Volume 12 in the Spatterlight Press Signature Series, combines three of Jack Vance's best known novellas – The Dragon Masters, The Last Castle and The Miracle Workers. Each story pitches besieged humans against aliens – some of whom are invaders (The Dragon Masters) some are aliens brought in as slaves (The Last Castle) and others the denizens on their home ground (The Miracle Workers)

The stories are all light reading with plenty of action, intrigue and drama. The Dragon Masters is about genetically modified aliens, modified by humans to became dragons, fight genetically modified humans, modified by aliens hoping to enslave yet more humans. It sounds complicated, but Vance explains it well as the storey unfolds.

To add a further dimension, two clans of humans are at each others throats, pitching their modified dragons at one another only but one of them truly aware of the overall alien threat.

And then there's the Sacerdotes, sort of humans who were on the planet in the first place who despise all the contestants. It's fast paced reading and unlike many of Vance's more complicated themes (only to be attempted by thorough Vance devotee's) a good introduction to his work.

The Last Castle has humans enslaving aliens, bringing them back to Earth as domestics, playthings and servants. The humans living aristocratic lifestyles, in high tech castles, concerning themselves with theoretical discussions of aesthetics, honour and etiquette. It's an indolent lifestyle of formal dinners, drinking of essences and fine wines, waited on by 'Peasants' while watching 'Phanes' (female fairy-like creatures) perform ballet like dances.

Other alien species are enslaved; maintenance is provided by 'Meks' and transport by 'Birds' and heavy work by 'Power Wagons' all kept in order because of syrup-sacs genetically grafted to their bodies on which they are dependant.

The Meks revolt and start killing all humans and some of the other alien races. Soon only one castle remains and matters look bleak even for this.

In The Miracle Workers, the high tech of the previous story, that brought humans to this planet, has been lost thousands of years ago and 'hoodoo' Vance's term in this story for voodoo, is extant. Jinxmen, use dolls and magic to creep inside the heads of their enemies, making them see and fear things that do not exist. This works well when humans combat humans in their incessant fight for planetary domination, but against the native inhabitants, not so well.

Similar to what happened in America's early colonisation, the denizens of this planet (The First Folk) suffered deprivations during the first years to human exposure. Hunted for sport and driven from the open mossy plains, they hid in forests. These First Folk more than pissed off at the historic slaughter of their ancestors and about their planet being taken over by the colonists, they defend the forests with traps such as dead-falls and eventually plan their revenge.

This story is so similar in theme and quality, so similar in fact, the editors of the Vance Integral Edition (VIE) thought fit to group it with Vance’s two award winning novellas in a single edition. ( )

This collection contains three novellas: The Dragon Masters, The Last Castle, and The Miracle Workers. I have written separate reviews for each.

The Dragon Masters
http://speculiction.blogspot.com/2012/07/review-of-dragon-masters-by-jack-vance.....

The Last Castle
http://speculiction.blogspot.com/2012/07/review-of-last-castle-by-jack-vance.htm....

The Miracle Workers
http://speculiction.blogspot.com/2012/10/review-of-miracle-workers-by-jack-vance... ( )

http://yet.org/2007/04/les_matres_des_dragons.html ( )