Liavek

Last updated

Liavek is a series of five fantasy anthologies edited by Emma Bull and Will Shetterly set in a shared world. Orson Scott Card found the initial volume to be "an example of what can be accomplished [in a shared-world project] when almost everything goes right." [1]

Contents

Contributors

Contributors includied Bull, Shetterly, Gene Wolfe, Jane Yolen, John M. Ford, Kara Dalkey, Barry B. Longyear, Megan Lindholm, Nancy Kress, Patricia C. Wrede, Steven Brust, Nate Bucklin, Pamela Dean, Gregory Frost, Charles de Lint, Charles R. Saunders, Walter Jon Williams, Alan Moore and Bradley Denton.

Setting

Located on the southern shore of the Sea of Luck at the mouth of the Cat River, Liavek is a hot, busy trade city. Magic is present and based on a combination of 'birth luck' and the length of time one's mother was in labor. Everyone is privy to some luck, but using it to their advantage is no easy feat. On an annual basis, luck or magic must be invested in an object outside of oneself, and only then can it be used to power spells. Investment is difficult and dangerous, while not investing luck and magic will result in the magic draining away. This is more prevalent in magicians who will find their life drain away with the magic. [2] [3]

Works

Liavek

An anthology edited by Will Shetterly and Emma Bull, published by Ace Books in 1985

Liavek: The Players of Luck

An anthology edited by Shetterly and Bull, published by Ace Books in 1986

Liavek: Wizard’s Row

An anthology edited by Shetterly and Bull, published by Ace Books in 1987

Liavek: Spells of Binding

An anthology edited by Shetterly and Bull, published by Ace Books in 1988

Liavek: Festival Week

An anthology edited by Shetterly and Bull, published by Ace Books in 1990

Casting Fortune

In 1989 Tor Books published Casting Fortune, a collection of short stories by John M. Ford - this brought together his stories from the second and third volumes of Liavek together with a new novella in the Liavek shared world. The stories are:

Points of Departure

On May 12, 2015, Diversion Publishing released Points of Departure: Liavek Stories, a collection of short stories by Pamela Dean and Paricia C. Wrede. The collection contained all the short stories by Dean and Wrede from the original Liavek anthologies, as well as two new short stories: Of Fish and Fools by Wrede, and Shards, written in collobraiton.

Other appearances

Planned novel

In 2012, Pamela Dean posted on her blog about working on a Liavek novel she had begun some time earlier, [5] but it does not seem to have been published.

Licensing

In 2017, Shetterly announced that he and Bull were allowing the use of the Liavek setting at no cost, for works earning less than $3000, subject to certain conditions. [6]

References

  1. ↑ "The Light Fantastic", If, September 1986, pp.29
  2. ↑ Wrede, Patricia C.; Dean, Pamela (12 May 2015). Points of Departure: Liavek Stories. Diversion Books. ISBN   978-1626815551.
  3. ↑ Graham, Elizabeth (16 May 2015). "The Gates of Liavek Are Open Again in 'Points of Departure'". NPR.
  4. ↑ Dean, Pamela. "Her Magical Pet". Dreamwidth.org. Retrieved 3 November 2024.
  5. ↑ Dean, Pamela. "Very local phenology, in pictures". Dreamwidth.org. Retrieved 20 September 2024.
  6. ↑ The Liavek Independent Creator's License, by Will Shetterly; at CityOfLuck.blogspot.com; published January 19, 2017; retrieved November 16, 2019
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.