Reprinted as Bird Isle, Spatterlight 2012.

Quotes:

They drove south with the sun phosphorescing through a high mist that swirled in across the bay from San Francisco. At San Jose the mist was gone and the sun was yellow. At Monterey a wind blew in off the Pacific from the direction of Hawaii, twisting the black cypress, flecking the face of the ocean with whitecaps.

By nightfall San Giorgio seethed with sensation. Two mutilation murders in the week, a maniac at large! Sheriff Hartmann felt blind, baffled, helpless. He had no suspects to question, no leads, no idea of where or how to begin. A single course of inquiry presented itself, stemming from Carr Pendry’s half-dazed identification of Robert Struve. It was a poor piece of evidence. But it was a lead, and he had no others.

Under the pseudonym Peter Held according to this article.

Republished The Flesh Mask, Spatterlight, 2012.

Quote:

Out on the plain one of the Organisms, Alpha, sat down, caught a handful of air, a globe of blue liquid, a rock, kneaded them together, pulled the mixture like taffy, gave it a great heave. It uncoiled from his hand like rope. The Relict crouched low. No telling what deviltry would occur to the creature. He and all the rest of them unpredictable! The Relict valued their flesh as food; but the Organisms would eat him if opportunity offered. In the competition he was at a great disadvantage. Their random acts baffled him. If, seeking to escape, he ran, the worst terror would begin. The direction he set his face was seldom the direction the varying frictions of the ground let him move. But the Organisms were as random and uncommitted as the environment, and the double set of disorders sometimes compounded, sometimes canceled each other. In the latter case the Organism might catch him...It was inexplicable. But then, what was not? The word ‘explanation’ had no meaning.

Republished in The Moon Moth and Other Stories, Spatterlight, 2012

Quote:

Banks made few blunders. Twelve years he had ridden the tiger, and in the process had developed a head for his job which amounted to second-sight; by now he was able to relax, enjoy his work, and indulge himself in his hobby, which was the collecting of freakish inventions.

Republished in The World-Thinker and Other Stories, Spatterlight, 2012.

Comments:

According to Foreverness the version that was published by Satellite Science Fiction was shorter than the one published next year 1958 by Avalon (as intended by the author). (ref)

This is easily one of my favorite Vance novels. Wikipedia writes that Frederik Pohl:

... reported that Vance had “pretty carefully” worked out his extrapolation, but that “it isn’t terribly convincing as presented”. Pohl also noted that “Vance writes well—sometimes even brilliantly”, but that his prose sometimes seemed uneven and artificial.

When I first read the novel I was little and didn’t even know about the Sapir–Whorf hypothesis. However, even then I understood from the text that the transformation involved more that simply using another language. (I’m looking forward to rereading the book.)

Also from Wikipedia:

David Langford cited Vance’s “engaging speculation”, but concluded that the protagonist “seems too weak a character for his leading role”, while “the culture and landscape of Pao are grey and ill-defined, in strong contrast to the exotically colourful societies and ecologies which became Vance’s trademark”

I remember the protagonist being weak, but accepted that simply as a fact in the story. Often he was manipulated, sometimes he managed to score a point. I don’t remember the novel ending in a jubilant victory, but that was all right. As for Pao being ill-defined—perhaps a bit, but in my recollection Pao being a somewhat blend and static society of mostly simple farmers was also exactly part of the problem that had to solved.

(Wikipedia accessed 15 March 2019)

Quote:

  The guards subjected Palafox to a most minute scrutiny. Every stitch of his clothes was examined; he was patted and prodded with complete lack of regard for dignity.
  Nothing was discovered; no tool, weapon or instrument of any kind. Bustamonte watched the search in unashamed fascination, and seemed disappointed at the negative result.

Republished by Spatterlight, 2012, The languages of Pao

Quote:

Emerson and Cope walked around the ship. Crossing the clearing in leisurely fashion were a young man and woman, a girl and the boy they had seen before. They were the most handsome beings the Earthmen had ever seen. The young man wore a skin-tight garment of emerald-green sequins, a complicated head-dress of silver spines; the boy wore red trousers, a dark blue jacket and a long-billed blue cap. The young woman and the girl wore simple sheaths of white and blue, stretching with easy elasticity as they walked. They were bare-headed; their pale hair fell flowing to their shoulders.

Republished in The World-Thinker and Other Stories, Spatterlight, 2012.