Thieves' World Book Club! Thieves' World

All views in this blog are my own and represent the views of no other person, organization, or institution.

For a few years I have been the admin/moderator of the Thieves' World Facebook discussion group. I started a "book club" last year, hoping to spark more discussion about the series. It has been a mixed success. I think in some ways my posts starting the discussion of each anthology have been a bit too big. I also realized, these posts were disappearing into ether after a short short while. In order to give the posts more permanence and so I can more easily refer folks to them, I decided to start putting the "opening" post for each anthology here on my blog. So, here is the opening post for the first anthology, the discussion followed from here. 

We are starting with Thieves' World, the first anthology and the start of this wonderful series and setting.

The original Valdez cover. 

 Contents:

 "Introduction" Author: Robert Asprin

 "Sentences of Death" Author: John Brunner

 "The Face of Chaos" Author: Lynn Abbey

 "The Gate of Flying Knives" Author: Poul Anderson

 "Shadowspawn" Author: Andrew Offutt

 "The Price of Doing Business" Author: Robert Asprin

 "Blood Brothers" Author: Joe Haldeman

 "Myrtis" Author: Christine DeWees

 "The Secret of the Blue Star" Author: Marion Zimmer Bradley

 "The Making of Thieves' World" Author: Robert Asprin"

 It is curious to note that of these eight original authors, four of them never contributed again to a Thieves' World anthology.

Later cover by Gary Ruddell.

 It is also remarkable how compatible the tone of these tales were,   they it remarkably well together. I think Asprin's excellent   "Introduction" is responsible for that, it is an remarkable piece of   concise world building.

 The original cover by Walter Valdez also certainly suited the first   book. According to Adrew Offutt in the Afterward to Dead of   Winter: "Oh, here's an Inside tip for you, Insider: go and look   again at the cover of the original TW. Asprin long ago came up   with a caption for it, and you'll love it. It's "You're In The Wrong   Place, Sucker.""

  The Ruddell cover is "Prince Kadakithis halts Captain Zalbar of   the Hell Hounds as Hakiem the Storyteller cowers at their arrival   in Sanctuary." 

  I don't have a caption for the third cover, but it is clearly a scene   from "The Gate of Flying Knives."

  I've also included the cover from the Book Club edition, a   compilation title Sanctuary which contained Thieves' World, Tales   from the Vulgar Unicorn & Shadows of Sanctuary.

Jamie the Red faces a Sikkaintair.

You can find this volume in many used book stores online. Also, it is available for Kindle on Amazon here. 

An audiobook of this work is available here on Audible. 

All views in this blog are my own and represent the views of no other person, organization, or institution.

Science Fiction Book Club edition.