Nopalgarth Book

There is something very satisfying to me about Jack Vance novels. They aren't high art, but his weird imaginative approach to creation of alien worlds hits the right spot, and his balance of adventure and intrigue was the right antidote to the book I had to abandon a few days ago. Of the three stories in this volume, Nopalgarth was my favorite with its cosmic horror backdrop to a science fiction pulp action tale. As he frequently does, he provided the right amount of twist in the story without cheating. Also as is typical of Vance, the main character is pulled into the story by circumstance beyond his control, and does his best to survive while struggling against the forces arrayed against him. I also appreciate how each of these stories is economical in scope, with no padding. I do like big epics, but sometimes it is nice to just read a short novel that gets to the point and delivers the story. Vance is good at that.