{"product_id":"ports-of-call-book-jack-vance-9780006482123","title":"Ports of Call","description":"New galaxy-hopping, picaresque adventure from a master storyteller.             Sf grand master Vance’s latest is a tongue-in-cheek swashbuckler about a young man, Myron Tany, who has taken a degree in space studies but has much to learn when he first boards a ship. Myron is in thrall to his zany aunt, who has heard of a faraway fountain of youth and sets off in her space yacht to find it. Her captain flatters her agreeably, and when Myron points out that the man is a swindler, she won’t hear of it and maroons poor Myron on an inhospitable planet with barely his passage home.             Luckily, the tramp cargo vessel Glicca is just then in need of a supercargo, and Myron signs on with cool, competent Captain Maloof, Chief Engineer\/gambler Schwatzendale, and Chief Steward\/photographer Wingo. The four enjoy a string of rare adventures on a spectacular series of planets.             They acquire as passengers a group of pilgrims (and their mysterious luggage), or rather, pirates masquerading as religious pilgrims, and engage in to-the-death struggles with the pirates’ pursuers; on Terce, Myron narrowly avoids being skinned (there is a flourishing trade in human skins) and eaten.             Finally, they encounter a Swiftian, legalistic planet on which one may be punished or betrothed for the slightest whimsical offense. Myron is bound to commit one…","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"GB \/ WELL_READ \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":49655930913041,"sku":"GOR004079918","price":10.8,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"GB \/ VERY_GOOD \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":49668694245649,"sku":"GOR002186382","price":11.1,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"GB \/ GOOD \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":50555130118417,"sku":"GOR001428025","price":7.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/0006482120.jpg?v=1762855849","url":"https:\/\/www.worldofbooks.com\/en-gb\/products\/ports-of-call-book-jack-vance-9780006482123","provider":"World of Books ","version":"1.0","type":"link"}