The Chasch — Jack Vance

His exploration ship blasted from orbit, Terran scout Adam Reith is stranded on Tschai, a world colonized by three alien species -- the Chasch, the Dirdir, and the Wannek -- while the planet's original inhabitants, the mysterious Pnume, lurk underground. In the first book of the four-volume cycle, Reith falls in with a barbaric tribe of free humans, each weirdly ruled by the hereditary symbolic badge he wears. To recover his wrecked scout craft, he embarks on a perilous journey to the decadent Chasch city of Dadiche, accompanied by Traz, a teenage barbarian, Anacho, an escaped slave of the birdlike Dirdir, and Ylin-Ylan, a princess rescued from a brutal cult. In Dadiche, one slip will bring certain death.

Tschai is grandmaster Jack Vance at his unparalleled adventure-spinning peak. â€" Matt Hughes

The Chasch is Book I of the Tschai (Planet of Adventure) sequence, and Volume 34 of the Spatterlight Press Signature Series.Released in the centenary of the author's birth, this handsome new collectionis based upon the prestigious Vance Integral Edition. Select volumes enjoyup-to-date maps, and many are graced with freshly-written forewords contributedby a distinguished group of authors. Each book bears a facsimile of theauthor's signature and a previously-unpublished photograph, chosen from family archives for the period the book was written. These uniquefeatures will be appreciated by all, from seasoned Vance collector to new reader sampling the spectrum of this author's influential work forthe first time.

â€" John Vance II