Short Stories/Novellas

Subterranean Press is pleased to announce a small limited edition of the rare novella by Jack Vance that was eventually expanded into his novel Blue World. The Kragen has been out of print for nearly twenty years, with the exception of its appearance in the Vance Integral Edition, a set of volumes published over the past few years that carried a cover price of $1500, for the least expensive edition alone. Here's your chance to acquire a Vance limited at a bargain price, and cast your eyes upon a novella rarely seen since its original appearance in 1969.

Wilbur Murphy sought romance, excitement, and an impossible Horseman of Space. With polite smiles, the planet frustrated him at every turn - until he found them all the hard way! A classic science fiction story originally published in the "If Worlds of Science Fiction" in July, 1953. Includes a detailed "About the Author" and a selected bibliography.

Samuel Langtry stumbles on the secret of interstellar propulsion, and his offspring follow strands of humanity which leave Earth for far planets. Many generations later, earthly man is regarded as a less-developed subspecies of the race, after distant populations mutate and evolve on new worlds. Langtry’s successors tyrannize people of Earth by rationing access to the drive technology, limiting freedom and access to resources. Paddy Blackthorn is a proud Irish brawler, a spirited outlaw affronted by the humiliation of his race—not averse to making a fortune for himself! The Sons of Langtry carry bands of gold bearing information about the design, and these Paddy determines to steal, if it costs his life. He would not survive long without the cool wits and intelligence of dark-haired Fay Bursill, special Earth Agent. From planet to planet, Paddy and Fay seek the design, evading capture, and torture in the hideous Koton nerve-suits. On planet Koto, their luck runs out. The Rapparee was first published in 1950 as The Five Gold Bands , and in 1953 as The Space Pirate . The Rapparee is Volume 3 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 Each book bears a facsimile of theauthor's signature and a previously-unpublished photograph, chosen from family archives for the period the book was written.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

Humankind has dominated the world Pangborn for sixteen-hundred years. Jinxmen use powerful telepathy as a weapon—but when the indigenous First Folk fight to win Pangborn back, their weapons may be superior. Cover art by C. Michael Taylor

It may be that somebody will be entertained by the account of this happy fiasco. It might amuse a friend or an enemy to read how I gradually learnt from the truth of some stray legend or from the falsehood of some dominant philosophy, things that I might have learnt from my catechism—if I had ever learnt it. There may or may not be some entertainment in reading how I found at last in an anarchist club or a Babylonian temple what I might have found in the nearest parish church. If any one is entertained by learning how the flowers of the field or the phrases in an omnibus, the accidents of politics or the pains of youth came together in a certain order to produce a certain conviction of Christian orthodoxy, he may possibly read this book.