THE DRAGON MASTERS / THE LAST CASTLE by Jack Vance, Artist Edition, Suntup Editions. This edition brings together two of Vance’s most celebrated novellas, both recipients of the Hugo Award and regarded as seminal works in the science fiction genre. With an introduction by John Vance and an afterword by Michael Moorcock, this edition celebrates Vance’s singular imagination and enduring literary legacy. When humans on a distant world, living under primitive conditions, breed lizard-like alien creatures into fierce warriors, the unexpected arrival of a vessel from the aliens’ home planet brings not only their kindred, but something far more unsettling. A privileged aristocracy lives in towering, high-tech fortresses sustained by alien servitors, until an unexpected rebellion threatens to bring their world crashing down. First appeared in the August 1962 issue of. Magazine and was published in book form by Ace Books in 1963 as half of Ace Double F-185. The novella earned Jack Vance his first Hugo Award. Made its debut in. Magazine in 1966 and was published as half of Ace Double H-21 in 1967. It won the 1966 Nebula Award for Best Novella and the 1967 Hugo Award for Best Novelette. These honors contributed to Jack Vance’s recognition by the Science Fiction & Fantasy Writers Association, who named the author a Grand Master in 1997, the highest honor bestowed by the SFWA. Showcase Jack Vance’s enduring mastery of imaginative world-building and inventive storytelling that define the very best of science fiction. The Artist edition is limited to 500 copies with a dust jacket illustrated by Julie Bell and Ted Nasmith. It is a full cloth binding with a foil blocked front cover. Endsheets are printed with a custom pattern design and the edition is housed in a coated paper covered slipcase. It is printed by offset lithography on 100gsm Munken, and is signed by Julie Bell and Ted Nasmith. The edition measures 6″ x 9″ and features ten color illustrations by award-winning illustrators Julie Bell and Ted Nasmith, a new introduction by John Vance and a new afterword by Michael Moorcock. The text is set in Amerigo and Swift with the Numbered and Lettered states printed letterpress on Neenah Cotton and mouldmade Arches Text papers by Scott Vile on a Heidelberg cylinder press in Buxton, Maine. Design and typography by award-winning designer Misha Beletsky. By Jack Vance pays homage to the classic Ace Double format in which these two novellas were first paired in the 1960s. Reviving the distinctive tête-bêche structure, this volume presents each story as a self-contained book with its own front cover. Then rotate the book 180 degrees to find. Beginning from the opposite end. This format preserves the mirrored, back-to-back presentation of the original Ace Doubles, where two works shared a spine but retained their own front matter and orientation. The shared design language-typography, title pages, and layout-unifies the volume while honoring the structural duality that defined this iconic paperback tradition.
