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.The Gollancz Black Books have proved to be an immensely successful formula for getting well loved stories into the hands of peop...

Jack Vance is one of the most remarkable talents to ever grace the world of science fiction. His unique, stylish voice has been beloved by generations of readers. One of his enduring classics is his 1964 novel, The Dying Earth, and its sequels--a fascinating, baroque tale set on a far-future Earth, under a giant red sun that is soon to go out forever.This omnibus volume comprised all four books in the seriesThe Dying EarthThe Eyes of the ...

The Dying Earth Omnibus includes some of Vance's most influential work, including "Mazirian the Magician" (originally published as "The Dying Earth", a collection of six short stories "Turjan of Miir", "Mazirian the Magician", "T'sais", "Liane the Wayfarer", "Ulan Dhor Ends a Dream", and "Guyal of Sfere"), "Cugel the Clever" ("Eyes of the Overworld"), "Rhialto the Marvellous" (containing three short stories "The Murthe", "Fader's Waft", and "Morreion"), and "Cugel: the Skybreak Spatterligh...

New races of man had evolved, new species of beast; science had vanished and magic had arisen to dominate the twilight of our world as it dominated the earth's morning. The Dying Earth is Jack Vance's finest work - a stunning evocation of a world peopled by wizards, witches, demons, monsters, dashing princes and forlorn maidens. A bejewelled gallery of strange and wonderful beings in the eminent tradition of Tolkien and William Morris.Jack Vance's preferred title for this collectio...

The Potters of Firsk includes the majority of Vance's 'Magnus Ridolph' stories, previously collected in The Many Worlds of Magnus Ridolph. In the VIE edition this book is titled Gadget Stories.Contents: Planet of the Black Dust, Dead Ahead ("Ultimate Quest"), Hard Luck Diggings, Sanatoris Short-cut, The Unspeakable McInch, The Howling Bounders, The King of Thieves, The Sub-standard Sardines, To B or Not to C or to D ("Cosmic Hotfoot"), Spa of the Stars, The Enchanted Princess ("The ...

Arrabus on the planet Wyst is an "egalistic" nation, where everyone is supposedly equal to everyone else. Arrabins work only two hours per week ("drudge"), which is drawn at random each week. In return, they receive food in the form of gruff, deedle, and wobbly - all synthetically produced food - and are housed in gigantic block tenements. Natural food ("bonter") is very rare, resulting in a flourishing black market trade with the "Weirdlands", the lands beyond Arrabus. An executive commit...

Iucounu the Laughing Magician dispatches unwilling Cugel on a difficult quest, to deliver a violet glass cusp worn in the overworld by warring demons of the eighteenth aeon. Cugel's trials and adventures are diverse as he makes his way from Shanglestone Strand back to Almery, and his revenge upon Iucounu.Cugel the Clever is part 2 of 4 of The Dying Earth.The stories of the Dying Earth series are set in the distant future, at a point when the sun is almost exhausted and magic has reasserted...

The first book in the 5 volume Demon Princes saga. The protagonists parents were murdered by a posse of 5 galactic criminals, the "demon princes". He vows revenge, and eliminates them one by one. In the process Vance does what he excels at: creating strange worlds, environments, customs, and adaptations that humans have made to live in these conditions.

For centuries the breathtakingly beautiful planet Cadwal has been held in trust by a centuries-old Charter of Conservancy, created by the now-defunct Naturalist Society on Old Earth.Over time, restrictions on population expansion written into the Charter have become irksome to some who live on Cadwal—those who would take the unexploited wealth of Cadwal for themselves, also those forced to leave the planet to keep population in check.Glawen Clattuc grows to manhood within t...

Kirth Gersen, having brought arch-villain Malagate the Woe to justice, sets his sights on Kokor Hekkus, another of the Demon Princes. The name Kokor Hekkus, which means "killing machine" in the language of the planet Thamber, does not refer to Hekkus's own predilection for homicide, but to his fondness for horrific and murderous devices, including the giant robotic executioner that first gained him his nickname.As a boy, Kirth Gersen survived a raid on his home planet masterminded ...

The Conservancy of Cadwal has a new Charter- thanks to the courage of Glawen Clattuc and his beloved Wayness Tamm. But this has not brought peace to the people of Cadwal- instead, it has polarized them. Led by exiles, anti-Conservancy forces continue work to open Cadwal to commercial exploitation, while a new extremist faction seeks to restore Cadwal to entirely natural condition. In the middle are the governors of the planet, and their police force. Newly-promoted Commander Glawen Clattuc...

De Lekthwans, een van de talrijke mensachtige rassen die de melkweg bevolken, hebben handelsposten opgericht op de Aarde en delen bereidwillig hun superieure wetenschap en technologie met de Aardbewoners. In vergelijking met Lekthwa is de Aarde nog maar net het barbarendom ontstegen en alle menselijke kennis is ofwel achterhaald of verouderd. Daar heeft de koppige Roy Barch het moeilijk mee. In dienst van Markel, de handelscommissaris van Lekthwa in Californië, worstelt Barch met een minde...