Another of the greats is gone: Jack Vance dead at 96
Sad news here for any old school SF and fantasy fans: Jack Vance just died.
And now I'm wondering how many people reading this are going, "Who?"
Jack was one of the 'second tier' SF and fantasy authors* from the 40's right down to the 90's. He wrote some utterly magnificent works, with my favorite definitely being his Dying Earth cycle, which invented the whole concept of 'Vancian' magic. (To say nothing of ioun stones.) So really, without him**, D&D would have never existed. He also wrote the epic Tschai/Planet of Adventure series, which I loved.
Thanks for everything, Mister Vance.
* -- Like Poul Anderson, Andre Norton, Henry Kuttner, C.L. Moore, Leigh Brackett, and Ed Hamilton to list just a few, a very few, names.
** -- And admittedly a lot of other people, but it was mainly Vance, Fritz Leiber, Poul Anderson, and Tolkien who played the major roles in inspiring early D&D.
And now I'm wondering how many people reading this are going, "Who?"
Jack was one of the 'second tier' SF and fantasy authors* from the 40's right down to the 90's. He wrote some utterly magnificent works, with my favorite definitely being his Dying Earth cycle, which invented the whole concept of 'Vancian' magic. (To say nothing of ioun stones.) So really, without him**, D&D would have never existed. He also wrote the epic Tschai/Planet of Adventure series, which I loved.
Thanks for everything, Mister Vance.
* -- Like Poul Anderson, Andre Norton, Henry Kuttner, C.L. Moore, Leigh Brackett, and Ed Hamilton to list just a few, a very few, names.
** -- And admittedly a lot of other people, but it was mainly Vance, Fritz Leiber, Poul Anderson, and Tolkien who played the major roles in inspiring early D&D.