Songs of the Dying Earth (Hardcover)

~ (Editor), Gardner Dozois (Editor), Tom Kidd (Illustrator)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description

Today, in order to honor the magnificent career of Jack Vance, one unparalleled in achievement and impact, GEORGE R.R. MARTIN and GARDNER DOZOIS, with the full cooperation of Jack Vance, his family, and his agents, suggest a Jack Vance tribute anthology called Songs of the Dying Earth, to encourage the best of today's fantasy writers to return to the unique and evocative milieu of The Dying Earth, from which they and so many others have drawn so much inspiration, to create their own brand-new adventures in the world of Jack Vance s greatest novel.

Half a century ago, Jack Vance created the world of the Dying Earth, and fantasy has never been the same. Now, for the first time ever, Jack has agreed to open this bizarre and darkly beautiful world to other fantasists, to play in as their very own. To say that other fantasy writers are excited by this prospect is a gross understatement; one has told us that he'd crawl through broken glass for the chance to write for the anthology, another that he'd gladly give up his right arm for the privilege that's the kind of regard in which Jack Vance and The Dying Earth are held by generations of his peers.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 600 pages
• Publisher: Subterranean; First edition (July 31, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1596062134
• ISBN-13: 978-1596062139
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6.1 x 2.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.7 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #295,435 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

14 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An excellent collection from some of the best talent in the genre, July 29, 2009

By	A. Whitehead "Werthead" (Colchester, Essex United Kingdom) - See all my reviews (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

Millions of years hence, the Sun has grown old, bloated and red and is about to go out. In these dying days humanity, now capable of great feats of magic, shares the much-changed Earth with hostile races such as the deodands and pelgranes. This is the vivid setting of Jack Vance's Dying Earth series, four books (now usually published in one volume) which now stand as one of the cornerstones of modern fantasy.

Songs of the Dying Earth is an all-star 'tribute album' by some of the biggest names in modern SF and Fantasy, featuring twenty-three stories set in the Dying Earth setting. Some of the authors employ existing characters (Cugel makes several appearances and is central in Kage Baker's The Green Bird, whilst Rhialto plays a strong supporting role in Glen Cook's The Good Magician), whilst most create their own characters to explore various stories and ideas. Robert Silverberg's entry deals with a peculiar form of maudlin depression brought about by the imminent end of eternity, whilst Matthew Hughes' Grolion of Almery is a crazy mash-up of the Dying Earth and Cthulu with a bit of Little Shop of Horrors chucked in for good measure. Some of the stories are extremely funny, others are tragic or very dark in tone.

One thing that stands out about the collection is its very high quality. The weakest stories in the collection are the ones where the writer tries to evoke Vance's language and fails - `Caulk the Witch-Chaser' by Liz Williams and Jeff VanderMeer's `Final Quest of the Wizard Sarnod' are notable examples - but even they successfully capture some of the setting's tone and feel. The strongest stories in the collection, most notably Dan Simmons' novella `The Guiding Nose of Ulfant Banderoz' and Tad Williams' `Lamentably Comic Tragedy', not only get the language right but feature their own memorable characters and explore interesting concepts in a well-developed manner.

Given the number of major star names on display, it's frequently the lesser-known authors who impress the most. Matt Hughes, Paula Volsky and Terry Dowling are not authors I'd encountered previously, but their stories are excellent. The old hands do rise to the occasion though, with Simmons and Tad Williams on top form, Walter Jon Williams delivering a knock-out tale and Tanith Lee writing the best story about a snail you'll ever read. George RR Martin, in only his second non-Song-of-Ice-and-Fire-related piece of fiction written in over 15 years, also delivers a dark and rather horrific story that invokes his background as a horror writer.

The collection is rounded off by a nice piece by Neil Gaiman. The collection has an interesting on-going subplot about the Sun reaching the end of its life, and in the final story we finally get to see what happens when it goes out. The results are unexpected, to say the least.

Songs of the Dying Earth (****½) is an exceptionally strong collection, a rich and sumptuous banquet of tales from the end of time. The weak links here are not enough to dilute the impact of the best stories in the collection, and the best stories are thought-provoking, memorable and sharply funny. The book is available now from Subterranean Press in the USA and will be published by HarperCollins Voyager in the UK on 1 October 2009.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A wonderful return to the world of the Dying Earth by top fantasy authors, August 7, 2009

By	Jvstin "Paul Weimer" (Circle Pines, MN United States) - See all my reviews

Edited by George R.R. Martin (who contributes a story as well) and Gardner Dozois, this anthology is another journey to the Dying Earth world created by Jack Vance.

Vance himself provides an introduction, and Dean Koontz provides an appreciation. But the heart and meat of the anthology are the stories.

Many of the authors do a remarkable job in capturing the essence of the Dying Earth. The language, the picaresque characters, the strange rambling adventures. Some of the stories feature characters from Vance's stories as main protagonists, others rely on those characters as plot devices, or even just as background color.

So how did they do?

Given the truism that anthologies can vary in the quality and interest stories and authors bring, I thought the quality of the stories was uniformly high. I was gratified that my high expectations were met by the authors and their stories. And the range of subjects and stories is high. Therein you will find more doings of Cugel (contradictory stories, if you wanted to try and take all of these stories as canonical), an architect who uses his skills to defend a castle, magicians large and small scrambling for power as the sun dies, and more, much more.

Dan Simmons has the only novella, the centerpiece of this anthology, The Guiding Nose of Ulfant Banderoz. It's one of the stronger stories in the volume. Like his digestion of Keats in the Hyperion novels, and the Iliad in Ilium, Simmons shows that he truly digests and does a good Dying Earth.

Besides his story, I particularly liked Wright's Guyal the Creator (continuing the character's story from the Vance story), Matthew Hughes' Grolion of Almery. (Hughes' own novels show his prior affection for homage to Vance), Paula Volsky's The Traditions of Karzh (showing how a would be wizard really gets his power) and Walter Jon William's Abrizonde (the aforementioned story about a hero architect).

But, really, few of the stories are poor, although I do wonder why Neil Gaiman felt the need to tie in the real world with the Dying Earth in his tale. I found that a bit atonal, even if its a decent story.

In any event, fans of the Dying Earth should not miss this anthology, especially given the list of authors and the love and care they have given the world of Messr. Vance.


The full list of stories:
The True Vintage of Erzuine Thale --Robert Silverberg
Grolion of Almery --Matthew Hughes
The Copsy Door --Terry Dowling
Caulk the Witch Doctor --Liz Williams
Inescapable --Mike Resnick
Abrizonde --Walter Jon Williams
The Traditions of Karzh --Paula Volsky
The Final Quest of the Wizard Sarnod --Jeff Vandermeer
The Green Bird --Kage Baker
The Last Golden Thread --Phyllis Eisenstein
An Incident in Uskvesk --Elizabeth Moon
Sylgarmo's Proclamation --Lucius Shepard
The Lamentably Comical Tragedy (or The Laughably Tragic Comedy) of Lixal Laqavee --Tad Williams
Guyal the Curator --John C Wright
The Good Magician --Glen Cook
The Return of the Fire Witch --Elizabeth Hand
The Collegeum of Mauge --Byron Tetrick
Evillo the Uncunning --Tanith Lee
The Guiding Nose of Ulfant Banderoz --Dan Simmons
Frogskin Cap --Howard Waldrop
A Night at the Tarn House --George R R Martin
An Invocation of Curiosity --Neil Gaiman

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Worthy of its inspiration, August 8, 2009

By	James Richard Flavin (Iwaki, Japan) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

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I've been a fan of Jack Vance for more years than I care to remember and I waited
to receive this book with a mixture of anticipation and apprehension. Over the years I've
read too many "tributes written the style of" collections that have simply failed to
live up to expectations or, all to often, have been a mishmash of stories written by
the editors friends. This book is an exception. The stories are so close to Vance's style
and quality that they could have been written by Jack himself. Just when I about to give up ever
reading even a single new Jack Vance quality story, I find myself in possession of a whole book of
magnificent stories.

Many thanks to the editors and authors of this collection.