Songs of the Dying Earth: Stories in Honour of Jack Vance
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Songs of the Dying Earth: Stories in Honour of Jack Vance (The Dying Earth)

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3.96 of 5 stars 3.96  ·  rating details  ·  195 ratings  ·  53 reviews
?Thank You, Mr. Vance, ? by Dean Koontz. ? 2009 by Dean Koontz.?Preface, ? by Jack Vance. ? 2009 by Jack Vance.?The True Vintage of Erzuine Thale, ? by Robert Silverberg. ? 2009 by Agberg, Ltd. ?Grolion of Almery, ? by Matthew Hughes. ? 2009 by Matt Hughes Company Ltd.?The Copsy Door, ? by Terry Dowling. ? 2009 by Terry Dowling. ?Caulk the Witch-Chaser, ? by Liz Williams. ...more
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Published August 31st 2009 by Brilliance Corporation
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Stephen
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***The above quotes really say it all when it comes to the talent of Jack Vance and his singular creation: the Dying Earth***

Easily, and I mean EASILY the single best tribute anthology I have ever read and in the top 10 for anthologies period. What a monumental achievement in honor of such a monumental achiever. I worked my way through this collection slowly, SAVORING all of the deliciously VANCEtastic stories set in the world of the Dying Earth. I am a bit of rabid-mouth-foami...more
Seak (Bryce L.)
Songs of the Dying Earth kind of popped up at my door one day and to be honest I never really had any interest. I adore (and yes, adore is a most fitting word) George R.R. Martin's A Song of Ice and Fire series, but I can't say I was at all positive about this anthology. It's pretty much just fan fiction right? Why would anyone pay good money for this?

Not only that, but it's a tribute to an author I've never read. Yes, I have debated picking up Tales of the Dying Earth at one point o...more
Ben Babcock
This is the reason why I hunted down a copy of The Dying Earth and read it. Subterranean Press told me it was publishing a huge anthology of short stories by authors I love, all as a tribute to this Jack Vance guy, who is apparently a Big Deal. See my review of The Dying Earth for thoughts about Vance and my reaction to his series.

As far as anthologies go, this one is awesome. There are no two ways about it: fans of The Dying Earth will love most, maybe not all, of these stories; ne...more
Gary
Two stories in and it's all good so far....
5 stories in now and they are all glorious homages to the Master - really enjoying them! Only 5 stories left in this mammoth tribute to Jack Vance and I must say they have all been splendid evocations of the Master! All the authors so far have captured the essence of Vance's style and storytelling.
Finished! and I can honestly say that this is a splendid book that provides the reader with continual delights. All the stories bar one I felt were ...more
Marcus Gipps
I read Jack Vance’s Dying Earth collection a year or two ago (http://marcusgipps.livejournal.com/61958...), and thought it was patchy at best. I could see why it was revered, and the language was wonderful, but I had issues with some of the implementation. It was OK, but it didn’t become my favourite book overnight. So when Subterranean Press, who put out some utterly gorgeous editions and who take too much of my money, announced this collection of short stories based on Vance’s work, I didn’t j...more
Paul
Edited by George R.R. Martin (who contributes a story as well) and Gardner Dozois, this anthology is another journey to the Dying Earth world created by Jack Vance.

Vance himself provides an introduction, and Dean Koontz provides an appreciation. But the heart and meat of the anthology are the stories.

Many of the authors do a remarkable job in capturing the essence of the Dying Earth. The language, the picaresque characters, the strange rambling adventures. Some of the ...more
Zachary Stewart
The book itself is very well crafted. The woodcut style illustrations and page boarders give it the feel of an old tome in the type no longer produced today. I really recommend this Subterranean Press version if you can find it.



Dean Koontz for the intro/Thank yo to Jack seems like a strange choice for me. He admits he doesn't actually know much about Vance himself, he just likes some of the stories. I suspect he was invited so they could put his name on the cover and pick up some cross genre...more
Neil
I had tried to read the original Dying Earth stories by Jack Vance a few years back, and I couldn't finish them. It wasn't that I hated them, but they just wasn't gripping me--I'm not sure if the flowery language just wasn't catching me, or if I just couldn't get past the irredeemable protagonists.

So I picked up this book on the strength of its editor and many of the contributors, and I did enjoy it. There was a good variety in the stories, and the author's comments at the end of each ...more
Psychophant
The actual score would be three and a half, but as collected shorts have trouble scoring high as always there are a few disappointing ones in the bunch, I prefer to round up rather than down.

This big book is a homage to Jack Vance's Dying Earth series, probably one of the biggest secret influences in fantasy, from Majipoor to the Book of the New Sun. Quite a dazzling cast of writers tackle Vance's idiosincratic world at the end of time, complex amoral characters and rich flowing lang...more
Andreas
Andreas rated it 5 of 5 stars  ·  review of another edition
Recommends it for: Fans of Jack Vance and the Dying Earth
"Songs of the Dying Earth" is an homage to the Dying Earth world of Jack Vance. The list of authors who have contributed to this tome reads like a who-is-who of today's top fantasy writers and I am delighted to hold this marvelous collection in my hands. As setting and style are predefined, the stories don't win prices for special originality. However, almost all entertain and some even manage to capture the unique spirit of Jack Vance or to enrich the existing tales. It was a pleasure...more
Bob
I have never read Jack Vance. I picked this up going through George RR Martin's stories. It seems I need to add Jack Vance to my list of things to read.

Abrizonde was one of the best ones in the collection. The Traditions of Karzth was another story I enjoyed. The Guiding Nose of Ulfant Banderoz was another. There are a few other that I liked and I bet if I came back after reading Jack Vance himself some of the storieswould have more meaning but some would also seem jusst a faint copy...more
Scott
When it comes to getting my attention, Songs of the Dying Earth: Stories in Honour of Jack Vance has nearly everything going for it when it comes to a collection of short stories. Nearly everything except that I have to rather sheepishly admit that I’m not very familiar with Jack Vance. But when you have George R.R. Martin editing and contributing to a collection, it’s likely to be a winner.

Throw in one of my favorite authors of all time, Lucius Shepard and heavy hitters like Rober...more
Jadewik
I'm not familiar with Jack Vance or his world of The Dying Earth, but I'm really enjoying this collection of stories by various authors. Koontz did a great job introducing Vance to readers who aren't in the know (like me) in his "Thank You". I'm also enjoying the art that accompanies each story.

Because this is a collection of stories, I'd like to write a little blurb about each of them.... so this is quite lengthy. I'll give star ratings to them all and take a rounded-to-th...more
Kat  Hooper
Kat Hooper rated it 5 of 5 stars
Shelves: favorites
Songs of the Dying Earth: Stories in Honor of Jack Vance is the best anthology I’ve ever read. These stories will be enjoyed by any SFF reader, but they’ll be ten times more fun if you’ve read Jack Vance’s The Dying Earth, because they are all written in honor of that fantastic work. Each tale is written in the style of Vance, which is quite amusing in itself, and each takes place on the Dying Earth, that far-future wasteland in which natural selection means survival of the cleverest, nastiest,...more
Ziburan
In het verleden had ik met veel plezier meerdere boeken gelezen van Jack Vance (zoals Tschai, Lyonesse), dus dit boek sprak mij wel aan.
Probleem was dat ik nog geen van de Stervende Aarde boeken van hem had gelezen. Dus als achtergrondonderzoek heb ik eerst De stervende Aarde en De ogen van de overwereld gelezen. De verhalen hebben hun oorsprong in de jaren vijftig en zestig van de vorige eeuw. Hoewel alle verhalen zich afspelen in de toekomst vallen de verhalen toch voornamelijk onder de ...more
Malquiviades
Here you have a bunch of stories honoring Jack Vance and its astonishing Dying Earth setting, which is something you must not miss if you enjoy the writer, its work or (probably) both of them.

It would be advisable to read Vance's work beforehand or you may somehow miss the atmosphere that impregnate them, as it is taken as granted. Then you can come back to this book.

If you do not know Vance's work... what are you waiting for? Go and get a copy from the library or some fr...more
Nick
If you're a Jack Vance fan, it's because you've read his cycle of "the Dying Earth"; Earth at the end of the Sun's life, when everyone has a serious case of Armageddon-itis, but there's still lots of fun to be had for those who know how to play the end game. This book is a collection of stories about the Dying Earth written by greats from the Fantasy and Sci-fi industry, including Neil Gaiman and a host of others, and it's wonderful. If you're a Jack Vance fan, run to the bookstore a...more
Jason Fischer
An absolutely outstanding book. If you are a fan of Jack Vance's work (and the Dying Earth in particular) this book is definitely for you. Even if you're not, it's a great exercise to see how several top-shelf authors have gone about playing in someone else's universe. There was only one story in this large collection that I couldn't finish, which is a pretty good percentage for an anthology of shorts.

While many of the styles are different, I think that in some way most of these piec...more
Lord Humungus
This collection brought me back to the magical Dying Earth at the end of time. It's been a while since I read Vance's Dying Earth compilation, but I think I enjoyed this collection more. It was chock full of amusing anti-heroes, bizarre creatures, elaborate language, and spectacular and humorous fairy tales of the far future. The stories collected in this book were both inspired and inspiring, even the lesser ones.

Each story includes a fanciful illustration relevant to the tale rend...more
David Marshall
This is quite simply one of the most consistent anthologies ever put together. Every story is way better than good. Whether you know and like Vance, or just want to read excellent fantasy, you can't do better than this.

http://opionator.wordpress.com/2011/03/3...
Snail in Danger (Sid) Nicolaides
I only snagged this from the library for Kage Baker's short story, which was all right. Didn't realize that this was effectively ... er ... authorized fanfiction, à la Marion Zimmer Bradley's Darkover anthologies. I haven't actually read anything in this universe, so I'm afraid it was/would be rather lost on me.
Kelly
A generally pleasing collection of stories done in homage of Jack Vance. Most of the authors do an admirable job of adapting their voices to a more Vance-like style, although those who don't try and mimic Vance too heavily have better stories than those who do. I especially enjoyed the feature at the end of each story where the author would give a little description of the first time they read Vance's work and his influence on their writing. Some of the stories which stood out to me were Dan Sim...more
Tom Senith
Tom Senith is currently reading it  ·  review of another edition
I picked up this book because of the George RR Martin editing credit on the cover. I have since discovered both Jack Vance's original work and the many authors that contributed to this book. The concept is completely unique and the stories are detailed and engaging.
Marsha Nelson
Songs of the Dying Earth is an amazing tribute to Jack Vance and the world he created in the Dying Earth. An introduction by Dean Koontz and preface by Vance himself set the tone for the tribute stories penned by the Who's Who of science fiction and fantasy writers. To review each story would be too lengthly but I do want to give Neil Gaiman's An Invocation of Incuriosity as well as the novella by Dan Simmons, The Guiding Nose of Ulfant Banderoz, a special mention. These are stories that I c...more
David Enos
A bit too true to the style of the original Dying Earth. An excellent homage, but it choses to emphasize the "lite fantasy" aspects of the stories, instead of the "techno civilization at the end of time" aspects.
Stuart Rimmer
Stories of varying quality, but all of which evoke quite nicely the world created by the great Jack Vance. If you love the Dying Earth stories, then this is a nice collection in which to immerse yourself.
Akiva
This was a decent time and had some good stories in it, but I dunno. I don't think I really needed to read a six hundred page book of Dying Earth pastiches even if some of them were by favorite authors.
Brian
Some really great stories, a couple not-so-great stories. It got to be a little long, but there's no reason to read it straight through, seeing as it is an anthology!
Adam Calhoun
Okay, I give up on this book. There are too many mediocre stories trying to hard to be like Vance. The occasional story will get it right and it will be pretty decent - but often when I read those I will wonder, why aren't I just reading Vance?

In the end, it is the fact that there is too much chaff among the wheat that pulls the book down. If it was narrowed down, it at least would be worth reading - and sometimes it is! - but I couldn't recommend buying this even to a hardcore Vanc...more
Ed
As usual with these mammoth anthologies, it took me so long to wade through this collection of short stories set in Jack Vance's Dying Earth milieu that I can't really remember the first half of the book, just that if you enjoyed the Dying Earth series and want to read more stories of the same then this is well worth your time. I do remember that there were definite standouts from Elizabeth Moon, Elizabeth Hand, Dan Simmons, Neil Gaiman and George RR Martin; the duds were mainly writers who clea...more
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