien, mutually hostile species; the displaced, native Pnume; and various human races, some of whom live as slaves or clients of the aliens. Each of the four novels relates Reith's adventures with one of the species, and is named after that species.

The Chasch (Book 1 of 4 in Tschai series, Russian translation) The starship Explorator IV is destroyed after entering orbit around the planet Tschai. Adam Reith's scout ship is en route to the surface when the attack occurs, and is damaged in the explosion; Reith crash-lands and is separated from his ship. He finds a world full of violence, where four non-human races rule: the Chasch, the Dirdir, the Wankh, and the Pnume. Humans are present, but dominated by the other races. In this volume Reith sets out to regain his scout ship, and makes his way to Dadiche, ruled by the Blue Chasch and their human servants. Along the way he finds loyal friends, and challenges social inequities with the same aplomb that he rescues fair maidens - like the lovely Ylin Ylan, Flower of Cath. Tschai is a planet orbiting the star Carina 4269, 212 light-years from Earth. It is populated by three alien, mutually hostile species, the displaced, native Pnume, and various human races, some of whom live as slaves or clients of the aliens. Each of the four novels relates Reith's adventures with one of the species, and is named after that species.

The Asutra (Book 3 of 3 in Durdane series, Russian translation) The land of Shant on the planet Durdane is ruled by a purposely anonymous dictator called the Anome or Faceless Man. He maintains control by virtue of the torc, a ring of explosive placed around the neck of every adult in Shan't. Gastel Etzwane and his army of Brave Free Men have driven the savage Roguskhoi from Durdane, only to discover that Durdane is but one tiny front - a testing ground - for an implacable enemy intent on subjugating all the worlds of man. Forced to fight a war that is not their own, Gastel and his people are in no position to resist, but must find a way to escape a slave army, and defeat the Asutra