I bought this ACE Double back in 1965 and quickly read it. Monsters in Orbit is presented as a novel, but it is actually two novellas, both featuring the same protagonist. The novellas were published in Thrilling Wonder Stories in 1952, “Abercrombie Station” in the February issue, and “Cholwell’s Chickens” in the August issue.
According to Rich Horton of the excellent Strange at Ecbatan blog, the stories in The World Between and Other Stories are:
“The World Between” (10,600 words, from the 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” (13,900 words, from 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” (9200 words, from 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 — one of the best of Vance’s earliest pieces.
“The Devil on Salvation Bluff” (8300 words, 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” (3300 words, 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.
*Ballantine/Del Rey had put out a series of “Best Of” collections of authors such as Stanley Weinbaum, C. L. Moore, Lester Del Rey and many others, beginning in 1974. Pocket, apparently in response, started their own series, with entries from Vance and Poul Anderson among others.”
I consider “The Moon Moth” one of Jack Vance’s best stories. Rereading this ACE Double brought back a lot of fun memories. Are you a fan of ACE Doubles? GRADE: A
My favorite story about Ace Doubles is something I read about the guy who invented them: he could make anything an Ace Double—give him the Bible and he’d call the Old Testament OUT OF THE DARKNESS and the New Testament, A NEW HOPE, slap appropriate covers on it, and, voila!, Ace Double.
Deb, as a kid, I loved the tête-bêche binding format that made ACE Doubles stand out from the other paperbacks on the spinner rack!
I think I remember that Ace double, Deb. (Was it D-138, and didn’t have covers by Ed Emshwiller?)
Jerry, Ed Emshwiller did a lot of ACE Double covers, but later Jack Gaughan did even more covers!
Big Jack Vance fan here, George. He was certainly one of the most inventive writers in the field. (And he played the banjo!) In my view though, top honors in Vance’s ouvre must go to BAD RONALD, a disturbing psychological mystery.
Jerry, you’re right about BAD RONALD! Haunting!
BAD RONALD?? Core memory unlocked: I remember seeing the tv movie adaptation in the early 1970s (I’m pretty sure I was still in high school, so before 1975 for sure)—I thought it was scary as hell and couldn’t believe it was being aired as just your basic run-of-the-mill tv movie.
Deb, BAD RONALD is NOT a run-of-the-mill movie…or book! It stands alone!
Deb is correct. BAD RONALD was 1974. Hard to believe that Scott Jacoby is 69 years old now.
Jeff, Diane, a huge Kenny Loggins fan, was watching THE TONIGHT SHOW WITH JIMMY FALLON when they did a “Sing-a-Long” with a guy with a beard and white hair. “That’s Kenny Loggins!” I told Diane. She was in disbelief until Fallon thanked Kenny Loggins for joining in the celebration. Age has not been kind to Kenny…
“Brain of the Galaxy” as the first published title in WORLDS BEYOND for “The New Prime”–“Brain” was pretty clearly the retitle there for the story, and WORLDS BEYOND editor Damon Knight as well as Vance were almost certainly overruled by the publisher, Hillman, for such a clunky title (but so SFNAL!–it it was published in WONDER STOR!ES in 1934). Vance worked his prose elegantly and meticulously…best not to fool with it for no good reason.
A. A. Wyn, the guy who ran Ace during the early paperback years, would retitle too freely but with a bit more panache.
The Pocket Books best-ofs had nothing to be ashamed of in comparison to the Ballantine…if anything, Pocket volumes averaged a bit better (the Ballantines would tend to include early influential stories that were not the writer’s best work, even if they did help establish the reputation).
Todd, I agree with you on the BEST OF series by Pocket Books and Ballantine (I own several of both). The Pocket Book editions were more current and longer.
My favorite Ace Double story concerns an author whose royalty statement showed one of his books outselling another, but he’d written one under a pseudonym and it appeared as half of an Ace Double!
Bob, Ha! That’s a good story!
I should have made it clear that he wrote both halves of the Ace Double!
Bob, I got that.
One should also mention DoCEnald A Wollheim, longtime editor at Ace and then founder of DAW books which continued .
I met his daughter and her husband who had taken over DAW in Brighton at the Eastercon 1984. I was even invited to a party in their room – of course I brought a load of German beer which was really enjoyed by everbody.
Fond memories!
Wolf, I’m glad you got to meet Solheim’s daughter and share some great German beer!