Dying Earth

Dying Earth is a series of speculative fiction by the American writer Jack Vance, made up of four books originally published between 1950 and 1984. Some of its volumes have been described as picaresque, and the series includes short story collections, fix-ups assembled from earlier stories, and novels. It is usually classed as sword and sorcery, since its plots revolve around picaresque adventures, swordplay and magic.

The stories are set in a distant future, when the sun is nearly exhausted and magic has regained a dominant role. The Moon has vanished, civilization has largely sunk into decadence or religious fanaticism, and the Earth is mostly barren and cold, infested with predatory monsters. Magic is performed by memorizing syllables, a limited resource that vanishes when used, and creatures called sandestins can be summoned to perform more complex actions but are dangerous to rely upon. Alongside the world lie several Overworlds and Underworlds: the Overworlds are wondrous visions that humans can only glimpse with their minds, bringing longing and ruin, while the Underworlds are horrific yet physically accessible.

Vance wrote the stories of the first book while serving in the United States Merchant Marine during the Second World War. That book, conceived as a collection of six loosely linked stories, was highly regarded and ranks among the best fantasy novels in a poll by Locus magazine. The science fiction historian Brian Stableford noted the influence of Clark Ashton Smith's Zothique stories, and the fantasy historian Lin Carter pointed to the lasting imprint of James Branch Cabell on Vance's early work.

The series continues with The Eyes of the Overworld, a fix-up of linked stories from 1966; Cugel's Saga, a 1983 novel centred on the roguish Cugel and considered less episodic; and Rhialto the Marvellous, a 1984 collection with a foreword and several stories. Other writers have produced sequels, among them Michael Shea, and the tribute anthology Songs of the Dying Earth (2009) gathers new fiction and homages. The subgenre of the dying earth takes its name from this work, and the series has been translated into many languages.