Vancian Magic
John Holbrook "Jack" Vance was one of those Renaissance men of whom I'm enormously envious. Skilled in many areas, from sailing to cooking to music, he's best known as one of the greatest American literary fantasists, and his work continues to inspire today. Currently, I'm busy rereading Vance's masterful Lyonesse trilogy, which I feel in some ways rivals Tolkien and Martin for its depth and scope. The novels of the Lyonesse saga -- Suldrun's Garden, The Green Pearl, and Madouc, chronicle in leisurely and picaresque fashion the struggle for the control of the Elder Isles, a vanished continent which lay south of Cornwall, north of Iberia, and across the Cantabrian Gulf from Aquitaine, in an uncertain time during Europe's dark ages. With such a pseudo-historical framework to hang his story upon, Vance incorporates both historical and fantastical events -- Christian missionaries seek to convert the pagans of the isles with limited success, the warlike S