Jack of Shadows
Encyclopedia
Jack of Shadows is a novel
combining elements of both science fiction
and fantasy
written by American author Roger Zelazny
. According to him, the name of the book (but not the titular character) was a homage to Jack Vance
. In his introduction to the novel he mentioned that he tried to capture some of the exotic landscapes so frequent in Vance's work. Zelazny wrote it in first draft, no rewrites. The novel was serialized in F&SF in 1971 and published in book form that same year. It was nominated for a 1972 Hugo Award
and finished #4 in the 1972 Locus Poll for Best Novel.
The text of the serialization and the published book are slightly different. A copy-editing error garbled a conversation between Jack and Morningstar in chapter 6; the correct version appeared in the original magazine appearance and has been reprinted on pages 511-512 of The Collected Stories of Roger Zelazny, Volume 3: This Mortal Mountain, NESFA Press, 2009.
. Thus one side of the planet
is always in light, and the other in darkness. Science
rules on the dayside, while magic
holds sway in the night.
Powerful magical entities live on the night side of the planet, and for the most part the entities' magical powers emanate from distinct loci. Jack of Shadows (a.k.a. Shadowjack), the main character, is unique among the magical beings in that he draws his power not from a physical location but from shadow
itself. He is nearly incapacitated in complete light or complete darkness, but given access to even a small area of shadow, his potency is unmatched.
Jack's only friend, the creature Morningstar, is punished by being trapped in stone at the edge of the night, to be released when dawn comes. His torso and head protrude from the rock, and he awaits the sun that will never rise.
Jack seeks "The Key That Was Lost," Kolwynia. The Key itself and the consequences of its use parallel Jack's progress in his own endeavors. Ultimately, the Key will be responsible for Jack's salvation and his doom.
Fleeing the dark side, Jack gets access to a computer and uses it to recover Kolwynia. This makes him unbeatable, but not all-powerful. Having made a mess of ruling with his new powers, he seeks the advice of Morningstar, who advises him to destroy The Machine at the Heart of the World, which maintains the world's stability, and set it rotating.
The novel ends with Jack falling, perhaps to his death, but Morningstar has been freed by the world's turning and rushes to rescue him. The fate of this ambiguous hero is left untold, with Jack wondering, as he falls, if Morningstar will reach him in time.
received the novel unfavorably, noting that while the opening half was "minor Zelazny, quite enjoyable," the conclusion was "rather grim and ugly . . . [ultimately] dull." He concluded that, with the essential's of the hero's biography left unrevealed, "the whole thing seems rather pointless."
The Illustrated Roger Zelazny includes a short story, "Shadowjack", that is a prequel to the events of the novel. It is in graphic novel format and was illustrated by Gray Morrow
.
The Last Defender of Camelot
(1981, Underwood-Miller) reprints the tale "Shadowjack" but without the illustrations. This was in the Underwood-Miller edition of the collection, but not the Pocket Books version. It also appears in Last Exit to Babylon: Volume 4: The Collected Stories of Roger Zelazny, NESFA Press, 2009.
Wizards ed Bill Fawcett, Mayfair Games, 1983 contains the character biography entitled "Shadowjack." This was written by Roger Zelazny and details aspects of the character's history that were not in the novel or in the short story of the same name. It has also been reprinted in Last Exit to Babylon.
Shadowland was another prequel, written by Zelazny as the outline for an unproduced animated movie. It takes place prior to events of the novel and the short story, and describes how the strange half magic/half science world of Jack of Shadows came into existence. It was later developed and in production as a graphic novel before Zelazny died but the project was abandoned. The story first appears in The Road to Amber: Volume 6: The Collected Stories of Roger Zelazny, NESFA Press, 2009.
, Robert Calvert
, Simon King
and Simon House
, appears on the 1979 Hawkwind
album PXR5
.
In Daniel Keys Moran
’s novel, The Long Run, the protagonist Trent Castanaveras is rescued from a low Lunar orbit by a stealth spacecraft from the Spacefarers Collective called the "Jack of Shadows".
Novel
A novel is a book of long narrative in literary prose. The genre has historical roots both in the fields of the medieval and early modern romance and in the tradition of the novella. The latter supplied the present generic term in the late 18th century....
combining elements of both science fiction
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...
and fantasy
Fantasy
Fantasy is a genre of fiction that commonly uses magic and other supernatural phenomena as a primary element of plot, theme, or setting. Many works within the genre take place in imaginary worlds where magic is common...
written by American author Roger Zelazny
Roger Zelazny
Roger Joseph Zelazny was an American writer of fantasy and science fiction short stories and novels, best known for his The Chronicles of Amber series...
. According to him, the name of the book (but not the titular character) was a homage to 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...
. In his introduction to the novel he mentioned that he tried to capture some of the exotic landscapes so frequent in Vance's work. Zelazny wrote it in first draft, no rewrites. The novel was serialized in F&SF in 1971 and published in book form that same year. It was nominated for a 1972 Hugo Award
Hugo Award for Best Novel
The Hugo Awards are given every year by the World Science Fiction Society for the best science fiction or fantasy works and achievements of the previous year. The award is named after Hugo Gernsback, the founder of the pioneering science fiction magazine Amazing Stories, and was once officially...
and finished #4 in the 1972 Locus Poll for Best Novel.
The text of the serialization and the published book are slightly different. A copy-editing error garbled a conversation between Jack and Morningstar in chapter 6; the correct version appeared in the original magazine appearance and has been reprinted on pages 511-512 of The Collected Stories of Roger Zelazny, Volume 3: This Mortal Mountain, NESFA Press, 2009.
Plot summary
The novel is set in a world that is tidally lockedTidal locking
Tidal locking occurs when the gravitational gradient makes one side of an astronomical body always face another; for example, the same side of the Earth's Moon always faces the Earth. A tidally locked body takes just as long to rotate around its own axis as it does to revolve around its partner...
. Thus one side of the planet
Planet
A planet is a celestial body orbiting a star or stellar remnant that is massive enough to be rounded by its own gravity, is not massive enough to cause thermonuclear fusion, and has cleared its neighbouring region of planetesimals.The term planet is ancient, with ties to history, science,...
is always in light, and the other in darkness. Science
Science
Science is a systematic enterprise that builds and organizes knowledge in the form of testable explanations and predictions about the universe...
rules on the dayside, while magic
Magic (paranormal)
Magic is the claimed art of manipulating aspects of reality either by supernatural means or through knowledge of occult laws unknown to science. It is in contrast to science, in that science does not accept anything not subject to either direct or indirect observation, and subject to logical...
holds sway in the night.
Powerful magical entities live on the night side of the planet, and for the most part the entities' magical powers emanate from distinct loci. Jack of Shadows (a.k.a. Shadowjack), the main character, is unique among the magical beings in that he draws his power not from a physical location but from shadow
Shadow
A shadow is an area where direct light from a light source cannot reach due to obstruction by an object. It occupies all of the space behind an opaque object with light in front of it. The cross section of a shadow is a two-dimensional silhouette, or reverse projection of the object blocking the...
itself. He is nearly incapacitated in complete light or complete darkness, but given access to even a small area of shadow, his potency is unmatched.
Jack's only friend, the creature Morningstar, is punished by being trapped in stone at the edge of the night, to be released when dawn comes. His torso and head protrude from the rock, and he awaits the sun that will never rise.
Jack seeks "The Key That Was Lost," Kolwynia. The Key itself and the consequences of its use parallel Jack's progress in his own endeavors. Ultimately, the Key will be responsible for Jack's salvation and his doom.
Fleeing the dark side, Jack gets access to a computer and uses it to recover Kolwynia. This makes him unbeatable, but not all-powerful. Having made a mess of ruling with his new powers, he seeks the advice of Morningstar, who advises him to destroy The Machine at the Heart of the World, which maintains the world's stability, and set it rotating.
The novel ends with Jack falling, perhaps to his death, but Morningstar has been freed by the world's turning and rushes to rescue him. The fate of this ambiguous hero is left untold, with Jack wondering, as he falls, if Morningstar will reach him in time.
Reception
Lester del ReyLester del Rey
Lester del Rey was an American science fiction author and editor. Del Rey was the author of many of the Winston Science Fiction juvenile SF series, and the editor at Del Rey Books, the fantasy and science fiction branch of Ballantine Books, along with his fourth wife Judy-Lynn del Rey.-Birth...
received the novel unfavorably, noting that while the opening half was "minor Zelazny, quite enjoyable," the conclusion was "rather grim and ugly . . . [ultimately] dull." He concluded that, with the essential's of the hero's biography left unrevealed, "the whole thing seems rather pointless."
Additional stories of Jack of Shadows
Zelazny was pressured by fans to write a sequel but he declined, saying “I didn’t really intend to continue that one. I liked ending it with that sort of ambiguous ending.” Instead, he wrote several prequels:The Illustrated Roger Zelazny includes a short story, "Shadowjack", that is a prequel to the events of the novel. It is in graphic novel format and was illustrated by Gray Morrow
Gray Morrow
Dwight Graydon "Gray" Morrow was an American illustrator of paperback books and comics.-Biography:Born in Fort Wayne, Indiana, Morrow is best known as art director of Spider-Man between 1967 and 1970 and as illustrator of the syndicated Tarzan, Buck Rogers, Flash Gordon and Prince Valiant comic...
.
The Last Defender of Camelot
The Last Defender of Camelot
The Last Defender of Camelot is an anthology of short stories written by science fiction/fantasy writer Roger Zelazny.-Contents:This is a list of the short stories included in the 1980 edition...
(1981, Underwood-Miller) reprints the tale "Shadowjack" but without the illustrations. This was in the Underwood-Miller edition of the collection, but not the Pocket Books version. It also appears in Last Exit to Babylon: Volume 4: The Collected Stories of Roger Zelazny, NESFA Press, 2009.
Wizards ed Bill Fawcett, Mayfair Games, 1983 contains the character biography entitled "Shadowjack." This was written by Roger Zelazny and details aspects of the character's history that were not in the novel or in the short story of the same name. It has also been reprinted in Last Exit to Babylon.
Shadowland was another prequel, written by Zelazny as the outline for an unproduced animated movie. It takes place prior to events of the novel and the short story, and describes how the strange half magic/half science world of Jack of Shadows came into existence. It was later developed and in production as a graphic novel before Zelazny died but the project was abandoned. The story first appears in The Road to Amber: Volume 6: The Collected Stories of Roger Zelazny, NESFA Press, 2009.
Allusions and references in other works
A song, "Jack of Shadows", based on the novel and written by Dave BrockDave Brock
David Anthony "Dave" Brock is an English singer-songwriter and musician. He plays electric guitar, synthesizer, bass and oscillators. He is best known as being one of the founders and musical focus of the English space rock group Hawkwind...
, Robert Calvert
Robert Calvert
Robert Calvert was a writer, poet, and musician.-Biography:Born Robert Newton Calvert in Pretoria, South Africa, Calvert's parents moved to England when he was two years of age and later attended school in London and Margate. He began his career by writing poetry and in 1967 formed a Street...
, Simon King
Simon King
Simon King may refer to:*Simon King , English drummer, former member of Hawkwind*Simon King , British television presenter, known for wildlife work*Simon King , English footballer...
and Simon House
Simon House
Simon House is a composer and classically trained violinist and keyboard player, perhaps best known for his work with space rock band Hawkwind. His arrival in 1974 introduced a new element to the band's style...
, appears on the 1979 Hawkwind
Hawkwind
Hawkwind are an English rock band, one of the earliest space rock groups. Their lyrics favour urban and science fiction themes. They are also a noted precursor to punk rock and now are considered a link between the hippie and punk cultures....
album PXR5
PXR5
PXR5 is the ninth studio album by Hawkwind, released in 1979. It reached #59 on the UK album charts.-Overview:The album was recorded and mixed at Rockfield Studios in January and February 1978. "Uncle Sam's On Mars", "Robot" and "High Rise" were originally recorded on the preceding UK tour but were...
.
In Daniel Keys Moran
Daniel Keys Moran
Daniel Keys Moran , also known by his initials DKM, is an American computer programmer and a science fiction writer.-Biography:Moran was born to Richard Joseph Moran and Marilynn Joyce Moran...
’s novel, The Long Run, the protagonist Trent Castanaveras is rescued from a low Lunar orbit by a stealth spacecraft from the Spacefarers Collective called the "Jack of Shadows".
External links
- A 2001 Usenet posting (following on an earlier discussion thread) discussing changes in the book version in the dialog between Jack and Morningstar in chapter 6, based on the original version of the passage that appeared in F&SF.