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Miro Hetzel #1
De Machines van Maz
Contains "The Blue World" (King Kragen) & "The Dogtown Tourist Agency".
160 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1975
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65 people want to read
About the author
Jack Vance
777 books1,587 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
June 6, 2020
An entertaining, if somewhat unremarkable and lesser known work from Vance.
We all know Jack Vance as the legend of a SFF grandmaster that he is. Right? Good. Well, Vance also wrote some dozen non-SF mysteries. He did so under various noms de plume, primarily John Holbrook Vance. Clearly a genre that Vance enjoyed. So it's no surprise he wrote several mysteries with SF settings as well. His Magnus Ridolph stories are perhaps the better known, but he also wrote several starring Miro Hetzel, private "effectuator". These stories take place within Vance's vast stretch of civilizations known as the Gaean Reach, which feature in dozens of his novels.
The Dogtown Tourist Agency is essentially a murder mystery, wrapped in a case of industrial espionage that Miro Hetzel initially is hired on for. Hetzel is rather unremarkable as a character, missing the flair and flamboyancy that make Magnus Ridolph so amusing. However, as is typical with Vance, the story shines in Vance's conception of alien world(s). In this case, the world of Maz, the principal city of which is divided in jurisdiction between three unfriendly alien species (humans and two others), as well as the lawless "Dogtown" slums. The natives of Maz, the Gomaz, are a brilliantly conceived humanoid species, stoic and warlike, who feature prominently in the story. Vance's descriptions of their odd, unisex mating behaviors, their systems of combined telepathic and verbal communication and their society of warring clans is just dripping with Vance's signature creative ingenuity.
We all know Jack Vance as the legend of a SFF grandmaster that he is. Right? Good. Well, Vance also wrote some dozen non-SF mysteries. He did so under various noms de plume, primarily John Holbrook Vance. Clearly a genre that Vance enjoyed. So it's no surprise he wrote several mysteries with SF settings as well. His Magnus Ridolph stories are perhaps the better known, but he also wrote several starring Miro Hetzel, private "effectuator". These stories take place within Vance's vast stretch of civilizations known as the Gaean Reach, which feature in dozens of his novels.
The Dogtown Tourist Agency is essentially a murder mystery, wrapped in a case of industrial espionage that Miro Hetzel initially is hired on for. Hetzel is rather unremarkable as a character, missing the flair and flamboyancy that make Magnus Ridolph so amusing. However, as is typical with Vance, the story shines in Vance's conception of alien world(s). In this case, the world of Maz, the principal city of which is divided in jurisdiction between three unfriendly alien species (humans and two others), as well as the lawless "Dogtown" slums. The natives of Maz, the Gomaz, are a brilliantly conceived humanoid species, stoic and warlike, who feature prominently in the story. Vance's descriptions of their odd, unisex mating behaviors, their systems of combined telepathic and verbal communication and their society of warring clans is just dripping with Vance's signature creative ingenuity.
June 1, 2020
Read in Epoch
Advertised on the cover as "a complete novel".
In a short afterword, that I don't recall seeing in the reprints, except in the VIE and maybe somewhere in The JV Treasury, Vance writes:
"The less a writer discusses his work - and himself - the better. The master chef slaughters no chickens in the dining room; the doctor writes prescriptions in Latin; the magician hides his hinges, mirrors, and trapdoors with the outmost care. Recently I read of a surgeon who, after performing a complicated abortion , displayed to the ex-mother the fetus in a jar of formaldahyde. The woman went into hysterics and sued him, and I believe collected. No writer has yet been haled into court on similar grounds, but the day may arrive."
Advertised on the cover as "a complete novel".
In a short afterword, that I don't recall seeing in the reprints, except in the VIE and maybe somewhere in The JV Treasury, Vance writes:
"The less a writer discusses his work - and himself - the better. The master chef slaughters no chickens in the dining room; the doctor writes prescriptions in Latin; the magician hides his hinges, mirrors, and trapdoors with the outmost care. Recently I read of a surgeon who, after performing a complicated abortion , displayed to the ex-mother the fetus in a jar of formaldahyde. The woman went into hysterics and sued him, and I believe collected. No writer has yet been haled into court on similar grounds, but the day may arrive."
June 10, 2018
Dogtown Tourist Agency
The Dogtown Tourist Agency is a novella that was written by Jack Vance in 1973 and was first published in 1975 as part of an anthology called Epoch. In 1980 it was released as "Part One" of the book titled "Galactic Effectuator" along with another Vance novella with the same protagonist titled "Freitzke's Turn" as "Part Two." Galactic Effectuator was reissued in 1980 by Underwood-Miller, in 1981 by Ace Books and in 1983 by Coronet. In 2005 Dogtown Tourist Agency was published as part of the Vance Integral Edition. In 2012 it was released in a Subterranean Press collection of Vance works titled Dream Castles and as e-books by Gateway/Obrian and Spatterlight. In February of 2018 it was issued by Spatterlight Press under the title "Miro Hetzel, Effectuator" along with Freitzke's Turn.
The Dogtown Tourist Agency is a novella that stands on its own or may be read as a prequel to Freitzke's Turn. They are different stories but involve the same main character, Miro Hetzel, who contracts work as an effectuator, an interstellar private investigator who must also resolve the problem after investigating it. There are some similarities between Hetzel and an earlier Vance protagonist named Magnus Ridolph.
Hetzel agrees to meet with Sir Ivon Hacaway, the chairman of the board at Palladian Micronics. Hacaway's company produces very intricate, technologically advanced products such as robot brains. Six months ago an unknown company called Istagam began marketing similar items at prices far below market. Hacaway wants Hetzel to investigate to determine how this company is able to produce these high tech products at such a low cost. The ships delivering Istagam products pick up their cargo from a planet called Maz which is inhabited by three distinct civilizations residing in different areas of the planet. These are the Liss, the Olefract and the Gomaz.
Hacaway wants Hetzel to visit the area called Dogtown in the Gomaz territory. This is an area beyond Gaean Reach authority and is a refuge for criminals. The main native inhabitants are the large insect like monosexual Gomaz that live in castles and are constantly at war. They obsessively battle with other Gomaz tribes in bizarre combat that involves ritualistic movements, reproduction by implanting spawn into the dead foe's thorax and then eating a gland in the back of deceased opponent's neck. The Gomaz are so violently aggressive that they are not permitted to have any guns or other more advanced weapons because they would, and indeed once tried, to conquer other species and planets. Gomaz communicate telepathically with each other, view themselves as part of a colony rather than as individuals and have absolutely no fear of death.
After arriving in Dogtown, Hetzel visits the Dogtown Tourist Agency where he meets a young woman who works there. He eventually strikes up a relationship with her and she later joins him on his adventure. Hetzel needs permission from the Gaean Triarch, Sir Estevan, before he can rent an air car to travel, however. When Hetzel arrives at a meeting with Sir Estevan he finds that the Liss and Olefract Triarchs plus two Gomez visitors were just murdered in a shooting spree where Sir Estevan himself narrowly escaped being shot. Hetzel notices a man quickly leaving the area and follows him to later confront him. He learns that this man, Gidion Dirby, was present at the shooting and is now the main suspect.
But Dirby insists that he is totally innocent and has been set up. Dirby tells Hetzel a very bizarre story of having been kidnapped and tortured while being held hostage in a nightmarish place where he was given fake food, a chamber pot was poured on his head and naked women would sometimes crawl around on their hands and knees on the floor in front of him while wearing only dominoes. He was also poisoned, gassed and tormented with psychedelic lights, dancing birds and strange events that seemed like hallucinations. One day Dirby woke up to find himself released. He went immediately to report the incident to the Triarch where he unexpectedly encountered the shooting incident. His story is so vividly detailed and far fetched that Hetzel believes Dirby and offers him temporary sanctuary in his hotel room. Hetzel offers to assist Dirby to clear himself after he returns from some travels he has planned to conduct his investigation of the Istagam company.
Hetzel's investigative adventures lead to fascinating, ironic and, at times, humorous encounters with a bizarre alien culture where values and behavior are at odds with the interplanetary government that regulates them. We also encounter clever investigative detective work with mystery and intrigue. Dogtown Tourist Agency is well written with good dialogue, strange alien creatures, and a suspenseful plot. It is more interesting and better written than the other Miro Hetzel novella Freitzke's Turn. I have read it twice now and continue to rate it a solid 4 "Really liked it."
The Dogtown Tourist Agency is a novella that was written by Jack Vance in 1973 and was first published in 1975 as part of an anthology called Epoch. In 1980 it was released as "Part One" of the book titled "Galactic Effectuator" along with another Vance novella with the same protagonist titled "Freitzke's Turn" as "Part Two." Galactic Effectuator was reissued in 1980 by Underwood-Miller, in 1981 by Ace Books and in 1983 by Coronet. In 2005 Dogtown Tourist Agency was published as part of the Vance Integral Edition. In 2012 it was released in a Subterranean Press collection of Vance works titled Dream Castles and as e-books by Gateway/Obrian and Spatterlight. In February of 2018 it was issued by Spatterlight Press under the title "Miro Hetzel, Effectuator" along with Freitzke's Turn.
The Dogtown Tourist Agency is a novella that stands on its own or may be read as a prequel to Freitzke's Turn. They are different stories but involve the same main character, Miro Hetzel, who contracts work as an effectuator, an interstellar private investigator who must also resolve the problem after investigating it. There are some similarities between Hetzel and an earlier Vance protagonist named Magnus Ridolph.
Hetzel agrees to meet with Sir Ivon Hacaway, the chairman of the board at Palladian Micronics. Hacaway's company produces very intricate, technologically advanced products such as robot brains. Six months ago an unknown company called Istagam began marketing similar items at prices far below market. Hacaway wants Hetzel to investigate to determine how this company is able to produce these high tech products at such a low cost. The ships delivering Istagam products pick up their cargo from a planet called Maz which is inhabited by three distinct civilizations residing in different areas of the planet. These are the Liss, the Olefract and the Gomaz.
Hacaway wants Hetzel to visit the area called Dogtown in the Gomaz territory. This is an area beyond Gaean Reach authority and is a refuge for criminals. The main native inhabitants are the large insect like monosexual Gomaz that live in castles and are constantly at war. They obsessively battle with other Gomaz tribes in bizarre combat that involves ritualistic movements, reproduction by implanting spawn into the dead foe's thorax and then eating a gland in the back of deceased opponent's neck. The Gomaz are so violently aggressive that they are not permitted to have any guns or other more advanced weapons because they would, and indeed once tried, to conquer other species and planets. Gomaz communicate telepathically with each other, view themselves as part of a colony rather than as individuals and have absolutely no fear of death.
After arriving in Dogtown, Hetzel visits the Dogtown Tourist Agency where he meets a young woman who works there. He eventually strikes up a relationship with her and she later joins him on his adventure. Hetzel needs permission from the Gaean Triarch, Sir Estevan, before he can rent an air car to travel, however. When Hetzel arrives at a meeting with Sir Estevan he finds that the Liss and Olefract Triarchs plus two Gomez visitors were just murdered in a shooting spree where Sir Estevan himself narrowly escaped being shot. Hetzel notices a man quickly leaving the area and follows him to later confront him. He learns that this man, Gidion Dirby, was present at the shooting and is now the main suspect.
But Dirby insists that he is totally innocent and has been set up. Dirby tells Hetzel a very bizarre story of having been kidnapped and tortured while being held hostage in a nightmarish place where he was given fake food, a chamber pot was poured on his head and naked women would sometimes crawl around on their hands and knees on the floor in front of him while wearing only dominoes. He was also poisoned, gassed and tormented with psychedelic lights, dancing birds and strange events that seemed like hallucinations. One day Dirby woke up to find himself released. He went immediately to report the incident to the Triarch where he unexpectedly encountered the shooting incident. His story is so vividly detailed and far fetched that Hetzel believes Dirby and offers him temporary sanctuary in his hotel room. Hetzel offers to assist Dirby to clear himself after he returns from some travels he has planned to conduct his investigation of the Istagam company.
Hetzel's investigative adventures lead to fascinating, ironic and, at times, humorous encounters with a bizarre alien culture where values and behavior are at odds with the interplanetary government that regulates them. We also encounter clever investigative detective work with mystery and intrigue. Dogtown Tourist Agency is well written with good dialogue, strange alien creatures, and a suspenseful plot. It is more interesting and better written than the other Miro Hetzel novella Freitzke's Turn. I have read it twice now and continue to rate it a solid 4 "Really liked it."
July 22, 2018
This is my first Vance story, and I did enjoy it. Except for setting, this was as much mystery story as SF. I know Vance had been writing for decades when this was published in 1975; it seems like old-fashioned SF. His writing style is rather detailed and formal, so it took me some time to finish this. There was a lot to enjoy here. I look forward to more Vance stories, hopefully with more character detail.
April 18, 2024
I love Jack Vance. He is on my Must-Read authors list and his series of novelettes and short stories collected under The Dying Earth title created, as far as I’m concerned, the far future scifi genre, inspiring Gene Wolfe and Michael Moorcock. This novella, though, is not far future but standard scifi, if you can call anything that Vance wrote 'standard.' It is a part of his Gaen Reach series of books, where humanity has spread to the stars and has encountered some truly weird aliens.
Milo Hertzel is a self styled ‘galactic effectuator’ … er, detective, who is hired by the chairman of Palladian Micronics to find out how their competitor, Istagram, can build robot brains far cheaper than Palladian can. Hertzel discovers that Istagram is picking up its cargo from the primitive and rather wild planet of Maz, which sits at the corner of three overlapping races: the Gaen, which are humans; the Liss and the Olefract, which are alien races that don't want to have anything to do with Gaens but don't want to start a war, either. Maz is the DMZ between the three races, all of them in full control of their respective territories and conferring only on matters that involve all three. For example, there is an assassination of Liss and Olefract ministers by, allegedly, a Gaen visitor that the Gaens have no interest in pursuing, wanting to turn the accused assassin, Gideon Dirby, over to the other races for investigation, which won’t be pleasant for Dirby. He hires Milo to prove his innocence, and Milo finds that he is running two different cases that, strangely, overlap.
The native race of Maz is the extremely warlike Gomez, a praying mantis-like species that once almost conquered the galaxy before they were driven back to Maz and banned from owning any modern weapons. The Gomez armies occupy massive castles from which they march out, meet for battle and undergo a strange series of rituals before actually fighting. This is how Gomez tribes reproduce; once they have killed an opponent from another tribe, they drive a tentacle down the throat of the defeated Gomez and implant an embryo. Shades of Alien.
Dogtown is the no-man’s-land of Maz, a place sitting at the confluence of the three jurisdictions and, thereby, without any law and order. Whatever you want can be had there, including an air car, which Hertzel rents from the Tourist Agency, where he is quite taken with the receptionist, Jannika, who is also quite taken with him and agrees to go with him into the Gomez territory pursuing leads on Istagram and Dirby. Their air car is sabotaged and they end up crashed in the middle of Gomez territory about forty miles from a sanctuary. So they have to walk, running straight into a Gomez battle. It ain’t pretty.
This is straight up Vance, with the formal dialogue between characters that smack of Sir Walter Scott, peculiar aliens and situations, and an almost noir feel to the investigation. Needless to say, Hertzel solves both cases with somewhat dubious investigative technique and conclusions, but enough to satisfy the reader.
Which Vance always does.
Milo Hertzel is a self styled ‘galactic effectuator’ … er, detective, who is hired by the chairman of Palladian Micronics to find out how their competitor, Istagram, can build robot brains far cheaper than Palladian can. Hertzel discovers that Istagram is picking up its cargo from the primitive and rather wild planet of Maz, which sits at the corner of three overlapping races: the Gaen, which are humans; the Liss and the Olefract, which are alien races that don't want to have anything to do with Gaens but don't want to start a war, either. Maz is the DMZ between the three races, all of them in full control of their respective territories and conferring only on matters that involve all three. For example, there is an assassination of Liss and Olefract ministers by, allegedly, a Gaen visitor that the Gaens have no interest in pursuing, wanting to turn the accused assassin, Gideon Dirby, over to the other races for investigation, which won’t be pleasant for Dirby. He hires Milo to prove his innocence, and Milo finds that he is running two different cases that, strangely, overlap.
The native race of Maz is the extremely warlike Gomez, a praying mantis-like species that once almost conquered the galaxy before they were driven back to Maz and banned from owning any modern weapons. The Gomez armies occupy massive castles from which they march out, meet for battle and undergo a strange series of rituals before actually fighting. This is how Gomez tribes reproduce; once they have killed an opponent from another tribe, they drive a tentacle down the throat of the defeated Gomez and implant an embryo. Shades of Alien.
Dogtown is the no-man’s-land of Maz, a place sitting at the confluence of the three jurisdictions and, thereby, without any law and order. Whatever you want can be had there, including an air car, which Hertzel rents from the Tourist Agency, where he is quite taken with the receptionist, Jannika, who is also quite taken with him and agrees to go with him into the Gomez territory pursuing leads on Istagram and Dirby. Their air car is sabotaged and they end up crashed in the middle of Gomez territory about forty miles from a sanctuary. So they have to walk, running straight into a Gomez battle. It ain’t pretty.
This is straight up Vance, with the formal dialogue between characters that smack of Sir Walter Scott, peculiar aliens and situations, and an almost noir feel to the investigation. Needless to say, Hertzel solves both cases with somewhat dubious investigative technique and conclusions, but enough to satisfy the reader.
Which Vance always does.
September 10, 2020
Good Vance. Not his best, but still enjoyable, especially the dialogue.
June 7, 2020
More like 3.5 stars, by dim(mish) memory. My memories of the story (which is pretty good) were refreshed by TJ's comrehensive review, https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
I actually read this in the book "Galactic Effectuator", which I thought I might still have, but don't. Not a priority reread, but if you are a Vance fan & missed it.... I might marginally prefer the other novella, "Freitzke's Turn", which is very odd.
I actually read this in the book "Galactic Effectuator", which I thought I might still have, but don't. Not a priority reread, but if you are a Vance fan & missed it.... I might marginally prefer the other novella, "Freitzke's Turn", which is very odd.
June 25, 2023
A good example why Vance is master of Science Fiction. His imagination of worlds, anthropology and alien communities is unprecedented. Combined with some detectiving, it makes tremendous reading material
August 14, 2014
Fun detective story in outer space
Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews