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Monsters in Orbit
"Out-of-this-world convention at the conspirators' satellite"Ace Double M-125, printed with "The World Between and Other Stories" by Jack Vance
- GenresScience FictionFiction
119 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1965
39 people want to read
About the author
Jack Vance
776 books1,582 followersAka John Holbrook Vance, Peter Held, John Holbrook, Ellery Queen, John van See, Alan Wade.
The author was born in 1916 and educated at the University of California, first as a mining engineer, then majoring in physics and finally in journalism. During the 1940s and 1950s, he contributed widely to science fiction and fantasy magazines. His first novel, The Dying Earth , was published in 1950 to great acclaim. He won both of science fiction's most coveted trophies, the Hugo and Nebula awards. He also won an Edgar Award for his mystery novel The Man in the Cage . He lived in Oakland, California in a house he designed.
The author was born in 1916 and educated at the University of California, first as a mining engineer, then majoring in physics and finally in journalism. During the 1940s and 1950s, he contributed widely to science fiction and fantasy magazines. His first novel, The Dying Earth , was published in 1950 to great acclaim. He won both of science fiction's most coveted trophies, the Hugo and Nebula awards. He also won an Edgar Award for his mystery novel The Man in the Cage . He lived in Oakland, California in a house he designed.
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Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews
May 28, 2024
Monsters in Orbit-Jack Vance collection
AKA: “Abercrombie Station and Cholwell’s Chicken” combined
Monsters in Orbit was published in 1965 by Ace Books in an Ace Double with Vance’s The World Between and Other Stories on the reverse pages. It is presented like a novel with Part One and Part Two and makes no mention of the two novellas that it consists of. in what is really a collection. Monsters in Orbit is really a compilation of two related novellas, the 62 page Abercrombie Station, and its sequel, the 50 page Cholwell's Chicken. Each novella had been previously published in 1952 in the pulp fiction magazine "Thrilling Wonder Stories" and feature a woman, Jean Parlier, as the main character. I have this Ace Double as well as separate copies of the two novellas and they are the same. Below are reviews of the two novellas that comprise Monsters in Orbit.
For the most recent review and other Vance reviews please see:
https://vancealotjackvanceinreview.bl...
"Abercrombie Station" is a 62 page novella that was initially published in 1952 in Thrilling Wonder Stories. This is one of the few Vance works that has a woman as the main character. Jean Parlier is an attractive, vivacious, charismatic, clever seventeen year old girl who is also tough minded, very independent and street smart. Jean is encouraged by a mysterious man to obtain a job as a housekeeper at the home of a wealthy man, Earl Abercrombie, on a private satellite which he owns called Abercrombie Station. He is unmarried and has some terminal medical condition. The plan is for Jean to marry Abercrombie and then, after he dies, to obtain two million dollars from the mysterious coconspirator who recruited her to do this. Jean is a "gravity girl" from Earth, however, and the satellite she goes to has no gravity and also has a much different concept of female beauty. On this strange satellite the larger the woman is the more attractive she is considered, so most of the women living on the satellite are as wide as they are tall and float around in the air like big balloons while hired help wear magnetic shoes to keep them on the floor. So Jean has a problem with attracting this billionaire because she is considered malnourished, unhealthy and scrawny by their standards and is thought to be extremely unattractive even though she is very pretty by Earth standards. Her billionaire employer also has a large collection of extremely bizarre alien creatures that he keeps in his natural history museum. He seems to find these creatures to be more of an attraction than any of the women. No challenge is too much for Jean, however, as she does her best to attract Abercrombie. This is an essential read for Vance fans. I’ve read this multiple times and rate it a 4.
Abercrombie Station is also included in the following Jack Vance collections:
The Best of Jack Vance (1976)
Chateau D’IF: And Other Stories (1990)
Golden Girl and Other Stories (2012)
Hard-Luck Diggings: The Early Works of Jack Vance, volume 1 (2010)
"Cholwell's Chicken" is a 50 page novella that is a sequel to the novel "Abercrombie Station" although it can be read and understood on its own. It was first published in 1952 in Thrilling Wonder Stories magazine. It is one of the very few times that Vance has portrayed a stand alone main character that was a woman, in this instance, Jean Parlier, an attractive, vivacious, charismatic, clever 17 year old girl who is also tough minded, very independent, and street smart. In Cholwell's Chicken, Jean finds that wealth she acquired in the story "Abercrombie Station" has not brought her the contentment she had anticipated. She never knew her parents because she was abandoned in a bar and raised by the bar owner. Jean thinks that finding her parents now might bring some meaning and direction to her life so begins to make plans to try to search out who her parents might be. While visiting at her attorney's office (he is also her guardian) she encounters a Dr. Cholwell who has an unusual scheme for becoming rich raising chickens. He needs an investor so tries to convince Jean and her guardian that his chicken ranch would make a great investment. Jean is planning to fly to the town where she was born in an effort to locate her parents and Cholwell's ranch is nearby so he invites her to visit. It is a very strange story. In attempting to locate her parents, Jean also finds herself. More accurately she finds "her selves" as she encounters some mysterious secrets and conspiracies that have remained hidden for many years.
The twists and turns in the unusual plot in Cholwell's Chicken made it somewhat more interesting to me than Abercrombie Station. Both stories are somewhat silly and are early Vance with little of the polish, flare, lively dialog, meticulous world building and beautiful narrative flow that he exhibits in most of his wonderful later works. But I've sketched only the barest outline above, and what is impressive here (and in many of his early works) is not just Vance's amazing imagination but his ability to include so many details and so much action, adventure and intrigue in so few pages. Both stories should appeal to Vance fans, and those who like quirky, science fiction, might also find this an interesting read. I’ve read this several times and rated it 4 “Really liked it.”
Chowell’s Chicken is also included in the Jack Vance collection titled The World Between and Other Stories (1965)
AKA: “Abercrombie Station and Cholwell’s Chicken” combined
Monsters in Orbit was published in 1965 by Ace Books in an Ace Double with Vance’s The World Between and Other Stories on the reverse pages. It is presented like a novel with Part One and Part Two and makes no mention of the two novellas that it consists of. in what is really a collection. Monsters in Orbit is really a compilation of two related novellas, the 62 page Abercrombie Station, and its sequel, the 50 page Cholwell's Chicken. Each novella had been previously published in 1952 in the pulp fiction magazine "Thrilling Wonder Stories" and feature a woman, Jean Parlier, as the main character. I have this Ace Double as well as separate copies of the two novellas and they are the same. Below are reviews of the two novellas that comprise Monsters in Orbit.
For the most recent review and other Vance reviews please see:
https://vancealotjackvanceinreview.bl...
"Abercrombie Station" is a 62 page novella that was initially published in 1952 in Thrilling Wonder Stories. This is one of the few Vance works that has a woman as the main character. Jean Parlier is an attractive, vivacious, charismatic, clever seventeen year old girl who is also tough minded, very independent and street smart. Jean is encouraged by a mysterious man to obtain a job as a housekeeper at the home of a wealthy man, Earl Abercrombie, on a private satellite which he owns called Abercrombie Station. He is unmarried and has some terminal medical condition. The plan is for Jean to marry Abercrombie and then, after he dies, to obtain two million dollars from the mysterious coconspirator who recruited her to do this. Jean is a "gravity girl" from Earth, however, and the satellite she goes to has no gravity and also has a much different concept of female beauty. On this strange satellite the larger the woman is the more attractive she is considered, so most of the women living on the satellite are as wide as they are tall and float around in the air like big balloons while hired help wear magnetic shoes to keep them on the floor. So Jean has a problem with attracting this billionaire because she is considered malnourished, unhealthy and scrawny by their standards and is thought to be extremely unattractive even though she is very pretty by Earth standards. Her billionaire employer also has a large collection of extremely bizarre alien creatures that he keeps in his natural history museum. He seems to find these creatures to be more of an attraction than any of the women. No challenge is too much for Jean, however, as she does her best to attract Abercrombie. This is an essential read for Vance fans. I’ve read this multiple times and rate it a 4.
Abercrombie Station is also included in the following Jack Vance collections:
The Best of Jack Vance (1976)
Chateau D’IF: And Other Stories (1990)
Golden Girl and Other Stories (2012)
Hard-Luck Diggings: The Early Works of Jack Vance, volume 1 (2010)
"Cholwell's Chicken" is a 50 page novella that is a sequel to the novel "Abercrombie Station" although it can be read and understood on its own. It was first published in 1952 in Thrilling Wonder Stories magazine. It is one of the very few times that Vance has portrayed a stand alone main character that was a woman, in this instance, Jean Parlier, an attractive, vivacious, charismatic, clever 17 year old girl who is also tough minded, very independent, and street smart. In Cholwell's Chicken, Jean finds that wealth she acquired in the story "Abercrombie Station" has not brought her the contentment she had anticipated. She never knew her parents because she was abandoned in a bar and raised by the bar owner. Jean thinks that finding her parents now might bring some meaning and direction to her life so begins to make plans to try to search out who her parents might be. While visiting at her attorney's office (he is also her guardian) she encounters a Dr. Cholwell who has an unusual scheme for becoming rich raising chickens. He needs an investor so tries to convince Jean and her guardian that his chicken ranch would make a great investment. Jean is planning to fly to the town where she was born in an effort to locate her parents and Cholwell's ranch is nearby so he invites her to visit. It is a very strange story. In attempting to locate her parents, Jean also finds herself. More accurately she finds "her selves" as she encounters some mysterious secrets and conspiracies that have remained hidden for many years.
The twists and turns in the unusual plot in Cholwell's Chicken made it somewhat more interesting to me than Abercrombie Station. Both stories are somewhat silly and are early Vance with little of the polish, flare, lively dialog, meticulous world building and beautiful narrative flow that he exhibits in most of his wonderful later works. But I've sketched only the barest outline above, and what is impressive here (and in many of his early works) is not just Vance's amazing imagination but his ability to include so many details and so much action, adventure and intrigue in so few pages. Both stories should appeal to Vance fans, and those who like quirky, science fiction, might also find this an interesting read. I’ve read this several times and rated it 4 “Really liked it.”
Chowell’s Chicken is also included in the Jack Vance collection titled The World Between and Other Stories (1965)
October 29, 2017
I read the first story, Abercrombie Station, separately earlier. These stories are two examples of the few stories of Vance with a female lead. Makes me wish he'd done that more often.
The second story is a bit too conveniently plotted, and drags a bit in the middle. Both stories are funny, but not the best work of Vance by a long shot.
The second story is a bit too conveniently plotted, and drags a bit in the middle. Both stories are funny, but not the best work of Vance by a long shot.
May 28, 2021
The first story is remarkably better than the second one... in fact, its awesome!
September 10, 2025
Well it’s two novellas with the same mc. The first one is dark, and twisted, but sort of fun. The main character is cutthroat, but by no means a psychopath. 3 stars
The second novella is completely contrived nonsense. None of it makes any sense. Our protagonist, acts completely out of character to allow the plot to happen. The only good part is the brief broom scene. 1 star
The second novella is completely contrived nonsense. None of it makes any sense. Our protagonist, acts completely out of character to allow the plot to happen. The only good part is the brief broom scene. 1 star
December 12, 2017
My edition of Jack Vance's Monsters in Orbit is the "B side" of an old Ace Double. The "A side" is The World Between but we are limiting ourselves to a discussion of Monsters in Orbit today. It is the height of irony that I spent a large portion of my previous review singing Vance's praises-one of my rules in writing reviews is that I must always be honest and forthright, but is still pains me to admit this novel (really two intertwined novellas) is far from his best work. This is early Vance and it does show a glimmer of the profundity that would be achieved later in his career-but this is the barest gleam of that. Unlike everything else I have found of Vance's I have never seen this book reprinted in any commercial format, and I can see why. Our heroine is really what I would call a sociopath, and there are what I am going to have to term sex crimes of a monstrous nature involved. It's too bad-as far as I can recollect this is the only time Vance utilized a female character as the lead. I really wish it had not played out like this. I think the real tragedy of this book is that I know what Vance is capable of so I know this book could have been so much more.
November 15, 2020
I read the German edition.
Two short stories - Abercrombie Station and Cholwell's Chicken - starring the same protagonist, a curiously unsympathetic young woman named Jean.
The first of the stories has her hired to woo the rich owner of a space station and is pretty decent.
The second story delves into Jean's past and origin. Cholwell's Chicken only works because of some very convenient coincidences and the "shocking reveal" is not only given away in the book's German title ("Jean - eine von Acht"), it is both scientifically mundane as well as unsound.
Cholwell's work is contemptible but not unbelievable. What is unbelievable is that all eight resulting sisters (not even clones) share identical fingerprints.
Two short stories - Abercrombie Station and Cholwell's Chicken - starring the same protagonist, a curiously unsympathetic young woman named Jean.
The first of the stories has her hired to woo the rich owner of a space station and is pretty decent.
The second story delves into Jean's past and origin. Cholwell's Chicken only works because of some very convenient coincidences and the "shocking reveal" is not only given away in the book's German title ("Jean - eine von Acht"), it is both scientifically mundane as well as unsound.
Cholwell's work is contemptible but not unbelievable. What is unbelievable is that all eight resulting sisters (not even clones) share identical fingerprints.
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January 12, 2024Les histoires se terminent un peu en queue de poisson. Il manque une véritable fin à chacune d'entre elles : c'est un peu comme si elles n'avaient pas été achevés. C'est bien dommage pour un auteur de cette trempe.
January 18, 2022
A very slight bit of space opera from Vance early in his career. I stumbled on it accidentally, having read most of his work years ago and never having heard of this one. It suffers from many of the problems of all early space operas: a completely static society, in which gender roles, attitudes and social structures appear to be simply carried over from 1952 (and yes, a drink at a bar costs a dime, and the main character wistfully sighs about getting a million dollars in a very Dr Evil-like way), a bit of background scientific silliness, etc. This is one of the very few (if not the only one!) Vance books with a female protagonist; but judging by the way she is defined as an intellectually lazy, ignorant but shrewd, and essentially a sociopath it is perhaps a good thing.
So why the three stars? Well, it is still Vance: it is great fun to read despite a cringe here and there (and much less cringeworthy than, say, The Gray Prince), it already has his trademark wit and style even if in embryonic form, and it is short and worthy a chuckle.
So why the three stars? Well, it is still Vance: it is great fun to read despite a cringe here and there (and much less cringeworthy than, say, The Gray Prince), it already has his trademark wit and style even if in embryonic form, and it is short and worthy a chuckle.
May 25, 2012
Un court recueil de nouvelles de Jack Vance.
Quatre textes au menu :
- Telek
Un nouvelle mettant en scène une Terre ou quelques milliers de télékinésistes aux pouvoirs illimités dominent la population et la tyrannisent. la solution envisagée par Vance pour pallier à cette menace est pleine de poésie et d'espoir. Un joli texte.
- Le syndrome de l'homme augmenté
Le moins réussi de mon point de vue. Sur fonds d'opposition USA / URSS / Chine, Vance propose une uchronie où un pays fictif d'Afrique se retrouve au cœur de la lutte d'influence entre ces trois puissances. Le narrateur, un agent de la CIA dont on a modifié l'apparence afin qu'il puisse remplacer le chef de cet Etat africain. Sa vraie personnalité entre alors en conflit avec celle qu'on lui a implantée...
- Monstres sur orbite - La station Abercrombie
- Monstres sur orbite - Cholwell et ses poules
Les deux dernières nouvelles ont pour héroïnes une jeune fille indépendante et prête à tout pour sortir de la misère. ces deux récits sont rafraichissants et bien troussés.
Un recueil qui, sans être un sommet de la littérature de science-fiction, permet de passer un agréable moment de lecture (comme c'est souvent le cas des œuvres de Vance)
Quatre textes au menu :
- Telek
Un nouvelle mettant en scène une Terre ou quelques milliers de télékinésistes aux pouvoirs illimités dominent la population et la tyrannisent. la solution envisagée par Vance pour pallier à cette menace est pleine de poésie et d'espoir. Un joli texte.
- Le syndrome de l'homme augmenté
Le moins réussi de mon point de vue. Sur fonds d'opposition USA / URSS / Chine, Vance propose une uchronie où un pays fictif d'Afrique se retrouve au cœur de la lutte d'influence entre ces trois puissances. Le narrateur, un agent de la CIA dont on a modifié l'apparence afin qu'il puisse remplacer le chef de cet Etat africain. Sa vraie personnalité entre alors en conflit avec celle qu'on lui a implantée...
- Monstres sur orbite - La station Abercrombie
- Monstres sur orbite - Cholwell et ses poules
Les deux dernières nouvelles ont pour héroïnes une jeune fille indépendante et prête à tout pour sortir de la misère. ces deux récits sont rafraichissants et bien troussés.
Un recueil qui, sans être un sommet de la littérature de science-fiction, permet de passer un agréable moment de lecture (comme c'est souvent le cas des œuvres de Vance)
Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews