Millions of years have passed and the Earth has grown old. Its high mountains have been eroded and its rivers now flow sluggishly among strange trees with dark foliage. The red sun casts only a dull light, while the nights are dark, the moon having long since disappeared from the firmament.
Weird creatures roam the wastelands of the world and the few humans live in small isolated communities, fatalistically waiting for the moment when the sun will go out, plunging the world into the last eternal winter. Magic lives again, and its few wielders can change nature itself. A spell, properly cast, can bring forth a demon from the darkness of infinity or create a creature of indescribable beauty.
Enter the world of Dying Earth, created by the great author Jack Vance! Forget everything you’ve ever known about Heroic Fantasy and immerse yourself in a world out of man’s wildest dreams and most terrible nightmares.
John (Holbrook) Vance, born in California, USA, in 1916, is widely regarded as a living legend of both science fiction and heroic fantasy. Over the course of a remarkable career spanning decades, he established himself as one of the genre’s most distinctive and influential voices.
Vance initially studied engineering, then physics, and later journalism. He wrote his first book while serving in the United States Navy during the Second World War.
Since then, Vance has written more than sixty books spanning both science fiction and heroic fantasy. Each of his works is distinctive, enriched by an extraordinary kaleidoscope of imagery, atmosphere, and ideas.
Over the course of his career, he received numerous major awards, including the Hugo Award in 1963 and 1967, the Nebula Award in 1967, the World Fantasy Award in 1984 and 1990, and the SFWA Grand Master Award in 1996.
Even in his later years, approaching ninety and having lost his eyesight, Vance continued to write with remarkable dedication, earning the admiration and respect of readers and fellow authors alike.
Aiolos Publishers offers The Dying Earth Cycle, which includes The Dying Earth, The Eyes of the Overworld, Cugel’s Saga, and Rhialto the Marvellous.