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Glinnes unexpectedly gets back his island. However, he is not the man
Glinnes came to unmask. That turns out to be the groom. Gensifer flees, but tumbles into the water and falls victim to the merlings. Shermatz (in reality the Connatic) strongly suspects that Glinnes has the ransom, but has no strong motivation to pursue the issue. Everyone else believes the money is lost for good. Duissane, her plans derailed once again, wanders away disconsolate. Glinnes follows her.
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a life of luxury. However, Glinnes had, out of curiosity, already opened the package and found worthless papers inside; Akadie had apparently used him as a decoy. Duissane leaves, extremely distraught by this revelation. After she has gone, Glinnes notices that the ransom was actually hidden under the papers. Akadie picks up the money and gives it to
Bandolio's man.
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the hange, or when he lifts the hange to shift his position, the light goes dead; he may then attack and be attacked. An extremely strong captain may almost ignore his hange; a captain less able stations himself on a key junction, which he is then able to protect by virtue of his impregnability within the area of the live hange.
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The object of the game is to strip the opposing team’s sheirl: a virgin girl of striking beauty regarded as mascot, trophy and inspirer by her side. When a player reaches the sheirl, play stops while his team demands a ransom from the sheirl's team; either the ransom is paid and the game resumes, or
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When they are finally rescued, Glinnes learns that Akadie has been assigned to collect the enormous ransom demanded. Glinnes reluctantly agrees to hold onto it when Akadie fears being robbed. Duissane spends the night with
Glinnes, believing that he will steal the money and take her off-world to live
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Players buff or body-block opposing players into the tanks, but may not use their hands to push, pull, hold, or tackle. The captain of each team carries the 'hange' - a bulb on a three-foot pedestal. When the light glows the captain may not be attacked, nor may he attack. When he moves six feet from
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Gensifer unveils a whole new team for the match, an excellent touring team from off-world, but the
Tanchineros are prepared. The teams are evenly matched, except in one respect: in his vanity, Gensifer has taken over as captain. The Tanchineros take advantage of this weakness. However, as Glinnes is
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Their last opponent, the "Tanchineros", is a team whose strengths match the weaknesses of the
Gorgons and vice versa. Glinnes and his fellow Gorgons are recruited, and a strong team is born. Duissane, a member of the Trevanyi family Glinnes evicted, agrees to be their sheirl. The new Tanchineros are
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Glinnes Hulden returns to
Trullion after ten years of service in the Whelm, the Connatic's military force. Glinnes' older brother Shira is missing, so being an hour older than his sullen twin brother Glay, he finds himself the owner of the family holdings. However, while he was away, Glay had sold a
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The hussade field is a gridiron of 'runs' (also called 'ways') and ‘laterals' above a tank of water four feet deep. The runs are nine feet apart, the laterals twelve feet. Trapezes permit the players to swing sideways from run to run, but not from lateral to lateral. The central moat is eight feet
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The sheirl stands on her platform at the end of the field between the home tanks. She wears a white gown with a gold ring at the front. The enemy players seek to lay hold of this gold ring; a single pull denudes the sheirl. The dignity of the sheirl may be ransomed by her captain for five hundred
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Rhyl
Shermatz, a self-styled "wandering journalist," is revealed to be an important government official. Glinnes convinces him to bring Bandolio to Lord Gensifer's wedding to Duissane. While there, he encounters Lute Casagave. When Bandolio gleefully identifies him as a retired, rival starmenter,
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Shortly afterwards, the Whelm finds
Bandolio's hideout and captures him, but the ransom is not found and many suspect that Akadie still has it. Glinnes, through diligent investigation, finds the money in a locker. The courier was killed before he could deliver it, apparently by the inside man who
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choice island to an off-worlder, Lute
Casagave. Glinnes wants the land back, but cannot come up with the 12,000 ozols, since Glay had already spent the proceeds. After an argument, Glay moves out. His mother also leaves, to go live with Akadie, a professional consultant and mentor.
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grasping the opposing sheirl's gold ring for the final time, a notorious starmenter (space pirate) named
Sagmondo Bandolio seizes the stadium and kidnaps three hundred of the wealthiest spectators for ransom, as well as several hundred women for other, darker purposes.
355:. One of these concepts is the game of Hussade. Hussade is a team game played throughout the Alastor Cluster: it is mentioned in all three Alastor Cluster novels and also glancingly referred to in some of Vance's other ‘Gaean Reach’ novels, but only in
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Glinnes evicts a Trevanyi family whom Glay invited to camp on Hulden land. Later, they take revenge by ambushing him, robbing him of his life savings and leaving him unconscious for the merlings to kill. Fortunately, he wakes up before that can happen.
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Glinnes escapes with both sheirls. They hide out on a deserted island. One sheirl is grateful for her rescue, but Duissane is disgusted and leaves in the boat. The remaining sheirl suggests that perhaps Duissane is in love with Glinnes.
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wide and can be passed at either end, at the center, or jumped if the player is sufficiently agile. The 'home' tanks at either end of the field flank the platform on which stands the sheirl.
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introduces many thematic elements that would later become common background in his subsequent “Alastor” series of novels, as well as the more loosely organized novels set in the
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successful immediately, winning and playing ever-better teams for more money. Finally, Glinnes jokingly challenges Lord Gensifer to a match. Surprisingly, Gensifer accepts.
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is it a major element in the story. The term starmenter for pirate, and the use of the term ozol for a unit of money also first make their appearance in this novel.
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Themes reflected from previous works include the use of sacred trees as a burial ground by the Trevanyi, which is an echo from Vance’s early
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the sheirl is stripped (and, deprived of symbolic virginity, disqualified from acting as sheirl in future games) and the game ends.
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Glinnes learns that the local, somewhat-impoverished aristocrat, Lord Gensifer, is recruiting a professional team to play
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arranged the mass kidnapping with Bandolio. Glinnes also deduces the identity of Bandolio's partner.
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first appeared in serialized format in the March and June 1973 issues of
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explain the fiction more clearly and provide non-fictional perspective
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placed sixth in the annual Locus Poll for Best SF Novel of 1973.
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magazine. It was issued in paperback book format in June 1973 by
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468:, Frogmore: Granada Books, 1973, footnote pp. 64–65
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describes a work or element of fiction in a primarily
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501:. New York: Taplinger Publishing Company. p.
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372:, and would reappear in later works, such as
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66:Learn how and when to remove this message
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249:. It is one of three books set in the
1318:Novels first published in serial form
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538:Internet Speculative Fiction Database
493:Underwood, Tim; Chuck Miller (1980).
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257:. Occasionally, in the manner of
527:Jack Vance home page and archive
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1323:Novels set on fictional planets
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1059:Strange People, Queer Notions
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179:), mass-market paperback
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1153:Men of the Twelve Books
274:Amazing Science Fiction
79:Trullion: Alastor 2262
1333:Ballantine Books books
1125:Gateway to Strangeness
796:Trullion: Alastor 2262
618:Rhialto the Marvellous
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724:Servants of the Wankh
536:title listing at the
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245:, first published by
1303:Novels by Jack Vance
1293:1973 American novels
1031:Galactic Effectuator
975:The Languages of Pao
396:According to Vance:
1160:The Miracle Workers
1104:Cholwell's Chickens
1097:The Brains of Earth
1090:Abercrombie Station
961:Vandals of the Void
954:The Five Gold Bands
803:Marune: Alastor 933
707:Planet of Adventure
674:The Killing Machine
635:Dying Earth (genre)
223:Marune: Alastor 933
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1139:The Houses of Iszm
1118:The Dragon Masters
982:Slaves of the Klau
873:Ecce and Old Earth
810:Wyst: Alastor 1716
767:The Brave Free Men
717:City of the Chasch
695:The Book of Dreams
681:The Palace of Love
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109:Gene Szafram
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56:October 2009
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1255:Gaean Reach
989:Space Opera
587:Dying Earth
353:Gaean Reach
126:Gaean Reach
106:Illustrator
36:in-universe
1287:Categories
1271:Bad Ronald
1038:Night Lamp
1010:Bad Ronald
932:Big Planet
774:The Asutra
731:The Dirdir
578:Jack Vance
497:Jack Vance
428:References
366:, such as
291:hedonistic
243:Jack Vance
146:Ballantine
100:Jack Vance
1195:Rumfuddle
760:The Anome
738:The Pnume
667:Star King
142:Publisher
1243:See also
1003:Emphyrio
822:Lyonesse
688:The Face
364:novellas
357:Trullion
255:Connatic
177:Hardback
114:Language
786:Alastor
750:Durdane
628:related
487:Sources
388:Hussade
310:hussade
212:1624819
175:Print (
117:English
42:Please
907:Lurulu
846:Madouc
509:
449:
417:Awards
344:Themes
314:sheirl
225:
122:Series
96:Author
1209:Telek
1188:Noise
880:Throy
574:Works
295:gypsy
184:Pages
132:Genre
38:style
1250:Grue
507:ISBN
447:ISBN
378:and
206:OCLC
193:ISBN
158:1973
576:by
503:228
261:of
187:247
46:to
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