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SF authors Isaac Asimov and Pamela Sargent (among others) describe science fiction as a literature of
ideas. But the ideas of science fiction are necessarily preceded by questions: The classic starting
point for an SF story is a simple "What if?" Indeed, it can be argued that science fiction
is to human culture what Einstein's gedanken experiments were to physics - "thought" experiments designed to provide theoretical insight to questions that would otherwise be difficult or impossible to answer.
There are certain fundamental questions that SF routinely tackles, many of them related to understanding ourselves as individuals and as a species. The alien is used as a plot device to guide the reader to a better understanding of what it means to be human. The question of humanity and identity is explored in stories that posit machine-based intelligence or the copying of an individual - can an artificial intelligence ever be said to be "alive," and if a teleport machine accidentally creates two exact copies of me then which one is "real"?
Another way to approach an understanding of ourselves is to speculate on origins, in that knowledge of when and how we as a species became human could tell us much about what it is to be human. And finally, a natural counterpoint to stories of origin are stories of ending: What is our destiny as a species, and how will we end?
This last group of questions belongs to a branch of thought called eschatology, which concerns itself with the ultimate ends or destiny of humanity, the world, and existence - usually from a theological or philosophical point of view. This could be said to include SF sub-genres such as disaster and holocaust (nuclear, ecological, plague, etc), which is the equivalent of saying that we as a species are prone to or at least susceptible to sudden, violent and potentially imminent destruction. But the abrupt death of a person, be it accident or murder, though it might possibly say something about how they lived, cannot speak to who they would have become. Eschatology, particularly from a religious viewpoint, presupposes some sense of purpose to existence - that events don't just happen at random until the clock runs down and things stop.
Eschatological science fiction may or may not contain elements of purpose associated with the ultimate destiny of humankind.
The idea that species in general (and the human species in particular) have an origin and ultimately an ending that is not dependent on divine intervention is a relatively new one in the history of human thought. Traditional Christian theology, simply to pick the one I am most familiar with, ties the origin to a divine creation in which all species were brought into being and the ending to a time of apocalypse in which the world as a whole ends. Darwin's evolution revolution opened up immense vistas of time and hinted at literally uncounted numbers of species that lived and died out prior to humans. It also led to the logical conclusion that as a biological species we have no reason to expect to be around forever. Various concepts of evolutionary thought have been applied in an SF context, yielding stories in which humanity evolves into one or more new species or is supplanted by another "superior" species. Both of these scenarios implicitly acknowledge that the end of humanity is not the same as the end of existence. It is a somewhat humbling thought and relates directly to our own sense of personal mortality.
In this month's column I will examine a type of eschatological science fiction in which humanity has lived on in one form or another, typically into a far future, and is perhaps poised on the verge of extinction - death by old age, as it were. These are commonly referred to as stories of the Dying Earth.
Please note: In suggesting resale values for specific titles (particularly recent publications),
I am usually assuming Near Fine to Fine condition. If not stated otherwise, books discussed are
hardback first printings. Titles, series, and publishers of particular note to the collector and
the bookseller alike are indicated in bold.
..."My name is Ozymandias, king of kings:
Ozymandias, Percy Bysshe Shelley 1818
Shelley's sonnet, while it references the iconography of ancient Egypt, captures perfectly the imagery and mood usually associated with tales of the far future dying Earth. Themes of ruin, senescence, stagnation, melancholy and decay abound, as do ennui, degeneration and devolution. Science and technology are sometimes absent, although high-tech artifacts can survive. The line between science fiction and fantasy (and even horror) is particularly blurry here. Magic and technology sometimes co-exist and indeed may be difficult to distinguish.
One classic early title associated with this theme is HG Wells's The Time Machine, in which
by the year A.D. 802,701 the human race has diverged into two sub-human branches: the bestial
Morlocks and the child-like Eloi. After many dangers, the Time Traveler ventures millions upon
millions of years into the future, observing the Sun flare and dim repeatedly, and ultimately
ending in a silent, nearly barren and snow-covered world. Stephen Baxter was authorized by the
Wells' estate to write a sequel: The Time Ships (London: Harper Collins, 1995; hardback 1st, $250 to $350).
Clark Ashton Smith was a poet, artist, and author of numerous fantasy, horror and science fiction short stories. He was influenced by Edgar Allan Poe and was a contemporary of H. P. Lovecraft and Robert E. Howard. Smith's longest cycle of stories is set on the far future continent of Zothique, which he described in this 1953 letter to L. Sprague de Camp:
"Zothique, vaguely suggested by Theosophic theories about past and future continents, is the last inhabited continent of earth. The continents of our present cycle have sunken, perhaps several times. Some have remained submerged; others have re-risen, partially, and re-arranged themselves.... The science and machinery of our present civilization have long been forgotten, together with our present religions. But many gods are worshipped; and sorcery and demonism prevail again as in ancient days."
Smith's Zothique stories have been collected and reprinted numerous times, as have his other
stories, notably those that share in Lovecraft's Cthulhu Mythos. Look especially for any
Clark Ashton Smith titles from Arkham House. To give some perspective, a recent reprint of
A Rendezvous in Averoigne (Sauk City: Arkham House Pub, 2003; ISBN: 0870541560) lists
on Abebooks at $30 and up - and this is the least expensive of Smith's Arkham House titles.
Smith also had four titles in the Ballantine Adult Fantasy paperback series from the early
1970s: Zothique, Hyperborea, Xiccarph, and Poseidonis. Assuming Very Good to Fine condition, any of these titles should sell for a minimum of $10 to $20 - as a lot, they should do quite well with a sale price of $50 or more.
Jack Vance is often described as a master literary stylist. This assessment is at least partly based on an artistic use of language that at times elevates prose to the level of poetry. In the grand tradition of definition, by comparison, Vance is like Clark Ashton Smith, or Cordwainer Smith, or Ray Bradbury, or Ernest Bramah - but he is always and unmistakably Jack Vance.
Vance's first book, a collection of loosely related short stories titled The Dying Earth, was published in paperback in 1950, with other titles to follow:
The Dying Earth (New York: Hillman, 1950; Hillman #41) Paperback. Minimum $75 to $125
The Eyes of the Overworld (New York: Ace Books, 1966) Paperback. <$5
Cugel's Saga (New York: Timescape, 1983) Hardback <$10
Rhialto the Marvellous (New York: Simon & Schuster, 1984) Hardback $10
Tales of the Dying Earth (New York: St Martins/Orb, 2000) Trade paperback, omnibus collecting the four books of the Dying Earth. $8
Compleat Dying Earth (SFBC, 1998) Hardback, omnibus collecting the four books of the Dying Earth. $2
Underwood-Miller has published numerous limited editions of Vance's books, as well as
limited sets of chap (think stapled pamphlet style) books reprinting one or sometimes two individual
stories (Morreion, The Seventeen Virgins, The Bagful of Dreams). These are sometimes signed by the author and/or the illustrator. Starting prices appear to be in the $50 to $75 range, and go up from there.
Another element that is found in some examples of Dying Earth stories is the possibility of renewal
or rebirth. This is clearly seen in Gene Wolfe's multi-volume Book of the New Sun, an
amazing work that defies simple categorization. The Book of the New Sun is an extended Dickensian biographical novel, framed as a traveler's tale, in which elements of future historical romance, heroic quest, and picaresque adventure are mixed in. The setting is the far future, and the dying Urth needs a savior to rekindle the cooling Sun. Enter Severian, an apprentice torturer who is expelled from the Tower for the sin of mercy.
Wolfe has openly credited Jack Vance's The Dying Earth as a major influence on
The Book of the New Sun. See also Wolfe's multi-volume novels
The Book of the Long Sun and The Book of the Short Sun - a total of seven books
mostly distinct from, but set in the same universe and roughly contemporaneous with,
The Book of the New Sun.
The series is comprised of the following:
The Shadow of the Torturer (New York: Simon & Schuster, 1980) Hardback, $50 - $75
The Claw of the Conciliator (New York: Timescape, 1981) Hardback, $25
The Sword of the Lictor (New York: Timescape, 1982) Hardback, $25
The Citadel of the Autarch (New York: Timescape, 1983) Hardback, $5
A fifth book, The Urth of the New Sun (New York: Tor, 1987, <$5), picks up the story a
few years after The Book of the New Sun ends. A few questions are (seemingly) answered, more questions are raised, and some readers would have been content to stop with the fourth book.
Don't be fooled, as this is one of the more commonly found sets of SFBC editions. A Fine condition
set of the four SFBC hardbacks might fetch $10 to $20, on the right day. There is also an omnibus
SFBC edition titled The Book of the New Sun, with all four novels collected in one volume; resale value about $10.
Additionally, there is a two-volume trade paperback set, with books one and two collected as
Shadow & Claw (New York: Orb, 1994), and books three and four collected as Sword & Citadel (New York: Orb, 1994); resale value for the set between $10 and $20.
The following title list is based suggestions from two websites discussing the Dying Earth theme:
Titles I have read and can personally recommend are marked with an *
Iain Banks - Feersum Endjinn*.
Damien Broderick - The Black Grail.
C. J. Cherryh - Sunfall*.
Arthur C Clarke - The City and the Stars.
Paul McAuley - the Confluence Trilogy: Child of the River; Ancients of Days;
and Shrine of Stars.
Larry Niven - A World Out of Time.
Robert Silverberg - Nightwings.
Doris Piserchia, A Billion Days of Earth.
William Hope Hodgson - The House on the Borderland*; The Night Land*.
Brian Aldiss - Hothouse*.
Clifford Simak - City*.
Mark S. Geston - Lords of the Starship; Out of the Mouth of the Dragon;
The Day Star; The Siege of Wonder.
M. John Harrison - The Viriconium series.
Michael Moorcock - The Dancers at the End of Time series.
Matthew Hughes - Fools Errant; Fool Me Twice; Black Brillion.
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