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90-503: Dying Earth is a speculative fiction series by the American author Jack Vance , comprising four books originally published from 1950 to 1984. Some have been called picaresque . They vary from short story collections to a fix-up (novel created from older short stories), perhaps all the way to novel. The first book in the series, The Dying Earth , was ranked number 16 of 33 "All Time Best Fantasy Novels" by Locus in 1987, based on

180-415: A novel , but typically to a lesser degree. While the short story is largely distinct from the novel or novella/short novel , authors generally draw from a common pool of literary techniques . The short story is sometimes referred to as a genre. Determining what exactly defines a short story remains problematic. A classic definition of a short story is that one should be able to read it in one sitting,

270-417: A plot ". Hugh Walpole had a similar view: "A story should be a story; a record of things happening full of incidents, swift movements, unexpected development, leading through suspense to a climax and a satisfying denouement." This view of the short story as a finished product of art is however opposed by Anton Chekhov , who thought that a story should have neither a beginning nor an end. It should just be

360-536: A "no Martians " type of science fiction, "about things that really could happen." Speculative fiction is also used as a genre term that combines different ones into a single narrative or fictional world such as "science fiction, horror, fantasy...[and]...mystery". The Internet Speculative Fiction Database contains a broad list of different subtypes. According to publisher statistics, men outnumber women about two to one among English-language speculative fiction writers aiming for professional publication. However,

450-429: A "slice of life", presented suggestively. In his stories, Chekhov does not round off the end but leaves it to the readers to draw their own conclusions. Sukumar Azhikode defined a short story as "a brief prose narrative with an intense episodic or anecdotal effect". Flannery O'Connor emphasized the need to consider what is exactly meant by the descriptor short. Short story writers may define their works as part of

540-476: A category ranges from ancient works to paradigm-changing and neotraditional works of the 21st century. Characteristics of speculative fiction have been recognized in older works whose authors' intentions , or in the social contexts of the stories they portray, are now known. For example, the ancient Greek dramatist, Euripides , ( c.  480  – c.  406 BCE ) whose play Medea seems to have offended Athenian audiences when he speculated that

630-446: A completely imaginary way or been followed by major new events that are completely imaginary (the genre of alternative history ). Or, it depicts impossible technology or technology that defies current scientific understandings or capabilities (the genre of science fiction ). Contrarily, realistic fiction involves a story whose basic setting (time and location in the world) is, in fact, real and whose events could believably happen in

720-518: A consciously feminist perspective. James Baldwin 's collection, Going to Meet the Man (1965), told stories of African-American life. Science fiction stories with a special poetic touch was a genre developed with great popular success by Ray Bradbury . Stephen King published many science fiction short stories in men's magazines in the 1960s and after. King's interest is in the supernatural and macabre. Donald Barthelme and John Barth produced works in

810-510: A genre term has often been attributed to Robert A. Heinlein , who first used the term in an editorial in The Saturday Evening Post , 8 February 1947. In the article, Heinlein used "Speculative Fiction" as a synonym for "science fiction"; in a later piece, he explicitly stated that his use of the term did not include fantasy. However, though Heinlein may have come up with the term on his own, there are earlier citations:

900-593: A larger narrative story (a frame story ), although the frame-tale device was not adopted by all writers. At the end of the 16th century, some of the most popular short stories in Europe were the darkly tragic " novella " of Italian author Matteo Bandello , especially in their French translation. The mid 17th century in France saw the development of a refined short novel, the "nouvelle", by such authors as Madame de Lafayette . Traditional fairy tales began to be published in

990-613: A long-time fan and Vance Integral Edition co-worker. Permission to translate and distribute (only into Esperanto) was obtained informally direct from the author and, since his death in 2013, continues with ongoing permission from the author's estate. To date these are three: Mazirian the Magician , The Sorcerer Pharesm , and The Bagful of Dreams available for free download as EPub, Mobi and PDF. The entire series has seen several Italian translations, and in Italy Vance remains one of

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1080-519: A magic spell). The game situates players in Vance's world populated by desperately extravagant people. Many other role-playing settings pay homage to the series by including fantasy elements he invented such as the darkness-dwelling Grues . Monte Cook identifies The Dying Earth as an inspiration for his game Numenera . Goodman Games have announced the publication of the setting using their Dungeon Crawl Classics roleplaying game system, running

1170-437: A major literary form remains diminished. In terms of length, word count is typically anywhere from 1,000 to 4,000 for short stories; however, some works classified as short stories have up to 15,000 words. Stories of fewer than 1,000 words are sometimes referred to as "short short stories", or " flash fiction ". Short stories have no set length. In terms of word count, there is no official demarcation between an anecdote ,

1260-399: A novel, Manto is widely admired for his analyses of violence, bigotry, prejudice, and the relationships between reason and unreason. Combining realism with surrealism and irony, Manto's works, such as the celebrated short story Toba Tek Singh , are aesthetic masterpieces that continue to give profound insight into the nature of human loss, violence, and devastation. Another famous Urdu writer

1350-605: A piece in Lippincott's Monthly Magazine in 1889 used the term in reference to Edward Bellamy 's Looking Backward : 2000–1887 and other works; and one in the May 1900 issue of The Bookman said that John Uri Lloyd 's Etidorhpa , The End of the Earth had "created a great deal of discussion among people interested in speculative fiction". A variation on this term is "speculative literature". The use of "speculative fiction" in

1440-477: A point most notably made in Edgar Allan Poe 's essay " The Philosophy of Composition " (1846). H. G. Wells described the purpose of the short story as "The jolly art, of making something very bright and moving; it may be horrible or pathetic or funny or profoundly illuminating, having only this essential, that it should take from fifteen to fifty minutes to read aloud." According to William Faulkner ,

1530-556: A poll of subscribers, although it was marketed as a collection and the Internet Speculative Fiction Database (ISFDB) calls it a "loosely connected series of stories". The Dying Earth series has been described as a " sword and sorcery " series, as the plots of the various stories often revolve around picaresque exploits, swordplay, and magic. The stories of the Dying Earth series are set in

1620-530: A regular short story salon, held in London and other major cities. Short story writers who have appeared at the salon to read their work to live audiences include Ben Okri , Lionel Shriver , Elizabeth Day , A.L. Kennedy , William Boyd , Graham Swift , David Nicholls , Will Self , Sebastian Faulks , Julian Barnes , Evie Wylde and Claire Fuller . Canadian short story writers include Alice Munro , Mavis Gallant and Lynn Coady. In 2013, Alice Munro became

1710-420: A short story is character-driven and a writer's job is to "...trot along behind him with a paper and pencil trying to keep up long enough to put down what he says and does." Some authors have argued that a short story must have a strict form. Somerset Maugham thought that the short story "must have a definite design, which includes a point of departure, a climax and a point of test; in other words, it must have

1800-426: A short story, and a novel. Rather, the form's parameters are given by the rhetorical and practical context in which a given story is produced and considered so that what constitutes a short story may differ between genres, countries, eras, and commentators. Like the novel, the short story's predominant shape reflects the demands of the available markets for publication, and the evolution of the form seems closely tied to

1890-399: A successful Kickstarter campaign for it. The game was released in 2023. Speculative fiction Speculative fiction is an umbrella genre of fiction that encompasses all the subgenres that depart from realism , or strictly imitating everyday reality, instead presenting fantastical, supernatural , futuristic , or other imaginative realms. This catch-all genre includes, but

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1980-463: A weekly short story publication for more than half a century. Shirley Jackson 's story, " The Lottery " (1948), elicited the strongest response in the magazine's history to that time. Other frequent contributors during the 1940s included John Steinbeck , Jean Stafford , Eudora Welty , and John Cheever , who is best known for "The Swimmer " (1964), beautifully blending realism and surrealism. Many other American short story writers greatly influenced

2070-498: Is Ismat Chughtai , whose short story, "Lihaaf" (The Quilt), on a lesbian relationship between an upper-class Muslim woman and her maidservant created great controversy following its publication in 1942. Notable examples in the period up to World War II include: Following World War II , the artistic range and numbers of writers of short stories grew significantly. Due in part to frequent contributions from John O'Hara , The New Yorker would come to exercise substantial influence as

2160-459: Is a petty thief (not unlike Cugel the Clever), who travels and struggles in an exotic world. Shea returned to Nifft with 1997 and 2000 sequels. The Archonate stories by Matthew Hughes — the 1994 novel Fools Errant and numerous works in this millennium — take place in "the penultimate age of Old Earth," a period of science and technology that is on the verge of transforming into the magical era of

2250-412: Is a recurrent trope in short stories; whether in their ending, characterisation or length. As with any art form, the exact characteristics of a short story will vary depending on who is its creator. Characteristic of short story authors, according to professor of English, Clare Hanson, is that they are "losers and loners, exiles, women, blacks – writers who for one reason or another have not been part of

2340-501: Is a rich heritage of ancient folktales as well as a compiled body of short fiction which shaped the sensibility of modern Indian short story. Some of the famous Sanskrit collections of legends, folktales, fairy tales, and fables are Panchatantra , Hitopadesha and Kathasaritsagara . Jataka tales , originally written in Pali , is a compilation of tales concerning the previous births of Lord Gautama Buddha . The Frame story , also known as

2430-474: Is characterized by a lesser degree of adherence to realistic or plausible individuals, events, or places, while the umbrella genres of realistic fiction or literary realism are characterized by a greater degree of adherence. For instance, speculative fiction may depict an entirely imaginary universe or one in which the laws of nature do not strictly apply (often, the sub-genre of fantasy ). Or, it depicts true historical moments, except that they have concluded in

2520-545: Is mostly barren and cold, and has become infested with various predatory monsters (possibly created by a magician in a former age). Magic in the Dying Earth is performed by memorizing syllables, and the human brain can only accommodate a certain number at once. When a spell is used, the syllables vanish from the caster's mind. Creatures called sandestins can be summoned and used to perform more complex actions, but are considered dangerous to rely upon. Magic has loose links to

2610-461: Is named Vecna , an anagram of "Vance". The Talislanta role-playing game designed by Stephan Michael Sechi and originally published in 1987 by Bard Games was inspired by the works of Jack Vance so much so that the first release, The Chronicles of Talislanta , is dedicated to the author. There is an official Dying Earth role-playing game published by Pelgrane Press with an occasional magazine The Excellent Prismatic Spray (named after

2700-437: Is not limited to, science fiction , fantasy , horror , slipstream , magical realism , superhero fiction , alternate history , utopia and dystopia , fairy tales , steampunk , cyberpunk , weird fiction , and some apocalyptic and post-apocalyptic fiction . The term has been used for works of literature , film , television , drama , video games , radio , and their hybrids. The umbrella genre of speculative fiction

2790-699: Is one of the best-known writers of short stories in the Spanish language . " The Library of Babel " (1941) and " The Aleph " (1945) handle difficult subjects like infinity . Borges won American fame with " The Garden of Forking Paths ", published in the August 1948 issue of Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine . Two of the most representative writers of the Magical realism genre are also widely known Argentine short story writers, Adolfo Bioy Casares and Julio Cortázar . The Nobel laureate author Gabriel García Márquez and

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2880-399: Is sometimes abbreviated "spec-fic", "spec fic", "specfic", "S-F", "SF", or "sf". The last three abbreviations, however, are ambiguous as they have long been used to refer to science fiction (which lies within this general range of literature). It is sometimes also known as "the fantastic" or as fantastika , the latter term attributed to John Clute who coined it in 2007 after the term for

2970-751: The Dying Earth series and featuring Cugel as one of characters: "Hew the Tintmaster", published in the anthology Swords & Dark Magic: The New Sword and Sorcery , ed. Jonathan Strahan and Lou Anders ( Eos , 2010, pp. 323–362). WorldCat contributing libraries report holding all four books in French, Spanish, and (in omnibus edition) Hebrew translations; and report holding The Dying Earth in five other languages: Finnish, German, Japanese, Polish, and Russian. The whole first volume (of six stories) has been translated also into Esperanto together with two Cugel stories and made available on-line as e-books by

3060-614: The Ramayana , the Mahabharata , and Homer 's Iliad and Odyssey . Oral narratives were often told in the form of rhyming or rhythmic verse , often including recurring sections or, in the case of Homer, Homeric epithets . Such stylistic devices often acted as mnemonics for easier recall, rendition, and adaptation of the story. While the overall arc of the tale was told over the course of several performances, short sections of verse could focus on individual narratives that were

3150-730: The "Dying Earth" series. According to pulp editor Sam Merwin, Vance's earliest magazine submissions in the 1940s were heavily influenced by the style of James Branch Cabell . Fantasy historian Lin Carter has noted several probable lasting influences of Cabell on Vance's work, and suggests that the early "pseudo-Cabell" experiments bore fruit in The Dying Earth (1950). The series comprises four books by Vance and some sequels by other authors that may be or may not have been canonical. One 741-page omnibus edition has been issued as The Compleat Dying Earth (SF Book Club, 1999) and in both

3240-462: The 18th century with the publication of the fictional anecdotal letters of Sir Roger de Coverley . In Europe, the oral story-telling tradition began to develop into written form in the early 14th century, most notably with Giovanni Boccaccio 's Decameron and Geoffrey Chaucer 's Canterbury Tales . Both of these books are composed of individual short stories, which range from farce or humorous anecdotes to well-crafted literary fiction, set within

3330-484: The 1970s that demonstrate the rise of the postmodern short story. While traditionalism maintained a significant influence on the form of the short story, minimalism gained widespread influence in the 1980s, most notably in the work of Raymond Carver and Ann Beattie . Carver helped usher in an "extreme minimalist aesthetic" and expand the scope of the short story, as did Lydia Davis , through her idiosyncratic and laconic style. The Argentine writer Jorge Luis Borges

3420-718: The Royal Society of Literature's V.S. Pritchett Short Story Prize, The London Magazine Short Story Prize, the Pin Drop Studio Short Story Award and many others attract hundreds of entries each year. Published and non-published writers take part, sending in their stories from around the world. In 2013, Alice Munro was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature —her citation read "master of the contemporary short story." She said she hopes

3510-478: The Short-Story . During that same year, Matthews was the first one to name the emerging genre "short story". Another theorist of narrative fiction was Henry James , who produced some of the most influential short narratives of the time. The spread of the short story movement continued into South America, specifically Brazil. The novelist Machado de Assis was an important short story writer from Brazil at

3600-548: The US and UK as Tales of the Dying Earth (2000). All four books were published with Tables of Contents, the first and fourth as collections. The second and third contained mostly material previously published in short story form but were marketed as novels, the second as a fix-up and the third without acknowledging any previous publication. Some sequels have been written by other authors, either with Vance's authorization or as tributes to his work. Michael Shea 's first publication,

3690-410: The US scifi authors most often translated and published The Dying Earth subgenre of science fiction is named in recognition of Vance's role in standardizing a setting, the entropically dying earth and sun. Its importance was recognized with the publication of Songs of the Dying Earth , a tribute anthology edited by George R. R. Martin and Gardner Dozois (Subterranean, 2009). Each short story in

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3780-542: The Uruguayan writer Juan Carlos Onetti are further significant magical realist short story writers from the Hispanic world. In Brazil, João Antonio made a name for himself by writing about poverty and the favelas . Detective literature there was led by Rubem Fonseca . João Guimarães Rosa wrote short stories in the book Sagarana, using a complex, experimental language based on tales of oral tradition. The role of

3870-570: The anthology is set on the Dying Earth, and concludes with a short acknowledgement by the author of Vance's influence on them. Gene Wolfe 's The Book of the New Sun (1980–83) is set in a slightly similar world, and was written under Vance's influence. Wolfe suggested in The Castle of the Otter , a collection of essays, that he inserted the book The Dying Earth into his fictional world under

3960-463: The artistic and personal expression of the form. They may also attempt to resist categorization by genre and fixed formation. William Boyd , a British author and short story writer, has said: [a short story] seem[s] to answer something very deep in our nature as if, for the duration of its telling, something special has been created, some essence of our experience extrapolated, some temporary sense has been made of our common, turbulent journey towards

4050-456: The award will bring readership for the short story, as well as recognising the short story for its own merit, rather than "something that people do before they write their first novel." Short stories were cited in the choice of other laureates as well: Paul Heyse in 1910 and Gabriel García Márquez in 1982. Short stories are sometimes adapted for radio, TV or film: As a concentrated, concise form of narrative and descriptive prose fiction,

4140-465: The bi-monthly magazine Desh (first published in 1933) was key in development of the Bengali short story. Two of the most popular detective story writers of Bengali literature are Sharadindu Bandyopadhyay (the creator of Byomkesh Bakshi ) and Satyajit Ray (the creator of Feluda ). Notable examples in the post-World War II period include: The numbers of 21st-century short story writers run into

4230-452: The context of the real world. One realistic fiction sub-genre is historical fiction , centered around true major events and time periods in the past. The attempt to make stories feel faithful to reality or to more objectively describe details, and the 19th-century artistic movement that began to vigorously promote this approach, is called "literary realism", which incorporates some works of both fiction and non-fiction. "Speculative fiction"

4320-765: The creative design and generation of lore and mythology for works of fiction. The term's definition comes from its use by J. R. R. Tolkien , whose novel, The Lord of the Rings , demonstrates a clear application of this process. Themes common in mythopoeia, such as the supernatural , alternate history and sexuality , continue to be explored in works produced within the modern speculative fiction genre. The creation of speculative fiction in its general sense of hypothetical history, explanation, or ahistorical storytelling , has also been attributed to authors in ostensibly non-fiction modes since as early as Herodotus of Halicarnassus (fl. 5th century BCE), for his Histories , and

4410-510: The deaths, insanity, and suffering of many, especially during Cugel's journeys. While most remaining civilizations on the Dying Earth are utterly unique in their customs and cultures, there are some common threads. Because the moon is gone and wind is often weak (the sun no longer heats the earth as much) the oceans are largely placid bodies of water with no tide and tiny waves. To cross them, boats are propelled by giant sea-worms. These worms are cared for and controlled by "Wormingers". In addition,

4500-478: The distant future, at a point when the sun is almost exhausted and magic has asserted itself as a dominant force. The Moon has disappeared and the Sun is in danger of burning out at any time, often flickering as if about to go out, before shining again. The various civilizations of Earth have collapsed for the most part into decadence or religious fanaticism and its inhabitants overcome with a fatalistic outlook. The Earth

4590-523: The duration of a single telling. It may be helpful to classify such sections as oral short stories. Another ancient form of short story popular during the Roman Empire was the anecdote , a brief realistic narrative that embodies a point. Many surviving Roman anecdotes were collected in the 13th or 14th century as the Gesta Romanorum . Anecdotes remained popular throughout Europe well into

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4680-502: The early to mid 1900s in England were detective stories and thrillers. Many of these detective stories were written by authors such as G.K. Chesterton , Agatha Christie , and Dorothy L. Sayers . Graham Greene wrote his collection of short stories, Twenty-One Stories , between 1929 and 1954. Many of these short stories are classified in the genres of thriller, suspense, or even horror. The European short story movement during this time

4770-551: The evolution of the publishing industry and the submission guidelines of its constituent houses. As a point of reference for the genre writer, the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America define short story length in the Nebula Awards for science fiction submission guidelines as having fewer than 7,500 words. Short stories date back to oral storytelling traditions which originally produced epics such as

4860-562: The evolving form of the short story. For example, J. D. Salinger 's Nine Stories (1953) experimented with point of view and voice, while Flannery O'Connor's well-known story, " A Good Man is Hard to Find " (1955), reinvigorated the Southern Gothic style. Cultural and social identity played a considerable role in much of the short fiction of the 1960s. Philip Roth and Grace Paley cultivated distinctive Jewish-American voices. Tillie Olsen 's " I Stand Here Ironing " (1961) adopted

4950-480: The first collection of short stories was by Heinrich von Kleist in 1810 and 1811. In the United States, Washington Irving was responsible for creating some of the first short stories of American origin, " The Legend of Sleepy Hollow " and " Rip Van Winkle ". Edgar Allan Poe became another early American short story writer. His concise technique, deemed the "single effect", has had tremendous influence on

5040-511: The first true collections of short stories appeared between 1810 and 1830 in several countries. The first short stories in the United Kingdom were gothic tales like Richard Cumberland 's "remarkable narrative", "The Poisoner of Montremos" (1791). Novelists such as Sir Walter Scott and Charles Dickens also wrote influential short stories during this time. Germany soon followed the United Kingdom's example by producing short stories;

5130-558: The first writer of nothing but short stories to be awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature . Her award-winning short story collections include Dance of the Happy Shades , Lives of Girls and Women , Who Do You Think You Are? , The Progress of Love , The Love of a Good Woman and Runaway . Prominent short story awards such as The Sunday Times Short Story Award , the BBC National Short Story Award ,

5220-424: The formation of the modern short story. Examples include: In the latter half of the 19th century, the growth of print magazines and journals created a strong demand for short fiction of between 3,000 and 15,000 words. In 1890s Britain, literary periodicals such as The Yellow Book , Black & White , and The Strand Magazine popularized the short story. Britain was not alone in the endeavor to strengthen

5310-727: The frame narrative or story within a story , is a narrative technique that probably originated in ancient Indian works such as Panchatantra . The evolution of printing technologies and periodical editions were among the factors contributing to the increasing importance of short story publications. Pioneering the rules of the genre in the Western canon were, among others, Rudyard Kipling (United Kingdom), Anton Chekhov (Russia), Guy de Maupassant (France), Rabindranath Tagore (India and Bangladesh), Manuel Gutiérrez Nájera (Mexico) and Rubén Darío (Nicaragua). Early examples of short stories were published separately between 1790 and 1810, but

5400-451: The genre in some Slavic languages . The term has been used by some critics and writers dissatisfied with what they consider to be a limitation of science fiction: the need for the story to hold to scientific principles. They argue that "speculative fiction" better defines an expanded, open, imaginative type of fiction than does "genre fiction", and the categories of "fantasy", "mystery", "horror" and "science fiction". Harlan Ellison used

5490-447: The grave and oblivion. In the 1880s, the term "short story" acquired its modern meaning – having initially referred to children's tales. During the early to mid-20th century, the short story underwent expansive experimentation which further hindered attempts to comprehensively provide a definition. Longer stories that cannot be called novels are sometimes considered " novellas " or novelettes and, like short stories, may be collected into

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5580-459: The history of the short story". The creation and study of the short story as a medium began to emerge as an academic discipline due to Blanche Colton Williams ' "groundbreaking work on structure and analysis of the short story" and her publication of A Handbook on Short Story Writing (1917), described as "the first practical aid to growing young writers that was put on the market in this country."     In Uruguay , Horacio Quiroga became one of

5670-542: The late 17th century; one of the most famous collections was by Charles Perrault . The appearance of Antoine Galland 's first modern translation of the 1001 Arabian Nights , a storehouse of Middle Eastern folk and fairy tales, is the Thousand and One Nights (or Arabian Nights ) (from 1704; another translation appeared in 1710–12). His translation would have an enormous influence on the 18th-century European short stories of Voltaire , Diderot and others. In India, there

5760-519: The lives of common people, especially the oppressed classes. The prolific Indian author of short stories Munshi Premchand , pioneered the genre in the Hindustani language , writing over 200 short stories and many novels in a style characterized by realism and an unsentimental and authentic introspection into the complexities of Indian society. In 1884, Brander Matthews , the first American professor of dramatic literature, published The Philosophy of

5850-523: The manses of magicians, protected by walls and spells and monsters, are relatively common sights in inhabited lands. Vance wrote the stories of the first book while he served in the United States Merchant Marine during World War II . In the late 1940s several of his other stories were published in magazines. Science fiction historian Brian Stableford has noted the influence of Clark Ashton Smith and his "Zothique" stories on

5940-439: The more marketable form of "collections", of stories previously unpublished or published, but elsewhere. Sometimes, authors who do not have the time or money to write a novella or novel decide to write short stories instead, working out a deal with a popular website or magazine to publish them for profit. Around the world, the modern short story is comparable to lyrics , dramas, novels and essays – although examination of it as

6030-641: The most influential short story writers in the Spanish language. With a clear influence from Edgar Allan Poe , he had a great skill in using the supernatural and the bizarre to show the struggle of man and animal to survive. He also excelled in portraying mental illness and hallucinatory states. In India, Saadat Hasan Manto , the master of the short story in the Urdu language, is revered for his exceptional depth, irony, and sardonic humor. The author of some 250 short stories, radio plays, essays, reminiscences, and

6120-563: The novel A Quest for Simbilis ( DAW Books , 1974, OCLC   2128177 ), was an authorized sequel to Eyes . However, "When Vance returned to the milieu, his Cugel's Saga continued the events of The Eyes of the Overworld in a different direction." The tribute anthology Songs of the Dying Earth (2009) contains short fiction set in the world of the Dying Earth by numerous writers alongside tributes to Vance's work and influence. In 2010 Shea wrote another authorized story belonging to

6210-504: The percentages vary considerably by genre, with women outnumbering men in the fields of urban fantasy , paranormal romance and young adult fiction . Academic journals which publish essays on speculative fiction include Extrapolation and Foundation . Speculative fiction may include elements from one or more of the following genres: Short story The short story is a crafted form in its own right. Short stories make use of plot, resonance and other dynamic components as in

6300-512: The point with the most action) and resolution (the point when the conflict is resolved). Because of their length, short stories may or may not often follow this pattern. For example, modern short stories only occasionally have an exposition, more typically beginning in the middle of the action ( in medias res ). As with longer stories, plots of short stories also have a climax, crisis or turning point. In general, short stories feature endings which might be either conclusive or open-ended. Ambiguity

6390-425: The popularity of the short story. Several authors during this time wrote short stories centered on the devices of satire and humor. One such author, Hector Hugh Munro (1870–1916), also known by his pen name of Saki , wrote satirical short stories about Edwardian England. P.G. Wodehouse published his first collection of comical stories about the valet, Jeeves , in 1917. Other common genres of short stories during

6480-560: The revival of short story salons such as those held by the short fiction company Pin Drop Studio. More than 690,000 short stories and anthologies were sold in the UK in 2017, generating £5.88 million, the genre's highest sales since 2010. Throughout the 2010s, there was frequent speculation about a potential "renaissance"; Sam Baker called it a "perfect literary form for the 21st century". In 2012, Pin Drop Studio launched what became

6570-427: The science of old, and advanced mathematics is treated like arcane lore. The Dying Earth exists alongside several Overworlds and Underworlds. These help add a sense of profound longing and entrapment to the series. While humans can, with relative ease, physically travel to the horrific Underworlds (as Cugel does on several occasions, to his dismay) the vast majority of the population are only capable of mentally visiting

6660-608: The sense of expressing dissatisfaction with traditional or establishment science fiction was popularized in the 1960s and early 1970s by Judith Merril , as well as other writers and editors in connection with the New Wave movement. However, this use of the term fell into disuse around the mid-1970s. In the 2000s, the term came into wider use as a convenient collective term for a set of genres. However, some writers, such as Margaret Atwood , who wrote The Handmaid's Tale , continue to distinguish "speculative fiction" specifically as

6750-410: The short story has been theorised about through the traditional elements of dramatic structure : exposition (the introduction of setting, situation, and main characters), complication (the event that introduces the conflict), rising action , crisis (the decisive moment for the protagonist and his commitment to a course of action), climax (the point of highest interest in terms of the conflict and

6840-480: The short story movement. French author Guy de Maupassant composed the short stories " Boule de Suif " ("Ball of Fat", 1880) and " L'Inutile Beauté " ("The Useless Beauty", 1890), which are important examples of French realism . Russian author Anton Chekhov was also influential in the movement. In the late nineteenth and early twentieth century in India, many writers created short stories centered on daily life and

6930-409: The social scene of the different socioeconomic groups. Rabindranath Tagore published more than 150 short stories on the lives of the poor and oppressed such as peasants, women, and villagers under colonial misrule and exploitation. Sarat Chandra Chattopadhyay , Tagore's contemporary, was another pioneer in Bengali short stories. Chattopadhyay's stories focused on the social scenario of rural Bengal and

7020-500: The term to avoid being pigeonholed as a science fiction writer. Ellison, a fervent proponent of writers embracing more literary and modernist directions, broke out of genre conventions to push the boundaries of speculative fiction. The term suppositional fiction is sometimes used as a sub-category designating fiction in which characters and stories are constrained by an internally consistent world, but not necessarily one defined by any particular genre. Speculative fiction as

7110-494: The thousands. Female short story writers have gained increased critical attention, with British authors, in particular, exploring modern feminist politics in their writings. Sales of short-story fiction are strong. In the UK, sales jumped 45% in 2017, driven by collections from international names such as Alice Munro, a high number of new writers to the genre, including famous names like actor Tom Hanks (plus those who publish their work using readily accessible, digital tools), and

7200-522: The time of the Dying Earth. Booklist has called him Vance's "heir apparent." (Review by Carl Hays of The Gist Hunter and Other Stories, Booklist, August 2005) The original creators of the Dungeons & Dragons games were fans of Jack Vance and incorporated many aspects of the Dying Earth series into the game. The magic system, in which a wizard is limited in the number of spells that can be simultaneously remembered and forgets them once they are cast,

7290-548: The time, under the influences of Xavier de Maistre , Laurence Sterne , Guy de Maupassant , among others. At the end of the 19th century, the writer João do Rio became popular by short stories about the bohemianism . Lima Barreto wrote about the former slaves and nationalism in Brazil, with his most recognized work being Triste Fim de Policarpo Quaresma . Examples include: In the United Kingdom, periodicals like The Strand Magazine and Story-Teller contributed to

7380-508: The title The Book of Gold (specifically, Wolfe wrote that the "Book of Gold" mentioned in The Book of the New Sun is different for each reader, but for him it was "The Dying Earth"). Wolfe has extended the series. Michael Shea 's novel Nifft the Lean (1982), his second book eight years after A Quest for Simbilis , also owes much debt to Vance's creation, since the protagonist of the story

7470-591: The titular shamaness Medea killed her own children, as opposed to their being killed by other Corinthians after her departure. Additionally, Euripides' play, Hippolytus , narratively introduced by Aphrodite , Goddess of Love in person, is suspected to have displeased his contemporary audiences, as his portrayal of Phaedra was seen as too lusty . In historiography , what is now called "speculative fiction" has previously been termed "historical invention", "historical fiction", and other similar names. These terms have been extensively noted in literary criticism of

7560-439: The wondrous Overworlds through rare artifacts (e.g. through the "Eyes of the Overworld") or dangerous magic phenomena (such as the ship Cugel encounters in the deserts). Though they can look at the wonders and pretend they are really there, humans can never truly inhabit or escape to these utopias as their physical bodies remain stuck on the Dying Earth and will die with the sun regardless. These siren-like visions of paradise lead to

7650-486: The works of William Shakespeare , such as when he co-locates Athenian Duke Theseus , Amazonian Queen Hippolyta , English fairy Puck , and Roman god Cupid across time and space in the Fairyland of the fictional Merovingian Germanic sovereign Oberon , in A Midsummer Night's Dream . In mythography the concept of speculative fiction has been termed "mythopoesis", or mythopoeia . This practice involves

7740-409: The world, and responds to it by creating imaginative , inventive , and artistic expressions. Such expressions can contribute to practical societal progress through interpersonal influences, social and cultural movements , scientific research and advances, and the philosophy of science . In its English-language usage in arts and literature since the mid 20th century, "speculative fiction" as

7830-445: Was already both practiced and edited out by early encyclopedic writers like Sima Qian ( c.  145 or 135 BCE–86 BCE), author of Shiji . These examples highlight the caveat that many works, now regarded as intentional or unintentional speculative fiction, long predated the coining of the genre term; its concept, in its broadest sense, captures both a conscious and unconscious aspect of human psychology in making sense of

7920-495: Was based on the magic of Dying Earth. In role-playing game circles, this sort of magic system is called "Vancian" or "Vancean". Some of the spells from Dungeons & Dragons are based on spells mentioned in the Dying Earth series, such as the prismatic spray . Magic items from the Dying Earth stories such as ioun stones also made their way into Dungeons & Dragons . One of the deities of magic in Dungeons & Dragons

8010-575: Was not unique to England. In Ireland, James Joyce published his short story collection Dubliners in 1914. These stories, written in a more accessible style than his later novels, are based on careful observation of the inhabitants of his birth city. In the first half of the 20th century, a number of high-profile American magazines such as The Atlantic Monthly , Harper's Magazine , The New Yorker , Scribner's , The Saturday Evening Post , Esquire , and The Bookman published short stories in each issue. The demand for quality short stories

8100-410: Was so great and the money paid so well that F. Scott Fitzgerald repeatedly turned to short-story writing to pay his numerous debts. His first collection, Flappers and Philosophers , appeared in book form in 1920. Ernest Hemingway's concise writing style was perfectly suited for shorter fiction. Influenced by the short stories of Stephen Crane and Jack London , Hemingway's work "marks a new phase in

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