Songs of the Dying Earth. Gardner Dozois

      SONGS OF THE DYING EARTH

      STORIES IN HONOUR OF JACK VANCE

      Edited by

      George R.R. Martin and Gardner Dozois

      with an Appreciation by Dean Koontz

      

      ROBERT SILVERBERG, MATTHEW HUGHES, TERRY DOWLING, LIZ WILLIAMS, MIKE RESNICK, WALTER JON WILLIAMS, PAULA VOLSKY, JEFF VANDERMEER, KAGE BAKER, PHYLLIS EISENSTEIN, ELIZABETH MOON, LUCIUS SHEPARD, TAD WILLIAMS, JOHN C. WRIGHT, GLEN COOK, ELIZABETH HAND, BYRON TETRICK, TANITH LEE, DAN SIMMONS, HOWARD WALDROP, GEORGE R.R. MARTIN, NEIL GAIMAN

      

       Copyright

      HarperCollinsPublishers 77-85 Fulham Palace Road, Hammersmith, London W6 8JB

       www.voyager-books.co.uk

      First published in Great Britain by HarperVoyager An imprint of HarperCollinsPublishers 2009

      Copyright © George R R Martin and Gardner Dozois 2009

      Full copyright information here

      The authors assert the moral right to be identified as the authors of this work

      

      A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library

      

      All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, down-loaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins e-books

       HarperCollinsPublishers has made every reasonable effort to ensure that any picture content and written content in this ebook has been included or removed in accordance with the contractual and technological constraints in operation at the time of publication.

      Source ISBN: 9780007277483

      Ebook Edition © SEPTEMBER 2009 ISBN: 9780007290666 Version: 2014-11-28

       Dedication

      to Jack Vance, the maestro, with thanks for all the great tales, and for letting us play with your toys.

      Table of Contents

       Cover Page

       Title Page

Copyright

Dedication

Thank You, Mr. Vance DEAN KOONTZ

Preface JACK VANCE

The True Vintage of Erzuine Thale ROBERT SILVERBERG

Grolion of Almery MATTHEW HUGHES

The Copsy Door TERRY DOWLING

Caulk the Witch-chaser LIZ WILLIAMS

Inescapable MIKE RESNICK

Abrizonde WALTER JON WILLIAMS

The Traditions of Karzh PAULA VOLSKY

       The Final Quest of the Wizard Sarnod JEFF VANDERMEER

       The Green Bird KAGE BAKER

       The Last Golden Thread PHYLLIS EISENSTEIN

       An Incident in Uskvosk ELIZABETH MOON

       Sylgarmo’s Proclamation LUCIUS SHEPARD

       The Lamentably Comical Tragedy (or The Laughably Tragic Comedy) of Lixal Laqavee TAD WILLIAMS

       Guyal the Curator JOHN C. WRIGHT

       The Good Magician GLEN COOK

       The Return of the Five Witch ELIZABETH HAND

       The Collegeum of Mauge BYRON TETRICK

       Evillo the Uncunning TANITH LEE

       The Guiding Nose of Ulfänt Banderōz DAN SIMMONS

       Frogskin Cap HOWARD WALDROP

       A Night at the Tarn House GEORGE R.R. MARTIN

       An Invocation of Incuriosity NEIL GAIMAN

       About the Publisher

       THANK YOU, MR. VANCE By Dean Koontz

      IN 1966, at 21, fresh from college, I was a fool and possibly deranged, although not seriously dangerous. I was a well-read fool, especially in science fiction. For twelve years, I pored through at least a book a week in that genre. I felt that I belonged in one of the other worlds or far futures of those tales more than I did in the world and time in which I’d been born, less because I had a wide romantic streak than because I had low self-esteem and longed to