The Magnificent Showboats of the Lower Vissel River, Lune XXIII South Big Planet

This is one of my very favorite non-magical Vance works, and it is amazing. I want a Showboat so BAD after I read (and reread) this book...! I would call mine "The Golden Conceit." LOL

_Showboat World_ takes place on Big Planet, which was introduced in _Big Planet_ (duh). Here we follow the story of Apollon Zamp as he attempts to travel a great length to enter a showboat contest. The novel is a vastly entertaining picaresque, as he depicts how rival showboat owners attempt to sabotage each other's efforts; how the showboat owner must manage his performers, who do not shrink from stealing from him; how entertainments must be modified to avoid riling the inhabitants of the various towns and cities along the river, each with its own unique culture. The beguiling female lead, Damsel Blance-Aster, provides an element of mystery that is only resolved at the end of the novel. Highly recommended.

Tells the story of ship captain Apollon Gamp's journey upriver to play at a kings showboat competition - a rather simple framework for a compelling and gorgeous collage of thieves, artists and discordant cultures. The Showboat itself is a gorgeous hybrid of Mississippi boat and travelling opera; requiring stage magicians, dancing girls, catapults and a hereditary caste of engineers.Along the way Zamp has to deal with (for example) a town that are run by the 'Actuarialists' who require the removal of all references to death or birth from the theatre program. Or Port Whant where wearing yellow is a sexual invitation. Indeed all luxuriance of imagination that we have come to expect from Vance. Of course he must deal with equally rascally competitors - Lemuriel Boke who wore 'striped garments of black, red and brown, and adorned his head with the triple tiered bonnet of an Ultimate Pantologist; he blanched his skin stark white and spoke in a cellar deep voice.' Or Umber Stroon who, in contrast, 'used terms of grandiloquent vainglory in connection with himself and equally striking figures of disparagement in regard to his competitors.' And a dozen others. Naturally both the journey and winning the contest require every resource of artistry and connivery.Obviously the novel has a number of similarities with the better known 'Space Opera' but the episodes are probably a bit better because the show boat captains are mixing with human (albeit exotic) rather than alien cultures -- where Vance is a little weaker. The plot, meanwhile, is considerably stronger and just as witty.