Strange. Not ever having met Mr. Vance in life (and in the pre-Internet era not even knowing how he looked like), the impact of the insightful psychology of his characters and the ethical resonance in his story-telling made him my favourite author, not to say an imaginary mentor of my childhood. A chapter is closed. The page turns. Thank you so much, Jack.

I chanced to find The Dying Earth on the book rack at the local newspaper stand when I was in high school back in '62. It changed my life by introducing me to the splendors our language can achieve when written with the lapidary skill of such a master as Vance.I went on to Dickens and Balzac and the rest but have always returned to my first love - Jack Vance. Thank you Mr. Vance, for what you did for me and for so many others.Your work lives on. Rest in Peace.

Jack Vance was my FAVORITE WRITER! I "found" him in an SF periodical decades ago and bought every book I could find - not so easy, especially years ago, because I live in Thailand! I "introduced" him to my younger son who has also always been a great fan! My collection - unfortunately not complete - is now with one of my grandsons. The worlds Jack "invented" in his work have always seemed real to me, and every now and then I find myself quoting him, e.g., "Man is as plastic as wax" !! Jack's works gave me and my family the most enormous pleasure. We shall miss him. M Borisute, Bangkok, THAILAND

Mr. Vance......You were the best. Thanks for all the books you have written. I am gratefull that the most of them have been translated in Dutch. You will be missed.

Jack Vance is a special writer; the best I think I have ever read. I've enjoyed his stories over and over. It's time to start another read through his books, My condolences to the family.

And so the world is less than it was

I first read 'The Dying Earth' as a 16 year old in 1968; since then Ive read all the Dying Earth series at least 20 times! Fantastic use of language; wry situations; great characters; terrific imagination. RIP and Thankyou!

Nous qui étions si insatiables de rêves... Puisse ton incroyable univers inspirer bien d'autres auteurs ! Merci pour tout Jack !

An avid reader of Mr.Vance's books since my teens. A sad loss.. Thanks for all those many many hours that had me buried in your stories !

I can't add more superlatives. Thank you for your life and works.

Have been reading Jack since about 1972. Like many here, I've read everything twice or three times. Never gets old. I quote Baron Bodissey every chance I get, when appropriate. Occasionally, someone knows of whom I speak. Had a cat named Kirth. A sad year.

Here's to the man whose books made my skin tingle and my mind wander in the past 35 years.

He is my father's favorite author, and mine too. We named a cat after him. What a cat, and what an author.

Jack, bedankt voor al je boeken, die ik heb mogen lezen. Fantastisch!! Rust in vrede. Gert Lennips

Have just learned the sad news.I have been reading Jacks work since my teens in the 1960s and have read most of his books many times over and have been in awe of his way with words which have touched something inside me.I am just re-reading The Lyonesse Trilogy for the umpteenth time,what a wonderful work it is.Thanks again Jack you have enriched my life for so many years and I will remember you to my dying day.Rest in Peace.Dave Barker

Here's one for Jack. I have every book he ever wrote, and have read them again and again, and will until I join him. He had a creative mind second to none and a way with words that I still marvel at today. There will never again be a writer like Jack.

Fan forever since reading Tschai and Demon Princes. Even named myself after one. My gratitude is endless, may you rest in peace.

My favourite writer has gone. He was a master of style and wrote on the same level like Tacitus or Kafka if more entertaining. Not a stupid follower of time spirits he will earn his full honour in coming eons (this told with a raised monitoring finger towards the noble prize committee).

I am a great fan of your work. Thank you for all the happy hours reading. Jack Vance, rest in peace.

I'm devastated. He was my favorite author by a very wide margin. My condolences to his family.

I am so sorry to hear this. I was introduced to Jack and Norma by a mutual friend while I was in college, and had the opportunity to visit them once or twice. They were wonderful hosts, and I still remember the conversations. I love his books and look forward to introducing them to our son.

I have read virtually all of Jack's books, first coming across them early in my teenage years, and have most but not yet all of them, often combing through second hand books stores in the hopes of coming across one I didnt already have. I loved his prose, his descriptions of the peculiar and eccentric peoples in his worlds, and wish I could visit some of these places. I would find myself unconsciously imitating his writing style in my written communiations and speech for days after finishing one of his books. RIP Jack Vance, you have provided me with hours of entertainment and imagination. You will be sorely missed.

Jack, you were the finest author of your century and the inspiration for other Masters and Grand Masters. Thank you.

The true, creative grandmaster of SF. Thanks for all your wonderful stories.

To quote from Lurulu: " Maloof took up his tankard. "For want of a better toast, I salute the ten thousand generations of brewmasters, who through their unflagging genius, have in effect made this moment possible!" "A noble toast," cried Wingo. "Allow me to add an epilogue. At the last moments of the universe, with eternal darkness converging from all sides, surely someone will arise and cry out: 'Hold back the end for a final moment, while I pay tribute to the gallant brewmasters who have provided a pathway of golden glory down the fading corridors of time!' And then, is it not possible that a bright gap will appear in the dark, through which the brewmasters are allowed to proceed, to build a finer universe?" I, for one, will be lifting my tankard to toast Mr. Vance. Thank you for the stories and the memories, may you proceed to that finer universe.

For Lyonesse and the Dying Earth, thank you thank you thank you. You will be missed.

The books of mr Vance, having read all of them, have always been my favourites. Being one of, if not the greatest SF writer, he is underrated as the writer of literature per se. It surprises me still that no films were made of some of his works: Tschai, The Dragonmasters, the Dying Earth, Emphyrio and of course the Starkings; all of those books are infinitly better suited for film than the likes of Avatar, After Earth, Pronettheus or Oblivion. May the master rest in peace.

Rest in peace, Jack Cadwal and Lyonesse will always be in my heart an my mind

I think he was simply the greatest author. I think future generations will agree.

Just today I learned with great sadness about the death of Jack Vance. He has been an friend and inspiration for me since I read my first novel of his hand (I believe it was The Star King). Every time there was a new novel come out I had to had it and dropped everything so i could start reading it right now. Thanks for the joy you gave me all these years. With great pleasure I will read and re-read all your stories over and over, just feeling sorry for the fact that you're not there anymore to expand you universe. Ik hope and prey you'll be in the world you most enyoyed being in. Thanks for a Dutch fan.

Thank you Jack, for years and years of pleasure. Your characters, your plots and your settings have brought me joy and exhilaration for the last quarter of a century. Salute, dominus. Dom Brown

This droll, sly, clever, Wodehouse-ish language. There are even aunts. Cheers and thank you.

Jack, Bedankt voor alle fijne uren leesplezier. rest in peace. Gerhard

Thank-you Mr. Vance for all your work. Reading a Vance is like eating a good meal: A real cure for broodiness. Forever grateful, JPV

Thanks for all the writings Jack.

RIP Jack !

Sublime writing. Nonpareil. Goodbye, Jack. Jack g

Gracias, Jack, por habernos dado tanto.(Desde Buenos Aires).

Ever since I first picked up my first Jack Vance paperback as a youngster (I am now fifty-something) I was irrevocably hooked for life. I eagerly sought out and devoured each and every book that he had ever written in sci-fi and fantasy that I could get my greedy little hands on, and impatiently awaited whatever new confections that he forthcoming. I sadly feel that we will never see his like again, and I have absolutely no doubt that to whatever bright cluster in the universe that he is currently winging his way to, that whomever he encounters there, will be just as enthralled by him as I have always been...Keep a light burning in the window for the rest of us, Jack.

The Twk-Man on his dragonfly told me he had sad news. So I gave hom some salt. "Your friend and mine is now dead" he said. "What are we to do" I said. "Remember him forëver?" "Oh aye" and off he flew.

The Triarchs are excellently killed. Let that be the way of it.

More than any other author, Jack Vance defined my world as a young reader. His inimitable style, his morally-flexible protagonists, and his richness and eye for setting detail led me to appreciate finer writing, at an age when my palate was still finding form. I treasure the moments of joy and wonder he gave to me more highly than any physical treasure I will ever possess.

Thank you,Jack Vance,for all your wonderful stories and the enchanting hours I have been enjoying for many years in reading them and travelling with you across the Galaxy. I raise a toast to You, Great Balladeer of the Worlds, and I hope we will meet one day on a beautiful seafront promenade of Avente (Alphanor,Rigel);we'll have a drink and then we'll admire one of those splendid Rigel sunsets you describe so well in "The Demon Princes".

The works of Jack Vance shaped my love and appreciation of science fiction and fantasy. I would never have learned to enjoy the genres without his rich, imaginative examples, nor would I have embarked on my own writing career. A true Grand Master of SFF was lost with his death, and the world is diminished for it.

Jack Vance has been one of my top 3 favorite authors for several decades (shared honors with Stephenson & Brin), and I've never figured out why he wasn't better known. Noticing that online obits all seem to focus on his novels and series, I've commented there: While we all like long stories that we can live in for awhile, and Jack Vance's were as good as such stories can be, his short stories were not just outstanding for the usual reasons, but in some cases were cultural milestones, far ahead of their time. "Dodkin's Job" may have been the first computer 'crime' story, in which a rebellious soul uses a forgotten input terminal to take charge of a totally bureaucratized society, run by executives using computers they didn't understand. "Green Magic" remains the most evocative story of the limitations of being human that I have encountered. "The Potters of Firsk" tells us of an individual pilot disobeying military orders to drop his atom bomb, and instead using it culturally rather than explosively to end slavery instead of ending a society. Since he couldn't stick around here forever, I hope that at least he has found lurulu. He certainly brightened *my* world.

I have just finished reading my 11 year old daughter NightLamp to introduce her to Vance. A couple of days later I find he has just died. One day she will read Lyonesse herself. I look forward to sharing more of Vance's worlds with her.

So unique and impossible to mimic, may he enjoy his repose on Tschai or Maske Thaery or any of the many worlds that only he could have created. Gone but surely to a better, more vibrant place.

How do I find the words and what can I say that isn't being said by others on Jack Vance's passing? The greatest of writers, the greatest dreamsmith is gone and we are bereft. I'd gladly go to all his worlds as a tourist and to many of them as an immigrant. I hope the larger society gives him the recognition he deserves.

Few authors in any genre have given me as much pleasure as Jack Vance. Even fewer remain fresh and vibrant on the third, fourth or even fifth re-reading. Condolences to his family, Vale to the Master.

Goodbye master..... Adam Reith.

thank you mr.Vance, You brouht life to my imagination. rest in peace and visit the worlds you've created.... With my deepest respect. Clemens Derksen Doetinchem, Holland.

I am saddened to see Mr Vance has passed away. For the past 30 years I have been reading and re-reading his works. Each time I find new things in his writings that amaze and entertain me. The first thing I would try to save if my house was on fire would be his books and then my wife. I wish I could have thanked him for all the wonderful entertainment he provided.

Goodbye Jack. I raise my glass of ale to you and Norma and all who loved you and your incomparable work. Thank you.

I first encountered one of his books when I was looking through a book flea market in front of one of our university's campuses. It was so great that I had to find out who wrote it and thus began my wonderful journey into the world of Vance's fantastical writing. I cherish every second reading his books.

I will never forget reading the first story in The Dying Earth nearly 50 years ago. In a lifetime of constant reading, that remains one of the most memorable and vivid experiences - matched only by The King in Yellow. How rare and remarkable the talent that has passed this week.

The Jack Vance, amaranth always. Shaped my reading habits since childhood, you did. Rest in well-deserved peace.

I have oft journeyed along the Icknield Way, near my home in England. Needless to say thoughts of Jack and all the characters of his creation pass through my mind every time. He will be with me in spirit forever, the greatest literary inspiration of my life. Farewell Jack.

I came across one of his novel in a Sci-Fi anthology then aged 11. i never looked back. i read all his books in French saving every francs I could to order the next book then rediscovered his stories in English and have now all the published work of this great Master. he influenced my life and motto "Intelligence is about adapting to your environment" and has ever been present in my thoughts. I was hoping for a last book, another ray of Vanceness to shine. I bought again dragon masters this week end, my 4th or 5th edition of the same book. I certainly will cry over it.....

Gracias por habernos hecho participe de tu imaginación Hasta siempre Jack

Dear John/Jack, I read my first Jack Vance novel some 25 years ago and have been a great fan of your stories ever since. Your work is an inspiration and has added great value to my life. You will be missed here on Earth. Leendert Netherlands