This collection contains "unpublished" work of SFWA Grandmaster Jack Vance, some rough, some well-developed. Previously released only in Volume 44 of the Vance Integral Edition, contents include proposals for screenplays (Clang, The Magnificent Red-hot Jazzing Seven), and outlines for novels (The STARK, Cat Island, a third Joe Bain novel titled The Genesee Slough Murders, The Telephone was Ringing in the Dark, and the wondrously atmospheric Wild Thyme and Violets).
Also:
Dream Castle, a 1963 rewrite of 1946's I'll Build Your Dream Castle, for Groff Conklin's anthology Great Stories of Space Travel.
The Kragen (Fantastic 1964), a fully-developed story, later expanded to become The Blue World.
Guyal of Sfere, a 1970 version of the final story of The Dying Earth (Mazirian the Magician), rewritten for Eight Fantasms and Magics. Is Vance's later style better suited to this story than the lush, voluptuous original of the 1940s? You decide.
Last but not least is an insightful foreword written by Paul Rhoads, Editor-in-Chief of the Vance Integral Edition. Mr. Rhoads discusses some of the technical problems encountered during the V.I.E. project, and brings his valuable perspective to each piece in turn-elucidating a perceptual background which provides the perfect context for these gems within the broad expanse of Jack Vance's extraordinary oeuvre.
Wild Thyme and Violets and Other Unpublished Works is Volume 61 of the Spatterlight Press Signature Series. Released in the centenary of the author's birth, this handsome new collectionis based upon the prestigious Vance Integral Edition. Select volumes enjoyup-to-date maps, and many are graced with freshly-written forewords contributedby a distinguished group of authors. Each book bears a facsimile of theauthor's signature and a previously-unpublished photograph, chosen from family archives for the period the book was written. These uniquefeatures will be appreciated by all, from seasoned Vance collector to new reader sampling the spectrum of this author's influential work forthe first time.
- John Vance II
