Ethshar

Ethshar

Ethshar is a constructed world first developed by American fantasy author Lawrence Watt-Evans for use in role-playing games [http://www.ethshar.com/ethsharfaq.html#one] , in which he later set a number of novels and short stories. He loosely modeled the political and economic aspects of the world on the Roman Empire of about the second century A.D [http://www.ethshar.com/intro.html] .

Ethshar is actually the common name of three large cities in the major civilization of this world: Ethshar of the Spices, Ethshar of the Sands, and Ethshar of the Rocks, making up a political entity called the Hegemony of the Three Ethshars [http://www.ethshar.com/intro.html] . To the southeast of the Hegemony is where the original "Old Ethshar" once was. The former Ethshar, which became embroiled in a generations-long war with the Northern Empire, broke up into more than two hundred statelets collectively called the Small Kingdoms before the end of the "Great War." [http://www.ethshar.com/background.html#geography] The inhabitants don't have a name for their world, simply calling it the World [http://www.ethshar.com/intro.html] .

Notable features of Ethshar, in contrast to some other fantasy worlds, include:

* Besides humans there are few other intelligent races, including dragons.
* There are many different varieties of magic in Ethshar, each with its own laws. Some, like the telekinesis exhibited by Ethshar's warlocks, seem to owe more influence to science fictional than fantasy influences.
* Ethshar, as a world, does not seem to be on a planet- the known world is the end-cap of a cylinder surrounded by what seems to be a noxious yellow gas.
* Magic, in particular wizardry, is powerful enough to create other universes.

Notable features of the Ethshar series, in contrast to some other invented-world fantasy series, include:

* The novels and stories stand alone reasonably well, and don't need to be read in a particular order (with some exceptions mentioned by Watt-Evans on the Ethshar site).
* The scope of the stories tends to be personal rather than cosmic.

The first six Ethshar novels were published by Ballantine's Del Rey imprint, all of them being accepted and nominally edited by Lester Del Rey. The seventh and eighth were published by Tor Books, but disappointing sales led Tor to ask Lawrence Watt-Evans to concentrate on his non-Ethshar material, which generated much better sales. After writing several non-Ethshar fantasy novels for Tor, Watt-Evans began experimentally serializing the ninth Ethshar novel, "The Spriggan Mirror", on his website under a modified form of the Street Performer Protocol. As of September 2006, the novel is scheduled to be published soon in trade paperback, and Watt-Evans is serializing the next, " [http://www.ethshar.com/thevondishambassador1.html The Vondish Ambassador.] "

The Ethshar short stories were first published in various anthologies; later six of them were included as bonus material in Wildside Press's reprints of the Del Rey Ethshar novels.

Works

Novels

*"The Misenchanted Sword"
*"With a Single Spell"
*"The Unwilling Warlord"
*"The Blood of a Dragon"
*"Taking Flight"
*"The Spell of the Black Dagger"
*"Night of Madness"
*"Ithanalin's Restoration"
*" [http://sonandfoe.com/category/issue2/ The Spriggan Mirror] "
*"The Vondish Ambassador"

hort stories

*"Portrait of a Hero"
*"The Guardswoman"
*" [http://www.ethshar.com/sirinitasdragon1.html Sirinita's Dragon] "
*"The Bloodstone"
*"Night Flight"
*"Weaving Spells"
*"Ingredients"
*"The God in Red" (chapbook)

ee also

*Varieties of magic in Ethshar

External links

* [http://www.ethshar.com/intro.html Ethshar home page]
* [http://www.ethshar.com/ethsharfaq.html A F.A.Q. page about Ethshar written by Lawrence Watt-Evans]


Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.

Игры ⚽ Поможем сделать НИР

Look at other dictionaries:

  • Varieties of magic in Ethshar — This article summarizes the different varieties of magic and magicians in the fictional world of EthsharDemonologySummoning one or more demons, and convincing them to perform various tasks. Traffic between the realm of demons and Ethshar became… …   Wikipedia

  • Lawrence Watt-Evans — (born 1954) is one of the pseudonyms of American science fiction and fantasy author Lawrence Watt Evans (another pseudonym, used primarily for science fiction, is Nathan Archer). Born in Arlington, Massachusetts, as the fourth of six children, he …   Wikipedia

  • The Unwilling Warlord — Infobox Book | name = The Unwilling Warlord title orig = translator = image caption = Cover of 1st US edition author = Lawrence Watt Evans illustrator = cover artist = Darrell K. Sweet country = U.S. language = English series = Ethshar subject =… …   Wikipedia

  • Worldbuilding — A rendered conworld, as would be seen from space by an observer. Worldbuilding is the process of constructing an imaginary world, sometimes associated with a fictional universe. The result may sometimes be called a constructed world,[1] conworld… …   Wikipedia

  • The Vondish Ambassador — (2007) is a novel by Lawrence Watt Evans set in his Ethshar universe. He serialized it with a variant of the Street Performer Protocol. It has remained available online until at least late July 2008, at his [http://www.ethshar.com/index.html… …   Wikipedia

  • Serial (literature) — In literature, a serial is a publishing format by which a single large work, most often a work of narrative fiction, is presented in contiguous (typically chronological) installments also known as numbers, parts, or fascicles either issued as… …   Wikipedia

  • Funny Fantasy — Humoristische Fantasy oder auch „Funny Fantasy“ (Funtasy) oder „Light Fantasy“ ist eine Sparte der fantastischen Literatur, die sich über altbekannte Phantastik Elemente lustig macht oder diese ironisch und sarkastisch behandelt. Sehr oft findet… …   Deutsch Wikipedia

  • Funtasy — Humoristische Fantasy oder auch „Funny Fantasy“ (Funtasy) oder „Light Fantasy“ ist eine Sparte der fantastischen Literatur, die sich über altbekannte Phantastik Elemente lustig macht oder diese ironisch und sarkastisch behandelt. Sehr oft findet… …   Deutsch Wikipedia

  • Humoristische Fantasy — oder auch „Funny Fantasy“ (Funtasy) oder „Light Fantasy“ ist eine Sparte der fantastischen Literatur, die sich über altbekannte Phantastik Elemente lustig macht oder diese ironisch und sarkastisch behandelt. Sehr oft findet man hier auch… …   Deutsch Wikipedia

  • Уотт-Эванс — Уотт Эванс, Лоуренс Лоуренс Уотт Эванс Lawrence Watt Evans Псевдонимы: Натан Арчер (англ. Nathan Archer) Дата рождения: 26 июля 1954(1954 07 26) (55 лет) Место рожден …   Википедия

Share the article and excerpts

Direct link
Do a right-click on the link above
and select “Copy Link”