Big Planet
Encyclopedia
Big Planet is the first of two stand-alone science fiction
novels by Jack Vance
(the other being Showboat World
) which share the same setting: an immense, but metal-poor and backward world called Big Planet.
Big Planet was first published in Startling Stories
(vol. 27 no. 2, September 1952
), then cut and reissued in 1957
by Avalon Books
. It was later issued as part of Ace double novel D-295, paired with Vance's Slaves of the Klau. It was further cut in 1958
. The text was restored in 1978
.
Investigators from Earth, headed by protagonist Claude Glystra, arrive to start putting things right – to stop the importation of arms and halt Big Planet's slave trade – only to have their starship sabotaged. It crashes near a quaint village called Jubilith, and Glystra, one of the survivors, awakens to the jewel-bright morning light of a flowery mountain slope--with a view "vast beyond Earthly conception." Unfortunately, Jubilith is near the territory of Charley Lysidder, the Bajarnum of Beaujolais, one of the worst and most ambitious of tyrants. The survivors attempt to reach the only safe spot on Big Planet, Earth Enclave, forty thousand miles away. Already at odds with each other, the dwindling team begins to revert to the social level of the rest of Big Planet as Lysidder tries to pick them off.
Among the many societies benign or bizarre that Glystra and his companions encounter along the wind-driven monoline (their version of the yellow brick road
), is the quasi-utopian society of Kirstendale. At first, it appears to be based on snobbish principles, but an odd twist reveals it to be surprisingly egalitarian.
Science fiction
Science fiction is a genre of fiction dealing with imaginary but more or less plausible content such as future settings, futuristic science and technology, space travel, aliens, and paranormal abilities...
novels by Jack Vance
Jack Vance
John Holbrook Vance is an American mystery, fantasy and science fiction author. Most of his work has been published under the name Jack Vance. Vance has published 11 mysteries as John Holbrook Vance and 3 as Ellery Queen...
(the other being Showboat World
Showboat World
Showboat World , written in 1975, is the second, stand-alone novel in a pair of science fiction novels by Jack Vance that share the same setting, a backward, lawless, metal-poor world called Big Planet.-Plot summary:Showboat World follows the...
) which share the same setting: an immense, but metal-poor and backward world called Big Planet.
Big Planet was first published in Startling Stories
Startling Stories
Startling Stories was an American pulp science fiction magazine, published from 1939 to 1955 by Standard Magazines. It was initially edited by Mort Weisinger, who was also the editor of Thrilling Wonder Stories, Standard's other science fiction title. Startling ran a lead novel in every issue;...
(vol. 27 no. 2, September 1952
1952 in literature
The year 1952, in literature involved some significant events and new literary publications.-Events:*J. L. Carr takes over as headmaster of Highfields Primary School, Kettering, which will eventually furnish the subject matter for his novel, The Harpole Report.*November 25 - Agatha Christie's play...
), then cut and reissued in 1957
1957 in literature
The year 1957 in literature involved some significant events and new books.-Events:* Lawrence Durrell publishes the first volume of The Alexandria Quartet. The final of the four volumes will be published in 1960....
by Avalon Books
Avalon Books
Avalon Books was a New York-based specialty science fiction publisher active from the mid 1950s through the late 1960s. It issued much of the hardcover material in the genre during the period, particularly in the earlier portion...
. It was later issued as part of Ace double novel D-295, paired with Vance's Slaves of the Klau. It was further cut in 1958
1958 in literature
The year 1958 in literature involved some significant events and new books.-Events:*August 18 - Vladimir Nabokov's controversial novel Lolita is published in United States.*First volume of The Civil War by Shelby Foote is published....
. The text was restored in 1978
1978 in literature
The year 1978 in literature involved some significant events and new books.-Events:*The Bookseller/Diagram Prize for Oddest Title of the Year, a humorous award given annually to books with unusual titles is created. The first winner was Proceedings of the Second International Workshop on Nude...
.
Plot summary
Big Planet had been colonized hundreds of years prior to the start of the novel by misfits, faddists, cultists and anti-government advocates from Earth. It devolved into a large number of technologically backward societies, many of them ruled by petty tyrants and prey to internecine warfare.Investigators from Earth, headed by protagonist Claude Glystra, arrive to start putting things right – to stop the importation of arms and halt Big Planet's slave trade – only to have their starship sabotaged. It crashes near a quaint village called Jubilith, and Glystra, one of the survivors, awakens to the jewel-bright morning light of a flowery mountain slope--with a view "vast beyond Earthly conception." Unfortunately, Jubilith is near the territory of Charley Lysidder, the Bajarnum of Beaujolais, one of the worst and most ambitious of tyrants. The survivors attempt to reach the only safe spot on Big Planet, Earth Enclave, forty thousand miles away. Already at odds with each other, the dwindling team begins to revert to the social level of the rest of Big Planet as Lysidder tries to pick them off.
Among the many societies benign or bizarre that Glystra and his companions encounter along the wind-driven monoline (their version of the yellow brick road
Yellow brick road
The road of yellow brick is an element in the novel The Wonderful Wizard of Oz by L. Frank Baum, with additional such roads appearing in The Marvelous Land of Oz and The Patchwork Girl of Oz...
), is the quasi-utopian society of Kirstendale. At first, it appears to be based on snobbish principles, but an odd twist reveals it to be surprisingly egalitarian.
Literary significance & criticism
According to science fiction scholar Nick Gevers, Big Planetwas instrumental in the development of the planetary romance form...perhaps the first attempt at a convincingly complete imaginary world in genre s-f....[T]he conviction persists that it is not the characters who serve as the book's protagonists, but rather Big Planet itself.http://www.sfsite.com/08b/bp87.htm
External links
- List of editions at JackVance.com, with some cover scans
- Positive review by Nick GeversNick GeversNick Gevers is a South African science fiction editor and critic, whose work has appeared in The Washington Post Book World, Interzone, Scifi.com, SF Site, The New York Review of Science Fiction and Nova Express...
- More critical review by John Grant
- Quotes dealing with fictional "monoline" at Technovelgy