Tales from the Vulgar Unicorn

The first sequel to Thieves’ World is a fun read, although there is none of the brilliant humour of Terry Pratchett’s Discworld stories. It also shows its age in the simplistic portrayal of women in many of the stories.
A reread from 1982, this second anthology of short stories set in Sanctuary, Thieves’ World, includes stories by well known names such as Philip José Farmer with the terrible pun of Spiders of the Purple Mage (see also his title, Riders of the Purple Wage, in Dangerous Visions) and A E van Vogt with The Dream of the Sorceress.
Although I found the language of The Dream of the Sorceress sometimes stilted (I am presuming this is not a fault of the ebook conversion), this synthesising story has the merit of introducing show more us to Vashanka (the Ranke god of war) and having satisfying cameos from characters introduced in the first anthology.
The Tales from the Vulgar Unicorn improve in the second half, integrating more of the characters encountered in earlier stories, and introducing Janet Morris’ more complex Tempus character.
Overall, this second volume works better than the first, beginning to show more depth and complexity. Not great literature, but easy reading fun.

Contents:
• Spiders of the Purple Mage - Philip José Farmer
• Goddess - David Drake
• The Fruit of Enlibar - Lynn Abbey
• The Dream of the Sorceress - A. E. van Vogt
• Vashanka’s Minion - Janet Morris
• Shadow’s Pawn - Andrew J. Offutt
• To Guard the Guardians - Robert Lynn Asprin show less

This review is written with a GPL 3.0 license and the rights contained therein shall supersede all TOS by any and all websites in regards to copying and sharing without proper authorization and permissions. Crossposted at Bookstooge.booklikes.blogspot.wordpress.leafmarks.com & Bookstooge's Reviews on the Road Facebook Group by Bookstooge's Exalted Permission. Title: Tales from the Vulgar Unicorn Series: Thieves' World Author: Robert Asprin, Editor Rating: of 5 Battle Axes Genre: SFF Pages: 299 Synopsis: A continuation of the Thieves' World anthology, where we get novellas to short stories about various characters and their adventures in the grubby city of Sanctuary. My Thoughts: This stuff was ok. Kind of a like a Forgotten show more Realms but in one city instead of multiverse and short stories instead of trilogies or series. My only sticking point is that no character is really likable. You have some slightly sympathetic ones, but none that you want to cheer for. It really is a collection of scummy people. There are 10 books in this anthology series, we'll see how long I stick with it :-D " show less

Another great collection of short stories in the Thieves World shared world. Farmer, Abbey, Drake, Van Vogt, its hard to beat that collection of authors. The story continues to develop in these stories in a cohesive and interesting way.

TALES FROM THE VULGAR UNICORN
With the second book, comes a little more interaction between characters and the beginning of a a philosophy of contention 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.".
It is admittedly confusing at times but pushing through, even if it means going back and re-reading is worth it.

Contributions include:
SPIDERS OF THE PURPLE MAGE Philip Jose Farmer This was the week of the great rat hunt in Sanctuary. The next week, all the cats that could be caught were killed and degutted. The third week, all dogs were run down and disemboweled.

GODDESS David Drake “By Savankala and the Son!” Regli swore, “why show more can’t she bear land be done with it? And why does she demand to see her brother but won’t see me?”

THE FRUIT OF ENLIBAR Lynn Abbey The hillside groves of orange trees were all that remained of the legendary glory of Enlibar. Humbled descendants of the rulers of an empire dwarfing Ilsig or Ranke eked out their livings among the gnarled, ancient trees.

THE DREAM OF THE SORCERESS A. E. van Vogt The scream brought Stulwig awake in pitch darkness. He lay for a long moment stiff with fear. Like any resident of old, decadent Sanctuary his first fleeting thought was that the ancient city, with its night prowlers, had produced another victim’s cry of terror.

VASHANKA’S MINION Janet Morris The storm swept down on Sanctuary in unnatural fury, as if to punish the thieves for their misdeeds. Its hailstones were large as fists. They pummeled Wideway and broke windows on the Street of Red Lanterns and collapsed the temple of ILS, most powerful of the conquered Ilsigi gods.

SHADOW’S PAWN Andrew Offutt She was more than attractive and she walked with head high in pride and awareness of her womanhood. The bracelet on her bare arm flashed and seemed to glow with that brightness the gods reserve for polished new gold.

TO GUARD THE GUARDIANS Robert Lynn Asprin The Hell Hounds were now a common sight in Sanctuary so the appearance of one in the bazaar created little stir, save for the concealment of a few smuggled wares and a price increase on everything else. show less

Short stories from different authors, all set in the same fantasy world with the same general cast of characters. It's the 2nd in the series, & I don't have the first. I suspect I'd have liked it better if I'd read the first.

# 2 in Aspirin's Thieve's World series - An excellent exmple of accomplished authors contributing stories to a shared universe.

short stories set in Thieve's World