Comments on: The look of Vance…

By: norah gaughan

norah gaughan — Sat, 09 Sep 2006 01:12:45 +0000

I think Mom probably owns those reprint rights, but who knows!

By: Steve Sherman

Steve Sherman — Sun, 11 Jun 2006 08:06:13 +0000

I think there is no doubt that the Gaughan illos contributed to the reception of the Galaxy appearance of The Dragon Masters, but I have to agree with Paul Rhoads’ characterization of them.

For the VIE, Paul executed a series of drawings of the dragons, based on Jack’s own highly detailed descriptions of them, in a long letter that the VIE discovered in the Jack Vance collection at the Mugar Memorial Library’s Special Collections at Boston University. His modesty in neglecting to mention this fact, while in other contexts commendable, denies the editors of this anthology the opportunity to consider using them. I wish with this post to remedy the omission. I hope you will seriously consider using them.

By: David B. Williams

David B. Williams — Mon, 05 Jun 2006 16:33:35 +0000

Jack himself gives credit to Gaughan’s Dragon Masters illos for calling attention to the story and boosting its Hugo Award prospects. But if you illustrate one (or two) stories, what do you do with the rest? I suppose I suffer the defect of inane consistency, but will the book be “a treasury of” or “an illustrated treasury of”.

By: Paul Rhoads

Paul Rhoads — Thu, 01 Jun 2006 16:21:14 +0000

The Gaughan illustrations have personality and a charm of their own, but they play fast and loose with the story and are highly stylized in a now altogether dated way. I am perplexed by the enthusiasm they inspire in some people.

By: Mark Stackpole

Mark Stackpole — Wed, 24 May 2006 22:53:59 +0000

If there is any way to reprint Gaughan’s illustrations from Galaxy to “The Dragon Masters” for the Vance edition, please do so. I think “The Dragon Masters”‘s Hugo award was as much for the art (including the map on the title page) as the story.

Speaking of art, Kelly Freas’ illustrations to “The Miracle Workers” would be fun to include as well – particularly the one featuring portraits of JW Campbell, Randall Garrett & Robert Silverberg.

Don’t let anyone pursuade you otherwise – “Dodkin’s Job” (pace Dozois) is a mandatory item for the Treasury.

By: Russell Letson

Russell Letson — Wed, 24 May 2006 22:34:29 +0000

I think the interior illustrations for Dragon Masters would recycle pretty well–better, I suspect, than those for The Last Castle. There are a couple larger ones (a battle scene with dragon types labelled and “Basic on Mount”) that are particuarlyl striking.

I wonder whether Phyllis and Alex Eisenstein (who put together the stunning Chicon illustration retrospective a few years back) might know who has the rights and maybe even the originals.