Book description
The city of Clarges is a near-utopia, surrounded by barbarism
throughout the rest of the world. Abundant resources and the absence of
political conflict lead to a pleasant life that should be stress-free.
However, nearly everyone is obsessed with a perpetual scramble for
status, called slope. Medical technology has led to a great lengthening
of the human lifespan, but, in order to prevent the Malthusian horrors
of over-population, it is awarded only to those citizens who have made
notable contributions. The Grayven Warlock was one of those accomplished
few, but he has become a fugitive after a feud with another Amaranth
resulted in the latter's death. Masquerading as his own relict, using
the name Gavin Waylock, he lives in obscurity, looking for the
accomplishment that will reinstate him among the immortals. However,
Waylock's dramatic stratagems may result in changes to society far
beyond anything he had intended... Jack Vance (1916 - ) Jack Vance was
born in 1916 and studied mining, engineering and journalism at the
University of California. During the Second World War he served in the
merchant navy and was torpedoed twice. He started contributing stories
to the pulp magazines in the mid 1940s and published his first book, The
Dying Earth, in 1950. Among his many books are The Dragon Masters, for
which he won his first Hugo Award, Big Planet, The Anome, and the
Lyonesse sequence. He has won the Hugo, Nebula and World Fantasy Awards,
amongst others, and in 1997 was named a Grand Master by the Science
Fiction Writers of America.
