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Liavek

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Liavek is a shared world brought to life in a series of five fantasy anthologies edited by Emma Bull and Will Shetterly.

Contributors

Contributors include Bull, Shetterly, Gene Wolfe, Jane Yolen, John M. Ford, Kara Dalkey, Barry B. Longyear, Megan Lindholm, Nancy Kress, Patricia C. Wrede, Steven Brust, Nathan A. Bucklin, Pamela Dean, Gregory Frost, Charles de Lint, Charles R. Saunders, Walter Jon Williams, Alan Moore and Bradley Denton.

Stories

The stories are as follows

Liavek edited by Will Shetterly & Emma Bull, published by Ace Books in 1985

Liavek: The Players of Luck edited by Will Shetterly & Emma Bull, published by Ace Books in 1986 Liavek: Wizard’s Row edited by Will Shetterly & Emma Bull, published by Ace Books in 1987 Liavek: Spells of Binding edited by Will Shetterly & Emma Bull, published by Ace Books in 1988 Liavek: Festival Week edited by Will Shetterly & Emma Bull, published by Ace Books in 1990 In 1989 Tor Books published Casting Fortune a collection of short stories by John Ford - this brought together his stories from the first two volumes together with a new novella. The stories are: Moore's Liavek story was adapted into comic book format and published as Alan Moore's Hypothetical Lizard in 2005.

Dean has a new Liavek story, Cousins, in the 2006 anthology from Firebird Books, Firebirds Rising, edited by Sharyn November

Calendar

Liavek uses a calendar which is a simple adaptation of the French Republican calendar. It consists of twelve months of 30 days, called Snow, Rain, Wind, Buds, Flowers, Meadows, Reaping, Heat, Fruit, Wine, Fog and Frost. The year begins at the winter solstice, with five days of festival (Festival Week). Every four years is the Grand Festival, which lasts an extra day. There are six weeks of five days: Sunday, Moonday, Windday, Rainday, and Luckday.

Magic System

In the world of Liavek, each individual is born with the capacity to do magic by investing his luck. Each year on an individual's birthday, he can invest his luck into a physical object. If he succeeds, then for the next 364 days he is a magician of some greater of lesser degree of power —however, all his strength resides in his luck object and he is in great danger if an enemy locates and destroys that object.

Many Liavekans have invested their luck —the city is called "the city of luck" for this reason— but the powerful professional magicians live on Wizard's Row. Wizard's Row is unique in that it is known to occasionally vanish, often when the street is being sought.

Politics

Politics in Liavek are complicated, both internally (among the various temples, most notably the Red Temple) and externally, among the different countries. Liavek is a port city of immigrants.

Recurring Characters

 


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