The Dying Earth

Two billion years in the future, the sun nears the end of its life, its radiance fading, the sky shifting between pink and deep blue. Earth is sparsely populated, human civilization long since degenerate, its records all but lost, and science and magic no longer distinguishable: a handful of magicians cultivate life in nutrient vats, grow hybrid plants with animal ancestry in their gardens, and summon gods at dark secret feasts, while most people are confined to isolated medieval-style villages, living lives that seem like a replay of the old days. This book is Jack Vance's breakthrough work and the opening of the Dying Earth series, collecting six short stories: "Turjan of Miir" tells of the wizard Turjan, who risks all to obtain the art of creating life; "Mazirian the Magician" depicts a cold-hearted wizard's greedy pursuit of magical knowledge; "T'sais" follows a created woman searching for beauty and answers across a world at its end; "Liane the Wayfarer" recounts the meeting of a vain wanderer with Chun the Unavoidable; "Ulan Dhor" tells of a young man sent on a mission to a legendary ancient city; and "Guyal of Sfere" follows a knowledge-hungry youth in search of the Museum of Man. With gorgeous, austere prose, Vance constructs a desolate, barren end-of-days vision: no heroic, tragic wars, only individuals struggling to survive in the twilight of civilization. Its conceit that spells must be memorized and are forgotten once cast profoundly influenced the magic system of Dungeons & Dragons, and is known as "Vancian magic." The Chinese edition of The Dying Earth was introduced in 2011 by Sichuan Science and Technology Press in the World Fantasy Masters series; besides the title collection, it also includes "The Miracle Workers" and the novels The Eyes of the Overworld and Cugel's Saga featuring the clever rogue Cugel, making it the main window through which Chinese readers know this classic Vance series.