Book description
In the Foreword, writing fifty years ago, the author describes his
vision of a new space age; he predicts that by 1985 the age of space
piracy will begin and that a Space Navy will be established, speculating
that some of his younger readers might participate: "I hope that
none of you serve with the pirates .. The pay might not be so good in
the Space Navy, but you'll live longer". Jack Vance (1916 - )
Jack Vance was born in 1916 and studied mining, engineering and
journalism at the University of California. During the Second World War
he served in the merchant navy and was torpedoed twice. He started
contributing stories to the pulp magazines in the mid 1940s and
published his first book, The Dying Earth, in 1950. Among his many books
are The Dragon Masters, for which he won his first Hugo Award, Big
Planet, The Anome, and the Lyonesse sequence. He has won the Hugo,
Nebula and World Fantasy Awards, amongst others, and in 1997 was named a
Grand Master by the Science Fiction Writers of America.
