Once Ranke ruled a great empire and numbered among its possessions the
world's most dangerous city, Sanctuary, den of thieves, whores, swordsmen,
sorcerers, fanatics and gods. Here dwelt legends: the magician and
shape-changer Enas Yorl; the ex-gladiator Jubal; the star-browed
magician/swordsman Lythande; the minstrel Cappen Varra; and the master
thief
Shadowspawn.
But almost 40 years have passed since Sanctuary's dark heyday. The legends
are dead or missing, the bloodthirsty Dyareela cult is shattered, the
Rankan
empire has retreated, and the Irrune tribe rules Sanctuary in the
anthology
Enemies of Fortune, which presents 13 new stories (including the
"introduction") about fantasy's most famous shared world: Thieves' World.
Penned by 13 writers, these tales of Sanctuary's new generation are
loosely
woven around a mysterious cargo ****p. In "Widowmaker," a pirate ****p
pursues
the Fortunate across 800 years. In "Pricks and Afflictions," an
impenetrable
box from the wrecked Fortunate brings grief to a necromancer. In "Good
Neighbors," a young man betrays his foster family for a dragon-decorated
wand from the wreck. "Dark of the Moon" unleashes a lethal marine curse on
Sanctuary. In "Legacies," the Fortunate's dead wizard returns to life.
Some stories ignore the wreck, pursuing other developments. In
"Introduction," a stonemason with magical memories of Sanctuary's past
leads
a dangerous double life as advisor to the city's new ruler, the Irrune
chieftain Arizak. The injured ruler also figures in "Consequences," as the
healer Pel finds himself entangled in the heirs' treacheries. A third
story-thread concerns the resurgent Dyareela cult. An orphan who barely
survived the original cult must outwit a new wor****pper in "Deadly
Ritual,"
while the warrior woman Kadasah stalks cultists in "Gathering Strength,"
and
a lowly minstrel ****tends a dreadful new future for Dyareela's faithful in
"The Man From Shemhaza."
Fantasy's famous shared world
Launched in 1978, Thieves' World is sometimes erroneously hailed as "the
first shared-world fantasy." Such labeling ignores older shared-world
fantasy series like Conan, Tarzan and the Cthulhu mythos. It also
overlooks
the shared-world fantasy anthology Mugby Junction (1866), edited by
Charles
Dickens. But Thieves' World is a "first": Its creators, writer/editors
Lynn
Abbey and Robert Asprin, fa****oned the first fantasy world deliberately
designed for other authors to write about.
After an absence of 13 years, Thieves' World returned in 2002 under the
guidance of co-creator Lynn Abbey, who relaunched the series with her
novel
Sanctuary and the anthology Turning Points. Their sequel, the anthology
Enemies of Fortune (2004), joins old series hands like C.J. Cherryh,
Andrew
Offutt, Diana L. Paxson and Robin Wayne Bailey with new participants like
Jane Fancher, Jeff Grubb, Mickey Zucker Reichert and Selina Rosen. Some
contributors are more successful than others, and success isn't determined
by experience: Grubb's "Malediction" and Paxson/Gray's collaboration "The
Ghost in the Phoenix" are among the best stories, while Offutt's
idiosyncratic prose makes "Dark of the Moon" a rough read. Bestseller
Dennis
L. McKiernan's "Pricks and Afflictions" may infuriate any reader with a
speech impediment, for its main character lisps even in his thoughts.
Thieves' World's new generation lacks the old's many larger-than-life
criminals, warriors, magicians and deities. The new incarnation focuses
more
on artisans, shopkeepers, orphans and other less-powerful characters, a
few
of whom, in Enemies of Fortune, never become more than victims of
cir***stance. A creepy necromancer, a middle-class family and a few Irrune
nobles suggest how Sanctuary's other half might live, but Enemies of
Fortune
will disappoint old-time fans desiring grand heroes, villains and
exploits.
Newcomers face other problems. Lynn Abbey's "Introduction," intended to
orient readers new to Thieves' World, overburdens them with the names and
nicknames of just about every cult, gang, ethnicity and empire ever to
pass
through Sanctuary. Shared-world novices who survive the "Introduction" may
find themselves baffled by the loosely related stories, which don't read
like chapters, don't always behave like traditional climax-resolution
stories and never quite cohere. It takes a strong concept or master
narrative to weave braided stories into whole cloth. The ****pwreck concept
is too weak to make Enemies of Fortune whole.
Readers new to Thieves' World will find far more pleasure in Enemies
of
Fortune if they first read its prequels: Lynn Abbey's novel Sanctuary and
its sequel, the anthology Turning Points. - Cynthia
http://www.scifi.com/sfw/advance/24_books.html
--------------------------------------------
from william mahler taken from www.scifi.com
would you believe that prior to 1997, chris morris had a box from the
makers of win zip but it was win zip 8. it didn't hit store shelves until
after 2002. only a few select others had it too.
august 29, 2001 the audio, only a few select others have it too.
those
who cared and dared. everyone else?
www.janetmorris.net www.janetmorris.org
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