Big Planet is Jack Vance's first major sf novel, and in the words of the Encyclopedia of SF, 'provided an sf model for the planetary romance which has been of significant use for forty years'. The huge world of the title is home to a range of colourfully detailed and imaginative human societies, which Vance explores with the zest and humour which are hallmarks of his work. All Jack Vance titles in the SFGateway use the author's preferred texts, as restored for the Vance Integral Edition (VIE), a