 Dust-jacket illustration from the first mass-market hardcover edition | |
| Author | Jack Vance |
|---|---|
| Cover artist | Vladimir Nenov |
| Language | English |
| Series | Gaean Reach |
| Genre | Science fiction |
| Publisher | Tom Doherty |
| Publication date | April 1998 |
| Publication place | United States |
| Media type | Print (hardback & paperback) |
| Pages | 294 |
| ISBN | 0-312-85801-9 |
| OCLC | 37513050 |
| Dewey Decimal | 813/.54 21 |
| LC Class | PS3572.A424 P67 1998 |
| Followed by | Lurulu |
Ports of Call is a 1998 science fiction adventure novel by American writer Jack Vance. Followed by the novel Lurulu, it tells the story of a young man named Myron Tany on a picaresque journey through the Gaean Reach.
Plot summary
Myron's family intended for Myron to follow a staid and respectable career in economics; however, when his wealthy and eccentric great-aunt Dame Hester came into possession of a space yacht, Myron suddenly found his long suppressed dreams of adventure within reach. Serving as Dame Hester's nominal captain on her journey to find a clinic reputed to restore lost youth to wealthy clients, Myron soon finds that his aunt is capricious as she is flamboyant, and after an argument, finds himself cast away on a remote planet. With no resources to return home, he obtains the position of supercargo on a tramp freighter, which enables him to travel further across the Gaean Reach to exotic lands.
Reception
F&SF reviewer Elizabeth Hand praised Ports of Call as "delightful," declaring that "one enjoys Ports of Call as one does a Restoration comedy, for the sheer outrageous of its characters and the precision of Vance's often lunatic descriptive powers."
References
- Hand, Elizabeth (August 1998). "Books: Ports of Call". F&SF. Retrieved 13 August 2011.
External links
- Ports of Call title listing at the Internet Speculative Fiction Database