“The Dogtown Tourist Agency” by Jack Vance

This is the first of the two Miro Hetzel outer space detective stories, and originally appeared in the hyperbolically advertized anthology Epoch, where I read it.  In my paperback edition of Epoch “The Dogtown Tourist Agency” takes up 102 pages; in the ad for Epoch on the last page of my edition of Poul Anderson’s Trader to the Stars it is touted as “a complete novel.”

Hetzel is an “effectuator” in the Gaean Reach, the vast human space empire which is the setting for many of Vance’s works.  Hetzel is not a very vivid or memorable character, he is just the detective guy who, for hire, carries out investigations, so readers hoping to encounter an unforgettable character like Cugel the Clever or a protagonist driven by deep personal psychological or political issues, like Kirth Gerson or Glawen Clattuc, will be disappointed.

The story takes place on Maz, a planet at the intersection of three space empires--the human Gaean Reach, and the empires of two different species of inscrutable aliens.  The natives of Maz are a violent warrior race whose fighters know no fear; they have only an Iron Age technology, but if they were given access to modern weapons and space ships they would pose a threat to all three space empires.  So, the three space empires all have representatives on Maz, to make sure nobody smuggles weapons to the natives or hires them as mercenaries.  A small ramshackle human town known as “Dogtown” that caters to human tourists sits near the official building where the delegations of the three space empires meet.

        

Hetzel has come to Maz at the behest of a major manufacturer of precision electronics.   A new competitor has appeared, selling goods equal in quality to those of the established firms, but at lower prices.  How this is possible is a mystery, as is the location of the new firm, though clues indicate the items are secretly shipped from Maz.  Are the items being sneaked into the Gaean Reach from one of the alien civilizations, or built on Maz by a native labor force at the direction of some unknown agent?  Hetzel is to solve the mystery, and, if possible, put an end to this unwanted competition.

Once on Maz, Hetzel gets involved in all manner of strange and terrible events including murders, kidnappings and wars.  Tragedy strikes every person and group in the story, except Hetzel himself, who accomplishes his mission and accepts a generous fee.

This is an entertaining story, with a few laughs here and there, an unfolding mystery, bizarre crimes, and a weird alien race which Vance succeeds in making both very unlike any human culture, but also reminiscent of Earth nonwestern cultures whose traditional way of life has been shaken by contact with the wealth and values of the West.  Another solid tale from Vance that I do not hesitate to recommend.

"Blooded on Arachne" by Michael Bishop

Way back in the 1980s, when I was in my teens, I read Michael Bishop’s novel No Enemy But Time, which is about a guy who goes back in time and has sex with a pre-human hominid.  I have forgotten many of the things I have read over the course of my life, but parts of No Enemy But Time remained vivid in my mind for decades, long after the title of the book and its author's name had faded away.  Recently a little internet research revealed the source of these outre memories, and I’ve been thinking I should read No Enemy But Time again, but it doesn’t seem to be at any of the libraries around here.

Anyway, Michael Bishop is represented in the ambitious anthology Epoch with the story “Blooded on Arachne.”  I have to admit that, based on the title and my limited experience with Bishop's work, I thought maybe this was a story about a guy having sex with a giant spider.  Instead, it is about the rite of passage/final exam that sixteen year old trainee space pilots must endure on a planet inhabited by giant spiders.  This planet, Arachne, is very windy, and once a year a swarm of baby giant spiders (each the size of a pony or horse, I guess) stands on a cliff, where each shoots a web canopy into the air which acts like a balloon or kite, so all the spiderlings are then carried aloft.  This vast cloud of spiders flies for some days; many of the spiders die or get lost during the flight.  The challenge which the space pilot candidate must overcome is to hitch a ride with the flying spiderlings, an arduous ordeal.

This is a decent adventure story, and Bishop adds some emotional heft to the proceedings, effectively conveying the changing feelings of the teenage pilot candidate as he endures the difficult test.  There is also an allusion to Alexander of Macedon which all you classical scholars will enjoy.  An above average story, then, which I feel comfortable recommending.  I will definitely keep an eye open for other Michael Bishop stories.

“For All the Poor Folks at Picketwire” by R. A. Lafferty

A few days ago I was very pleased to find the anthology Epoch in a Missouri flea market.  Edited by Roger Elwood and Robert Silverberg and published in 1975, Epoch, which contains 24 original stories, purports to be a sample of “the state of the art in science fiction” and “the definitive SF book of this decade.”   The front and back covers are full of such charming declarations (“the culmination of centuries of imagination”?!) 

Anyway, the first story I have read in Epoch is R. A. Lafferty’s “For All the Poor Folks at Picketwire.”  This is another folksy downhome tall tale adorned with jokes that didn’t make me laugh.  I don’t really care for this sort of thing, but I try to keep an open mind and give writers a chance to grow on me.  (I always have in the back of my mind the knowledge that I was unimpressed by the first books I read by Gene Wolfe and Jack Vance, both of whom I now consider among my very favorite writers.)  This story is about a backwoods inventor, a super genius who doesn’t care about money.  All his life he has dreamed of being able to develop and manufacture items in a perfectly neutral environment, one without gravity, temperature, UV rays, etc. 

If I am interpreting the clues correctly, the inventor makes a deal with the Devil (or maybe some demon or angel) who allows him to start inventing and manufacturing in Purgatory, with a legion of kobolds and goblins as workmen – these kobolds and goblins are, in fact, the souls of the dead who are working off their sins.  The inventor’s big new invention is edible rocks and clay, which is perhaps some Christian symbolism which is escaping me.  Before the inventor got to Purgatory the kobolds and goblins were creating coal and petroleum.  The story includes allusions to Virgil and Dante; there is a Sibyl, for example, and Purgatory is accessible through caves on the Earth’s surface. 

Immediately after reading “For All the Poor Folks at Picketwire,” I thought it deserved to be ranked as merely average, but the more I think about it, the more I like it.  The story is a sort of puzzle that I am still trying to figure out, which is a good sign that it was a worthwhile read.  So I’ll have to give “For All the Poor Folks at Picketwire,” a thumbs up and continue scrounging the libraries, used bookstores and flea markets of the Middle West for the stories of R. A. Lafferty.