Jack Vance's Creepiest Creature...

I love REH & Lovecraft, but when it comes to creatures... Jack Vance was built different.

Now don’t get me wrong—I absolutely LOVE Robert E. Howard and H.P. Lovecraft.

After all, I’ve read nearly all of their works!

But when it comes to creatures—monsters, abominations, and the like—I think most readers would agree that theirs tend to fall into the following categories:

• A primeval man-ape

• A giant snake

• An amorphous, indescribable eldritch shadow

• A shambling monstrosity

• An alien, many-tentacled creature

• Some form of ghoul or zombie

• An evil sorcerer

That’s not a knock. Their work is legendary for so many reasons. But when it comes to truly unique and strange creature design?

Jack Vance has them beat. He is the GOAT.

There’s one particular creature—described almost offhandedly—in The Palace of Love (book three of The Demon Princes) that has stuck with me ever since I first read it. It grosses me out in a way I can’t quite explain. Maybe it’s the human expression? The uncanny vibe? Either way, it impinged on my brain and has lived there rent-free ever since.

Here it is:

“Stepping around a hummock, a hive or nest of some sort, Gersen came upon a bloated, serpent-like creature with a face uncannily human. The creature saw Gersen with an expression of comical alarm, then, rearing back, displayed a proboscis from which it evidently intended to eject a fluid.”

What do you think?
Share your favorite creature quotes—the ones that really stuck with you, or ones you made up yourself. I want to see them!