The World Between and Other Stories

✍ Scribed by Vance, Jack

• Publisher: Ace Books
• Year: 1965
• Tongue: English
• Category: Fiction

✦ Synopsis

Epub Reformatted

The World Between and Other Stories, is as a collection of stories. It's a fairly good
one, with four novelettes and a short story, including his Hall of Fame story
"The Moon Moth",

The stories are:

"The World Between" (May 1953 Future, wherein it was called
"Ecological Onslaught") -- a team from the Blue Star, all names
starting with "B", finds a planet in between their home and the rival
Kay system (yes, all names starting with "K"). They claim it and
begin terraforming efforts, but the Kay people, including a beautiful spy, drop
off pests to spoil all the terraforming. The "hero" (ambiguously so)
finds a clever counter to this, and wins the love of the spy in the process.
Minor but somewhat intriguing in its ecological themes.

"The Moon Moth" (Galaxy, August 1961) -- a classic story,
about Edwer Thissell, newly come to Sirene, where everyone wears masks and
abides by extremely fussy rules of manners. Edwer finally takes advantage of
the rigidity of Sirenese society to gain extra status.

"Brain of the Galaxy" (Worlds Beyond, February 1951 -- it
has later been retitled "The New Prime") -- the "ruler" of
the galaxy is chosen by a battle of virtual experiences in various
environments. A pretty good story, actually.

"The Devil on Salvation Bluff" (from Fred Pohl's pioneering
original anthology series Star, #3, 1954) -- colonists on a world with
an eccentric orbit and multiple suns have a hard time adapting to the
unpredictability.

"The Men Return" (from the July 1957 Infinity) -- far in
the future reality is slippery and arbitrary. But with sufficient will and
rationality ... a neat, very different, story.