Emphyrio

New York, New York, U.S.A.: Ibooks Inc. - Distributed By Simon & Schuster, Inc., 2004. First Printing . Trade Paperback. Near Fine. 5 1/4" X 8 1/4. Burns, Jim - Cover. 315 Pages. Tight square book with no defects noted. Interior text pages are flawless. Was he the legendary liberator or tomorrow's space pirate. Halma: Where humans were ruled by a race of effete and arrogant Lords. Where a feudalistic system banned all work by machines. Where a benevolent welfare state rewarded talented hand labor with a barely adequate sustaining dole. Young Ghyl Tarvok, fascinated by the legend of Emphyrio, became a rebel. In a pirated spaceship, he began his search through the civilizations of neighboring planets for the key to the origin of his homeworld's culture and the secret that might change it. Inexorably he moved toward the last desperate hope: the planet his ancestors had left many thousands of years before the mysterious and terrifying place called Earth. This book was made possible by the VIE Project which is a virtual gathering of enthusiasts from all over the world, working together dedicated to the creation of a complete and correct Vance edition in 44 volumes; a permanent, physical archive of Vance's work. Texts are restored to their pristine condition, reviewed and corrected under the aegis of the author, his wife Norma and his son John. The text that they supplied for this present edition is the definitive authorized version.