The Chasch -Language: russian

The Chasch (Book 1 of 4 in Tschai series, Russian translation)

The starship Explorator IV is destroyed after entering orbit around the planet Tschai. Adam Reith's scout ship is en route to the surface when the attack occurs, and is damaged in the explosion; Reith crash-lands and is separated from his ship. He finds a world full of violence, where four non-human races rule: the Chasch, the Dirdir, the Wankh, and the Pnume. Humans are present, but dominated by the other races. In this volume Reith sets out to regain his scout ship, and makes his way to Dadiche, ruled by the Blue Chasch and their human servants. Along the way he finds loyal friends, and challenges social inequities with the same aplomb that he rescues fair maidens - like the lovely Ylin Ylan, Flower of Cath.

Tschai is a planet orbiting the star Carina 4269, 212 light-years from Earth. It is populated by three alien, mutually hostile species, the displaced, native Pnume, and various human races, some of whom live as slaves or clients of the aliens. Each of the four novels relates Reith's adventures with one of the species, and is named after that species.

Jack (John Holbrook) Vance (August 28, 1916, San Francisco - May 26, 2013, Oakland) was a famous American mystery, fantasy and science fiction author. Most of his work has been published under the name Jack Vance. Vance's stories written in the 1940s and 1950s cover many science fiction themes, with a tendency to emphasis on mysterious and biological themes (ESP, genetics, brain parasites, body switching, other dimensions, cultures) rather than technical ones. By the 1960s, Vance had developed a futuristic setting which he came to call the "Gaean Reach." Thereafter, all his science fiction was, more or less explicitly, set therein. The Gaean Reach is loose and ever expanding. Each planet has its own history, state of development and culture. Within the Reach conditions tend to be peaceable and commerce tends to dominate. At the edges of the Reach, out in the lawless "Beyond," conditions are sometimes, but not always, less secure.
Alexander Feht (born in 1961 near the Siberian city of Novosibirsk), a Russian American poet, translator, and music composer, spent more than 15 years preparing and polishing his Russian translations of Jack Vance's masterpieces. He personally discussed with Jack Vance some daunting difficulties involved in translation of Vance's rhythmical and complex prose, whose mesmerizing character and timeless nobility are often lost in poor translations.