New Dying Earth Anthology

[Imperial Overlord]

From Dan Simmon's website

Despite the fact that Dan has won the World Fantasy Award twice, the British Fantasy Award, a Japanese Fantasy Award for Best Novel, and various other awards with "fantasy" in their headings, some of you may know that he feels that he's never written a "real" fantasy story or novel.

That will change this year.

George R.R. Martin and Gardner Dozois have asked Dan to write a story or novelette or novella for their upcoming proposed anthology of tales set in Jack Vance's "Dying Earth" universe and Dan has accepted . . . with pleasure.

"I respect the fact that most of the world thinks of Harry Potter when they think 'fantasy,'" says Dan. "For me, quality fantasy will always be Jack Vance and his The Dying Earth tales. I'm excited to be invited to that universe and look forward to attempting a piece of fantasy that will honor the tremendous quality that Jack Vance set as the standard in his Dying Earth stories."

Here are some of the details as forwarded in a letter to Dan from George R.R. Martin:

"Gardner and I have put the finishing touches on the proposal for the anthology we're calling SONGS OF THE DYING EARTH, and have turned it over to Ralph Vicinanza, who represents Jack Vance and will be handling this one on both the foreign and domestic fronts. We got a wonderful response to our invitations; Jack Vance is truly a writer's writer, and has had a profound influence on several generations of fantasists.

Our lineup of writers is pretty impressive, we think. In alphabetical order:

Glen Cook Michael Shea
Terry Dowling Robert Silverberg
Phyllis Eisenstein Dan Simmons
Ray Feist Jeff Vandermeer
Neil Gaiman Paula Volsky
Elizabeth Hand Howard Waldrop
Matt Hughes Liz Williams
Tanith Lee Tad Williams
George R.R. Martin Walter Jon Williams
Michael Moorcock John C. Wright
Mike Resnick

I'm a big fan of The Dying Earth and this news makes me a happy, happy camper.

[Slacker]

Wow, that's a who's who's list of quality writers right there. Looks like it should be really good.

[Enigma]

Wow, that's a who's who's list of quality writers right there. Looks like it should be really good.

Care to explain the Dying Earth series to the uninformed?

[Mayabird]

Exactly what it says on the tin. It's way, way, way into the future, so far that the sun has gone red giant. Earth is covered with the ruins of bajillions of civilizations and their creations that have come and gone, and is now going through the very last gasp of life and society. Technology became so advanced that it turned into magic, but a lot of it has been lost, of course. And in the midst of it are all these people who live on the dying world, but they're mostly interested in the ageless desires to get laid, rich, and powerful.

[The Grim Squeaker]

Wow, that's a who's who's list of quality writers right there. Looks like it should be really good.

Care to explain the Dying Earth series to the uninformed?

Earth in the very, very far future. Countless civilizations and empires have risen and fallen, the planet itself has grown geologically old, magic exists alongside "demons", rogue supercomputer artifacts, sorcerors and time travellers.
It's very awesome, and the anthology ("Tales of the Dying Earth" by Jack Vance") is a must read by any sci-fi fan. (Or fantasy fan for that matter, the D&D spell casting system is a homage to that of Vance's, right down to "Glorious prismatic spray" becoming "Prismatic Spray" and memorized spells).
I await this book eagerly

[Imperial Overlord]

Wow, that's a who's who's list of quality writers right there. Looks like it should be really good.

Care to explain the Dying Earth series to the uninformed?

DEATH and Maya covered it. Here's a piece of Dying Earth fan fiction by yours truly if you want to get your toes wet for free.

The Land of the Falling Wall

As with everything, reading the works of the master is the preferred course. I have all the Dying Earth books in a single inexpensive big softback edition with a dreadful cover. My Librium Arcana avatar is the magician Rhialto the Marvelous attended by some of his IOUN stones (another treasure D&D owes to the Dying Earth, although most players wouldn't want to be involved with the Dying Earth version of the robe of eyes), from the stories of the same name.