Songs of the Dying Earth

Starred review from August 10, 2009
This stellar anthology features 22 original stories set in the far future of Grand Master Jack Vance's 1950 classic The Dying Earth
, wherein sorcerers, rogues and demons squabble for power beneath the waning light of a bloated red sun. Some of the field's most talented writers successfully adopt Vance's convoluted style, ironic dialogue and amoral protagonists, as in Dan Simmons's epic novella “The Guiding Nose of Ulfänt Banderoz,” which relates the desperate quest of Shrue the diabolist to find a dead wizard's Ultimate Library, and Liz Williams's excellent “Caulk the Witch-chaser,” concerning a minor wizard forced to ally himself with his quarry. Exquisitely illustrated by Tom Kidd, these are tales to savor and a fitting tribute to one of the field's finest authors.