And Speaking of Jack Vance . . . .

A new Dying Earth volume will be released any day now, a book that is not by Jack Vance but of Jack Vance.

Songs of the Dying Earth is a collection of stories written in honor of Vance, by writers like Kage Baker, Tanith Lee, Mike Resnick, Dan Simmons, Robert Silverberg, and yours truly. It's a pretty nifty anthology, if I do say so myself.

Or, as Library Journal put it in their starred review:

Songs of the Dying Earth: Stories in Honor of Jack Vance. Subterranean. Sept. 2009. c.632p. ed. by George R.R. Martin & Gardner Dozois. illus. ISBN 978-1-59606-213-9. $40. FANTASY

Of the many novels written by sf Grandmaster Vance, his "Dying Earth" series remains the most popular and most memorable of his oeuvre. Now top sf and fantasy authors including Tanith Lee, Mike Resnick (Hazards, reviewed above), Tad Williams, and Robert Silverberg have contributed stories and reminiscences to this mammoth collection of tales set in that unforgettable universe, one in which Earth's sun is a dying red dwarf and in which irascible mages, clever scoundrels, and ordinary folk wait around for their world's inevitable demise.

VERDICT From Dan Simmons's new novella about a wild search for the Ultimate Library ("The Guiding Nose of Ulfänt Banderoz") to Walter Jon Williams's tale of an architectural student caught up in a war between two great powers ("Abrizonde"), the 23 stories not only capture the unique feel of Vance's dying universe but stand individually as one of the strongest gatherings of writers to pay homage to one of their own. Despite the price, this is highly recommended.

The book is from Subterranean Press, and is a hardback with excellent illustrations by Tom Kidd. A limited, slipcased edition will be available later, for the collectors among you.

But why not buy both?