Thieves' World is a low fantasy shared world created by Robert Lynn Asprin in 1978. The original series comprised twelve anthologies, including stories by science fiction and fantasy authors Poul Anderson, John Brunner, Andrew J. Offutt, C. J. Cherryh, Janet Morris, and Chris Morris.
Overview Thieves' World is set in the city of Sanctuary at the edge of the Rankan Empire. The city is depicted as a place where many are downtrodden and where the invading Rankan gods and the Ilsigi gods they had ousted begin a struggle for dominance. As the series continues, additional invasions occur, and the city is taken over by the snake-worshipping Beysib as the Rankan empire collapses. Over time, a number of the characters in the series are revealed either to be the offspring of or otherwise blessed by various figures in the pantheons of the competing deities, and they discover or develop various powers as the series progresses.
First published in 1979, the series went on hiatus in 1989 after the twelfth anthology. In addition to the official anthologies, authors have published novels set in Thieves' World.
In 2002, Lynn Abbey, who co-edited several of the original anthologies, relaunched the series with the novel Sanctuary. This was followed by the anthologies Turning Points and Enemies of Fortune, which contain some returning authors and several new ones. Abbey also oversaw the republication of the original anthologies in omnibus editions.
Concept and origin The Thieves' World anthologies were conceived by authors Robert Lynn Asprin, Lynn Abbey, and Gordon R. Dickson during a casual meeting at the Boston science-fiction convention Boskone in 1978. Asprin suggested that the task of world-building was a major hurdle for modern fantasy writers:
"Whenever one set out to write heroic fantasy, it was first necessary to reinvent the universe from scratch regardless of what had gone before. Despite the carefully crafted Hyborean world of Howard or even the delightfully complex town of Lankhmar which Leiber created, every author was expected to beat his head against the writing table and devise a world of his own. Imagine, I proposed, if our favorite sword-and-sorcery characters shared the same settings and time-frames. Imagine the story potentials.”
Abbey described the 1978 meeting as "a casual conversation [that] changed the lives of a couple dozen people who had no idea what they had been missing or what they were getting into." The writers who were recruited for the series saw Thieves' World as both a challenge and an opportunity to bring "new oddments of human behavior, new quirks of character that the authors wouldn't dare put in a universe for which he or she was solely responsible."
Geography Abbey stated that the geography of Sanctuary and its surrounding regions shifted due to each writer's needs. "We had Crom-many drugs, magicians, vices, brothels, dives, haunts, curses, and feuds. Sanctuary wasn't a provincial backwater; it wasn't even the Imperial armpit; it was the Black Hole of not-Calcutta."
The city itself was envisioned as a late medieval town with similarities to the Shambles in York, England, and additional elements of Baghdad. The faraway capital city of Ranke is based on Rome. "Nobody knows how big Sanctuary really is. Anytime any one of us needs a secret meeting place we just create one – Sanctuary is either very large or very cramped."
Storylines and chronology The dynamics of sharing characters led to some conflicts between authors, as referenced by C. J. Cherryh in her afterword to Blood Ties: "You write your first Thieves' World story for pay, you write your second for revenge."
In an interview for Green Ronin's roleplaying guide to the setting, Abbey explained the increase of interconnected storylines as the series progressed. "The stories of the first few volumes stood by themselves. But starting in about volume three (Shadows of Sanctuary) the authors began collaborating... big time. Eventually just about every author worked with the same plot threads, some of which stretched over several volumes." Authors would often mine each other's stories for plot ideas, with a minor plot point or piece of dialogue turning into a complete story in a subsequent volume.
Asprin addressed the difficulty of the intersecting, overlapping, and diverging timelines in the preface to the fourth anthology, Storm Season: "While in earlier volumes I have tried to keep the stories in the order in which they occur, this has proved to be impossible in Storm Season... I've left it to the reader to understand what is happening and construct his/her mental timeline as necessary."
Abbey noted that the interwoven plots ultimately hurt the series' readership: "The very plot and character denseness of a Thieves' World volume, while it was eagerly anticipated by long-time readers, was a bit intimidating to anyone who hadn't been following the series from the beginning." Her observation led to a revised approach for the 2002 relaunch. "When we went to work on 'new Thieves' World', we tried to find a happy medium between stand-alone stories and densely interwoven plots. In Turning Points and Enemies of Fortune there are a few events and situations that serve as a backdrop for the stories."
Reception and awards Industry reactions The Thieves' World anthologies are credited as "pioneering and setting the standard for the shared world format", and the Journal of the Fantastic in the Arts cites Thieves' World as the "first and protype of the form".
Science fiction author Cory Doctorow says the series "rocked my world when I was about 13", and author Robin Hobb called its concept of a collective setting and characters "a brilliant idea". Author and game designer Robert J. Schwalb said "Thieves' World is to authors what D&D is to gamers."
Greg Costikyan reviewed Thieves' World in gaming magazineAres Magazine #1. Costikyan commented that "since fantasy role-playing involves the group production of a multi-hero fantasy story, role-playing fans especially will find Thieves' World enjoyable. [...] The stories themselves range from mediocre to excellent, but all are worth reading."
The Encyclopedia of Fantasy describes the series: "It is in the creation and editorial supervision of the Thieves' World sequence of shared world anthologies ... that Asprin ‒ in collaboration with Abbey ‒ has done his most original work."
In an essay included in the second volume, Tales from the Vulgar Unicorn, Asprin noted that, though fan response was mostly positive and high sales had led to sequels and the development of the Chaosium board game, many readers had written to the publisher to comment on the series' overall lack of humor.
Awards Thieves' World
Balrog Award 1980: Best Collection/Anthology (nominated) Locus Award 1980: Best Collection/Anthology (nominated) World Fantasy Award 1980: Best Collection/Anthology (nominated)
Tales from the Vulgar Unicorn
Balrog Award 1981: Best Collection/Anthology (nominated) Locus Award 1981: Best Collection/Anthology (nominated)
Shadows of Sanctuary
Balrog Award 1982: Best Collection/Anthology (winner) Locus Award 1982: Best Collection/Anthology (winner)
Original anthologies (1979-1989) Thieves' World (1979) "Introduction" by Robert Lynn Asprin "Sentences of Death" by John Brunner "The Face of Chaos" by Lynn Abbey "The Gate of the Flying Knives" by Poul Anderson "Shadowspawn" by Andrew Offutt "The Price of Doing Business" by Robert Lynn Asprin "Blood Brothers" by Joe Haldeman "Myrtis" by Christine DeWees "The Secret of the Blue Star" by Marion Zimmer Bradley Essay: "The Making of Thieves' World" by Robert Lynn Asprin Tales from the Vulgar Unicorn (1980) "Introduction" by Robert Lynn Asprin "Spiders of the Purple Mage" by Philip José Farmer "Goddess" by David Drake "The Fruit of Enlibar" by Lynn Abbey "The Dream of the Sorceress" by A.E. van Vogt "Vashanka's Minion" by Janet Morris "Shadow's Pawn" by Andrew J. Offutt "To Guard the Guardians" by Robert Lynn Asprin Essay: "The Lighter Side of Sanctuary" by Robert Lynn Asprin Shadows of Sanctuary (1981) "Looking for Satan" by Vonda N. McIntyre "Ischade" by C.J. Cherryh "A Gift in Parting" by Robert Lynn Asprin "The Vivisectionist" by Andrew J. Offutt "The Rhinoceros and the Unicorn" by Diana L. Paxson "Then Azyuna Danced" by Lynn Abbey "A Man and His God" by Janet Morris Essay: "Things the Editor Never Told Me" by Lynn Abbey Storm Season (1982) Introduction by Robert Lynn Asprin "Exercise in Pain" by Robert Lynn Asprin "Downwind" by C. J. Cherryh "A Fugitive Art" by Diana L. Paxson "Steel" by Lynn Abbey "Wizard Weather" by Janet Morris "Godson" by Andrew J. Offutt Epilog by Robert Lynn Asprin The Face of Chaos (1983) "High Moon" by Janet Morris "Necromant" by C. J. Cherryh "The Art of Alliance" by Robert Lynn Asprin "The Corners of Memory" by Lynn Abbey "Votary" by David Drake "Mirror Image" by Diana L. Paxson Wings of Omen (1984) "What Women Do Best" by Chris and Janet Morris "Daughter of the Sun" by Robin W. Bailey "A Breath of Power" by Diana L. Paxson "The Hand That Feeds You" by Diane Duane "Witching Hour" by C. J. Cherryh "Rebels Aren't Born in Palaces" by Andrew J. Offutt "Gyskouras" by Lynn Abbey "A Fish With Feathers is Out of His Depth" by Robert Lynn Asprin The Dead of Winter (1985) "Hell to Pay" by Janet Morris "The Veiled Lady, or A Look at the Normal Folk" by Andrew Offutt "The God-Chosen" by Lynn Abbey "Keeping Promises" by Robin W. Bailey "Armies of the Night" by C. J. Cherryh "Down by the Riverside" by Diane Duane "When the Spirit Moves You" by Robert Lynn Asprin "The Color of Magic" by Diana L. Paxson Soul of the City (1986) "Power Play" by Janet Morris "Dagger in the Mind" by C. J. Cherryh "Children of All Ages" by Lynn Abbey "Death in the Meadow" by C. J. Cherryh "The Small Powers that Endure" by Lynn Abbey "Pillar of Fire" by Janet Morris Blood Ties (1986) "Introduction" by Robert Lynn Asprin "Lady of Fire" by Diana L. Paxson "Sanctuary Is for Lovers" by Janet and Chris Morris "Lovers Who Slay Together" by Robin Wayne Bailey "In the Still of the Night" by C. J. Cherryh "No Glad in Gladiator" by Robert Lynn Asprin "The Tie That Binds" by Diane Duane "Sanctuary Nocturne" by Lynn Abbey "Spellmaster" by Andrew Offutt and Jodie Offutt "Afterword" by C. J. Cherryh Aftermath (1987) "Introduction" by Robert Lynn Asprin "Cade" by Mark C. Perry "Wake of the Riddler" by Janet Morris "Inheritor" by David Drake "Mercy Worse Than None" by John Brunner "Seeing is Believing (But Love Is Blind)" by Lynn Abbey "Homecoming" by Andrew Offutt Uneasy Alliances (1988) "Introduction" by Lynn Abbey "Slave Trade" by Robert Lynn Asprin "The Best of Friends" by C. J. Cherryh "The Power of Kings" by Jon DeCles "Red Light, Love Light" by Chris Morris "A Sticky Business" by C. S. Williams "The Promise of Heaven" by Robin Wayne Bailey "The Vision of Lalo" by Diana L. Paxson Stealers' Sky (1989) "Introduction" by Robert Lynn Asprin "Night Work" by Andrew Offutt "The Incompetent Audience" by John DeCles "Our Vintage Years" by Duane McGowen "Quicksilver Dreams" by Diana L. Paxson "Winds of Fortune" by C. J. Cherryh "The Fire in a God's Eye" by Robin Wayne Bailey "Web Weavers" by Lynn Abbey "To Begin Again" by Robert Lynn Asprin
New anthologies (2002-2004) Turning Points (2002) Introduction by Lynn Abbey "Home Is Where the Hate Is" by Mickey Zucker Reichert "Role Model" by Andrew Offutt "The Prisoner in the Jewel" by Diane L. Paxson "Ritual Evolution" by Selina Rosen "Duel" by Dennis L. Mckiernan "Ring of Sea and Fire" by Robin Wayne Bailey "Doing the Gods' Work" by Jody Lynn Nye "The Red Lucky" by Lynn Abbey "Apocalypse Noun" by Jeff Grubb "One to Go" by Raymond E. Feist Afterword by Lynn Abbey Enemies of Fortune (2004) Introduction by Lynn Abbey