The Book of Dreams
First edition
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| Author | Jack Vance |
|---|---|
| Cover artist | Ken W. Kelly |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Series | Demon Princes |
| Genre | Science fiction novel |
| Publisher | DAW Books |
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Publication date
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1981 |
| Media type | Print (Paperback) |
| Pages | 235 pp |
| ISBN | |
| OCLC | 7054607 |
| LC Class | CPB Box no. 2504 vol. 17 |
| Preceded by | The Face |
The Book of Dreams is a science fiction book by American author Jack Vance, the fifth and last novel (1981) in the "Demon Princes" series.
Gersen's pursuit of Treesong begins after a conversation with an Interworld Police Coordinating Commission (IPCC) contact, who remarks that the arch criminal has been quiet as of late. Some years earlier, he made himself "Lord of the Overmen" and as recently as three years ago, he almost engineered his appointment as head of the IPCC itself. Gersen concludes that Treesong must be due for another grand gesture any time soon.
His extensive business empire, managed by Jehan Addels, includes Cosmopolis magazine, for which he often masquerades as the journalist "Henry Lucas". Gersen spends some time examining the Cosmopolis files for any material relating to Treesong. He is on the point of giving up when he discovers a photograph, apparently of a formal dinner, bearing the words "H A Treesong is here". There is no way to tell which of the people in the picture is Treesong, so Gersen devises a plan to unmask him. He launches Extant, a livelier sister magazine to Cosmopolis. He then publishes the picture in the free inaugural issue as part of a contest, offering large cash prizes to anyone who can first identify any or all of the ten people in the photograph.
An attractive red-haired young woman, Alice Wroke, seeks temporary employment processing the contest entries. Gersen, expecting an attempt at infiltration by Treesong, covertly uses a lie detector on her and confirms his suspicions. Eventually, each of the subjects is identified, except for one man who seems to have a variety of identities. When a contestant submits the correct identification for all ten, Gersen confronts Alice and places most of his cards on the table: that the photograph was intended to identify Treesong, and that the magazine would be interested in interviewing him. However, he conceals his personal interest.
Information from the contest leads Gersen to suspect the photograph is of the highest-ranking Fellows of the powerful Institute. It includes seven members of the "Dexad" (the Fellows of ranks 101 to 109 and 111), and the three Fellows of rank 99 (ranks 100 and 110 are always vacant). All save one died at the banquet, poisoned by charnay (see below). The survivor is the man of many names - Treesong himself, clearly the murderer of the others. Having fraudulently acquired the rank of 99, he plans to become the Institute's leader, the Triune (rank 111, hence the name), by default. Three members of the Dexad were not present. One had died recently: the banquet was for choosing his successor from the 99s. Another had broken with the Institute and become a hermit. The last was Alice Wroke's father; Treesong, under a false name, blackmailed Alice into spying on the contest by threats to her father, whom he had in fact already murdered.
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