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Winner of the 1961 Hugo Award for Best Novel and widely considered one of the most accomplished, powerful, and enduring classics of modern speculative fiction, Walter M. Miller, Jr.'s A Canticle for Leibowitz is a true landmark of twentieth-century literature—a chilling and still provocative look at a post-apocalyptic future.In a nightmarish ruined world slowly awakening to the light after sleeping in darkness, the infant rediscoveries of science are secretly nourished by cloistered monks dedicated to the study and preservation of the relics and writings of the blessed Saint Isaac Leibowitz. From here the story spans centuries of ignorance, violence, and barbarism, viewing through a sharp, satirical eye the relentless progression of a human race damned by its inherent humanness to recelebrate its grand foibles and repeat its grievous mistakes. Seriously funny, stunning, and tragic, eternally fresh, imaginative, and altogether remarkable, A Canticle for Leibowitz retains its ability to enthrall and amaze. It is now, as it always has been, a masterpiece.

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.

The Elder Isles, located in what is now the Bay of Biscay off the the coast of Old Gaul, are made up of ten contending kingdoms, all vying with each other for control. At the centre of much of the intrigue is Casmir, the ruthless and ambitious king of Lyonesse. His beautiful but otherworldly daughter, Suldrun, is part of his plans. He intends to cement an alliance or two by marrying her well. But Suldrun is as determined as he and defies him. Casmir coldly confines her to the overgrown garden that she loves to frequent, and it is here that meets her love and her tragedy unfolds. Political intrigue, magic, war, adventure and romance are interwoven in a rich and sweeping tale set in a brilliantly realized fabled land.

Rhialto the Marvellous takes up the personal and political conflicts among a conclave of two dozen magicians of Ascolais and Almery in the 21st Aeon. The shocking appearance of the Llorio the Murtha, a powerful female force from an earlier aeon threatens to unbalance nature by “ensqualming” or feminizing the magicians. This triggers a tremendous struggle for power and the other mages turn against Rhialto.Hoping to reestablish his rightful place, Rhialto travels to other aeons to restore the missing Perciplex which projects the Mostrament, the constitution of the association. In his final adventure, Rhialto must, ultimately, travel to the very ends of time and space to confront an old adversary whom he had wronged and must commit further misdeeds to restore order.Out of this welter of exotic politics, values systems, personal eccentricity, and magic, the figure of Rhialto slowly comes into focus and takes on dimension. He is a vain, apparently superficial man, not ashamed to demonstrate his melancholy to enhance his reputation. But he is courteous, patient, and subtle, even kind. He is self-aware and introspective as Cugel never could be—the wisest and most sympathetic of all of Vance’s wizards.

Cugel's Saga is a picaresque fantasy novel by American writer Jack Vance, published by Timescape in 1983, the third book in the Dying Earth series, the first volume of which appeared in 1950. The narrative of Cugel's Saga continues from the point at which it left off at the end of The Eyes of the Overworld (1966).The Internet Speculative Fiction Database calls Cugel's Saga "[t]wice as large and less episodic than Eyes of the Overworld", and catalogs it as a novel rather than a fix-up, but also qualifies that label. "This is marketed as a novel, but there is a table of contents, and some of the parts were previously published (although none are acknowledged thus)."The story begins on Shanglestone Strand, a desolate beach far to the north of Almery, where Cugel had been dumped at the end of The Eyes of the Overworld by a winged demon after he mispronounced the spell intended to inflict the same fate on his nemesis, Iucounu the Laughing Magician. Avoiding the village of Smolod, the scene of his first adventure in The Eyes of the Overworld and where "memories are long", Cugel heads down Shanglestone Strand and arrives at Flutic, a manse owned by the avaricious Master Twango, whose business is salvaging the scales of an Overworld entity named Sadlark from a miry pit in his back garden. The scales are sold to the firm of Soldinck and Mercantides, who trans-ship them to a customer in Almery. Taking employment at Flutic, through sheer luck Cugel obtains the Pectoral Skybreak Spatterlight, the most valuable of all the scales, as it constitutes Sadlark's central node of force, or "protonastic centrum". The Skybreak Spatterlight, which absorbs every living creature with which it comes into contact, imprisoning them in limbo, is central to the plot of the novel since it is coveted by none other than Iucounu, the mysterious final customer for the scales, who believes himself to be Sadlark's avatar and is trying to reconstruct the Overworld entity scale by scale. (Chapter I.1)

When magic ruled and kings were strong...South of Eire and west of Gaul was the land of the Elder Isles, a mystical place of fairy shees, valiant knights, and the powerful magic of sorcerers living and forgotten.Now, as Aillas of Troicinet and Casimir of Lyonesse parry and feint in a duel of wits, the mysterious aura of the Green Pearl enters their souls.Its menas are subtle, but its effects are great, and as the Kings of Elder ready their swords, even the worlds of the immortals tremble...

it can be all about the journey, right? it can be about the things along the way, how a place works or how a people think, it can be about taking in the details and experiencing them slowly, at leisure. it doesn't have to be a whirlwind amazing race around the world, stops checked off of a list while on the way to figuring out the next puzzle, it doesn't have to be all about solving the mystery and reaching the final destination to collect whatever prize or face whatever doom is waiting there.Jaro Fath has some mysteries to solve about the start of his life and the absence of those memories, about who he is and where he came from. the mysteries will be solved eventually. but his life isn't all about that mystery - despite that being foremost in his mind. his life is also about living in his caring new parents' household while trying to be his own person; it is about his ambitions to be a spaceman and his deepening attraction to an intriguing girl and his navigation through a society obsessed with private clubs and other hierarchies. it is about how to deal with some threatening bullies and how to avoid being taken advantage of by a beautiful woman with a plan. it's all about his actual life and the world he lives in and the worlds he visits - it's not just about getting it all over with so that there is some sort of satisfying conclusion. all the stops and idles along the way to that conclusion are just as important.Jack Vance makes it easy to enjoy the journey. I loved every page of this splendid novel. the cunning wit and the sardonic characterization, the various vibrantly hued cultures on display, the sublime descriptive passages, the absorbing tales and side-trips recounted that are only tangentially connected to the main narrative, the hero and the girl and all of the supporting characters, the way the end sets the stage for new adventures. the way the ending made me want to flip back to the beginning and start the whole experience all over again!Books I Wanted to Re-Read As Soon As I Turned the Last Page:(view spoiler)[Jonathan Strange &amp; Mr. NorrellThe Raj QuartetThe Graveyard BookAbsolute BeginnersTiganaA Song of Ice and Fire (all of them)The Bell at Sealey HeadDavid CopperfieldBellefleur and A Bloodsmoor RomanceTitus Groan and GormenghastHis Dark Materials (all of them) (hide spoiler)]

The Elder Isles - an ancient land where chivalry and the realm of fairie exist side by side. A land of mystery, strange beauty, high adventure and arcane magic. Kings are at war, opposing magicians devise ever more cunning stratagems. It is a land where princesses and changelings both can become embroiled in political rivalries and the quest for the grail. Jack Vance's Complete Lyonesse is a perfect addition to the series, contains Suldrun's Garden, The Green Pearl, and Madouc (the novel for which Vance won the World Fantasy Award). The Gollancz Black Books have proved to be an immensely successful formula for getting well loved stories into the hands of people who also love well made books.

Underneath the fading sun, Cugel--a hero--emerges. Well, sort of a hero, but more of a trickster. Less Hector, more Ulysses; less Samson, more Jacob; less Tom, and a lot more Huck. Cugel, however, is less likable than any of the these. Selfish, exploitative, and filled with unlimited self-regard, he continually overestimates his own considerable intelligence and fails where a lesser man might have succeeded.Paradoxically, it is Cugel's flaws and failures that keep us on his side during his picaresque journey, and his personality helps organize what might otherwise seem a disconnect series of tales. Vance's prose is still eccentric but more fluid than in the previous "Dying Earth" collection, and his imagination continues to astound: his descriptions of landscapes, individual flora and fauna are mesmerizing, and his plot inventions--particular the "eyes" mentioned in the title--are a source of continual delight.

SHEA'S "INFERNO"!Follow the adventures of Nifft the Lean, the master thief whose felonious appropriations and larcenous skills will lead through Stygian realms to challenge your most lurid fantasies and errant imaginings. Places where horror, harm and long eerie calms flow past the traveller in endless, unpredictable succession. Travel the man whose long, rawboned, sticky fingers and stark length of arm will lead you down to the vermiculous grottos of the demon sea, to stand beneath the subworld's lurid sky and battle monsters who seem the spiritual distillation of human evil itself!We invite to the very gates of Hell and beyond —COME IF YOU DARE!

Elric of Melniboné is the haunted, treacherous and doomed albino sorcerer-prince. An introspective weakling in thrall to his black-bladed, soul-eating sword, Stormbringer, he is yet a hero whose bloody adventures and wanderings through brooding, desolate lands leads inexorably to his decisive intervention in the war between the forces of Law and Chaos. This volume brings together The Stealer of Souls and Stormbringer, the first two published books of Elric's adventures, and confirms Michael Moorcock's place as one of the most important fantasy writers of our time.Omnibus of Stealer of Souls (collection, 1963) and Stormbringer (novel, 1977 revised version)Contents:•1 • The Dreaming City • [The Elric Saga] • (1961) • novelette by Michael Moorcock •35 • While the Gods Laugh • [The Elric Saga] • (1961) • novelette by Michael Moorcock •73 • The Stealer of Souls • [The Elric Saga] • (1962) • novelette by Michael Moorcock •119 • Kings in Darkness • [The Elric Saga] • (1962) • novelette by Michael Moorcock and James Cawthorn [as by Michael Moorcock ] •155 • The Caravan of Forgotten Dreams • [The Elric Saga] • (1962) • novelette by Michael Moorcock (aka The Flame Bringers) •191 • Stormbringer • [The Elric Saga • 6] • (1965) • novel by Michael Moorcock

The Mathematics of Magic was probably the greatest discovery of the ages - at least Professor Harold Shea thought so. With the proper equations, he could instantly transport himself back in time to all the wondrous lands of ancient legend. But slips in time were a hazard, and Shea's magic did not always work - at least, not quite as he expected... This omnibus volume contains three episodes of the Magical Misadventures of Harold Shea: - The Castle of Iron (1950, novel)- The Mathematics of Magic (1940, novella)- The Roaring Trumpet (1940, novella)The stories in this omnibus were previously published as two books: 'The Incomplete Enchanter' and 'The Castle of Iron'.

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  Middle-aged San Francisco horror writer Franz Westen is rediscovering ordinary life following a long alcoholic binge. Then one day, peering at his apartment window from atop a nearby hill, he sees a pale brown thing lean out his window…and wave.This encounter sends Westen on a quest through ancient books and modern streets, for the dark forces and paramental entities that thrive amidst the towering skyscrapers of modern urban life…and meanwhile, the entities are also looking for him.A pioneering work of modern urban fantasy, Our Lady of Darkness is perhaps Fritz Leiber’s greatest novel.\


Norman Saylor considered witchcraft nothing but quaint superstition until he learned his own wife was a practising sorceress. Even then, he still refused to accept the truth - one that every woman knows but no man dares to believe - that in the secret occult warfare that governs our everyday lives, witchcraft is a matter of life and death. Conjure Wife is a masterpiece of witchcraft and dark fantasy and the source of the classic horror film Burn Witch Burn!

One of them was a huge, brawny, full-bearded barbarian from the northlands of Nehwon. His name was Fafhrd, his weapon a broadsword. The other was a small, nimble man dressed all in gray. Men called him the Gray Mouser, and he carried both rapier and dirk. They were known throughout the city of Lankhmar as brawlers, cutpurses, and rogues. But they were the most dangerous fighting-men in Lankhmar, so when the Overlord Glipkerio Kistomerces needed guards for an all-important shipment of gifts to a neighbouring monarch, he chose them for the task. Thus began one of the most fabolous sword-and-sorcery adventures in the famous Fafhrd-Gray Mouser saga—a full-length novel which Ace Books is proud to bring to you as the first in this action-packed new series.

Contents:· The Sadness of the Executioner · ss Flashing Swords! #1, ed. Lin Carter, Dell, 1973 · Beauty and the Beasts · vi The Book of Fritz Leiber, DAW, 1974 · Trapped in the Shadowland · ss Fantastic Nov ’73 · The Bait · vi Whispers Dec ’73 · Under the Thumbs of the Gods · ss Fantastic Apr ’75 · Trapped in the Sea of Stars · ss The Second Book of Fritz Leiber, DAW, 1975 · The Frost Monstreme · nv Flashing Swords! #3, ed. Lin Carter, Dell, 1976 · Rime Isle · na Cosmos SF&amp;F Magazine May ’77 (+1)

This may be my favorite "Swords" volume. This--in spite of the fact that it is designated #3 in the series--is as good a place for new readers to begin their journey through the marvelous kingdom of Lankhmar.Two of the short stories develop familiar fantasy and horror themes--a malevolent meteorological phenomenon ("The Cloud of Hate") and a temporary entrance to an undersea kingdom ("When the Sea Kings Away")--with such precisely-imagined detail that they become startlingly original. "Lean Times in Lankhmar" is quintessential Leiber, featuring a memorable evocation of the city's "Street of the Gods," and a superb narrative exposition in which details that first appear merely descriptive all contribute to an exciting--and hilarious--denouement. Finishing off the collection is the original Fafhrd and Mouser novelette--written by Leiber and his original collaborator Fischer in 1936--"Adept's Gambit," which is witty, sexy, exciting, and filled with the enthusiasm of youth.

For the first time-the story of how the greatest heroes in fantastic literature first met. 'The two thieves had themselves been robbed by two youths, who eyed each other suspiciously over the sprawled, senseless bodies. Fafhrd said: 'Our motives for being here seem identical.' 'Surely, they must be!' the Mouser answered curtly, fiercely eyeing his huge, potential foe.Fafhrd glanced down at the belts and money-pouches of the fallen thieves. Then he looked up at the Mouser with an honest, open, ingenuous smile. 'Sixty-sixty?' he suggested. Thus was born the most improbable relationship in the whole history of swords and sorceries.Contains:7 • Induction • [Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser] • (1957) • shortstory by Fritz Leiber11 • The Snow Women • [Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser] • (1970) • novella by Fritz Leiber91 • The Unholy Grail • [Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser] • (1962) • novelette by Fritz Leiber123 • Ill Met in Lankhmar • [Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser] • (1970) • novella by Fritz Leiber

This collection of Malazan novellas is a splendid example of high quality fantasy in short form, retaining the beauty of the longer books, including the astute political and social analyses which Erikson tends to indulge in. It also illustrates the sheer compellingness of well-crafted malicious characters. A fascinating viewpoint which is still somewhat underexposed. \
  Blood Follows\
Urban murder mysteries from the perspective of heavily involved necromancers and their hapless manservant. A delightful reintroduction to Bauchelain and Korbal Broach, and an absolutely brilliant bite-sized adventure in the Malazan world. It is quite different from Erikson’s typical long form escapades, but it is no less well-crafted. In fact, I found myself wishing for the inclusion of such writing, more focused and precise, in the main series. At the very least it provides an interesting change.Rating: 5 stars\
  The Lees of Laughter’s End\
A fascinating sequel story. The sea voyage setting makes for a confined mystery plot evocative of Agatha Christie, but subsequent events turns this novella into something more reminiscent of an absurd Tarantino film. Considerably stranger than its predecessor, but an interesting addition in its own right. Rating: 4 stars\
  The Healthy Dead\
The collection’s jewel. The more philosophical of the three, it is a fantastic statement on the perils of rigidity (even rigid goodness) and the ease with which good intentions are twisted and transformed into horrid practices. As a dark, but light-hearted inspection of morality, it is both intelligent, witty and entertaining. Rating: 5 stars

In Darujhistan, the city of blue fire, it is said that love and death shall arrive dancing. It is summer and the heat is oppressive, but for the small round man in the faded red waistcoat, discomfiture is not just because of the sun. All is not well. Dire portents plague his nights and haunt the city streets like fiends of shadow. Assassins skulk in alleyways, but the quarry has turned and the hunters become the hunted. Hidden hands pluck the strings of tyranny like a fell chorus. While the bards sing their tragic tales, somewhere in the distance can be heard the baying of Hounds...And in the distant city of Black Coral, where rules Anomander Rake, Son of Darkness, ancient crimes awaken, intent on revenge. It seems Love and Death are indeed about to arrive...hand in hand, dancing. A thrilling, harrowing novel of war, intrigue and dark, uncontrollable magic, "Toll the Hounds" is the new chapter in Erikson's monumental series - epic fantasy at its most imaginative and storytelling at its most exciting.

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