The Dying Earth

Dust jacket and interior illustrations by Tom Kidd

Earth’s Final Days…
“Once it was a tall world of cloudy mountains and bright rivers, and the sun was a white blazing ball. Ages of rain and wind have beaten and rounded the granite, and the sun is feeble and red. The continents have sunk and risen. A million cities have lifted towers, have fallen to dust. In place of the old peoples a few thousand souls live. There is evil on Earth, evil distilled by time…Earth is dying and in its twilight…”
—Pandelume of Embelyon

On any list of all-time favorite fantasy and science fiction masterworks, The Dying Earth always earns a much deserved place. As well as being a genuine classic of modern epic fantasy, it is also the trademark work of acclaimed F&SF Grandmaster Jack Vance, one of the field’s most distinctive and beloved voices and one of its most influential master storytellers.

Set in a distant future when our sun is about to expire, the six marvellous adventures in this, Vance’s first ever book, originally published in 1950, take us to a world filled with strange lands and ancient wonders, where the moon has long-since left the sky and science has been all but replaced by magic, where hopes and dreams for a golden tomorrow have given way to a decadent grandeur, outrageous schemes and the most desperate and reckless acts of derring-do imaginable.

In this fascinating world, home to pelgranes, erbs and Deodands, Gauns, gids and Twk-men, we meet Turjan of Miir in his unswerving quest to create artificial life, watch the cruel Mazirian the Magician as he pursues his latest dark obsession, observe the beautiful T’sais as she learns to find beauty in Earth’s final days. We enjoy the antics of the foolish, unforgettable Liane the Wayfarer (and the even more unforgettable Chun the Unavoidable!) in that bandit-troubadour’s quest for a fabulous tapestry, follow Ulan Dhor as he seeks the lost spells of a great magician in far-off Ampridatvir, join Guyal of Sfere in his search for ancient knowledge in the Museum of Man.

But, most important of all, we meet the world itself, this vivid, wondrous setting at the end of time, at once doomed and magical, elusive and yet always fascinating.

This handsome new deluxe edition from Subterranean Press, lavishly illustrated by Tom Kidd, catches the spirit of Jack Vance’s cherished story suite perfectly, bringing alive his unique blend of end-time splendor, arcane mystery, dark humor and darker mischief in fine style. But the greatest wonder on show within these covers is, of course, the storytelling of Jack Vance himself. In the words of Dan Simmons, this landmark volume shows us “what it is like to be truly and totally and indelibly transported into a master magician’s mind and world.”

　
“One of the best and most influential fantasy works of the 20th century.”
—Terry Pratchett

“The Dying Earth…one of the most powerful fantasy/science fiction concepts in the history of the genre…The fragility and transience of all things, the nobility of humanity’s struggle against the certainty of an entropic resolution, gives The Dying Earth a poignancy rare in novels of fantastic romance.”
—Dean Koontz

“There are few enough of the writers I loved when I was 13 I can see myself going back to in twenty years from now. Jack Vance I will re-read for ever.”
—Neil Gaiman

Our edition of The Dying Earth will be copiously illustrated by Tom Kidd, and include:

A full-color wraparound dust jacket
Full-color endsheets
An oversize, 7*10 format
Two color printing throughout
Printed on 80# Finch
Six full-color paintings
Twenty five interior duotone illustrations (including chapter heads and full pages)
Limited: 250 signed (by the author and the artist) numbered hardcover copies, in a custom slipcase
Lettered: 26 signed (by the author and artist) specially bound copies, housed in a handcrafted traycase