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Tales from the Vulgar Unicorn

Tales from the Vulgar Unicorn

FantasyShort Stories
Pages
1
Published
1980
Language
English

Synopsis

Tales from the Vulgar Unicorn is the second anthology in Robert Lynn Asprin's shared-world Thieves' World series, gathering stories by Philip José Farmer, David Drake, Lynn Abbey, A. E. van Vogt, Janet Morris, Andrew J. Offutt and Asprin himself. All set in Sanctuary, a lawless city where the empire's outcasts converge, the stories follow recurring figures including One-Thumb, proprietor of the tavern that gives the book its name; Illyra the seer; the thief Hanse; crime lord Jubal; and the immortal mercenary Tempus Thales, introduced here — with the gods of Sanctuary taking an increasingly direct hand in the fight for its people.

Prose complexity
4/10

Vibe

AdventurousFunnyWhimsical
Found Family

Genres

Fantasy Short Stories Urban Fantasy

Authors

A
A. E. van Vogt

Alfred Elton van Vogt was born on a farm in Edenburg, a Russian Mennonite community east of Gretna, Manitoba. Early in his career he wrote for true confession pulp magazines like True Story, but in the late 1930s he began writing science fiction, which he was more interested in. His first published SF story, "Black Destroyer" was published in 1939, and is considered to be one of the first works of the Golden Age of science fiction. In 1941 he left his job at the Department of National Defence to...

D
David Drake

The Army took David Drake from Duke Law School and sent him on a motorized tour of Viet Nam and Cambodia with the 11th Cav, the Blackhorse. He learned new skills, saw interesting sights, and met exotic people who hadn’t run fast enough to get away. 
 
 Dave returned to become Chapel Hill’s Assistant Town Attorney and to try to put his life back together through fiction making sense of his Army experiences. 
 
 Dave describes war from where he saw it: the loader’s hatch of a tank...

L
Lynn Abbey

Lynn Abbey is a significant voice in fantasy, particularly known for her work within the groundbreaking Thieves' World shared universe, including titles like Storm Season and Tales from the Vulgar Unicorn. She also contributed to the Elfquest series and The Blood of Ten Chiefs.

P
Philip José Farmer

Philip José Farmer was an American author, principally known for his award-winning science fiction and fantasy novels and short stories. Farmer is best known for his sequences of novel — especially the World of Tiers (1965–93) and Riverworld (1971–83) series. He is noted for the pioneering use of sexual and religious themes in his work, his fascination for — and reworking of — the lore of celebrated pulp heroes, and occasional tongue-in-cheek pseudonymous works written as if by fictional char...

R
Robert Asprin

Robert Lynn Asprin (1946–2008) was an American science fiction and fantasy author, best known for the humorous MythAdventures series, featuring the magician's apprentice Skeeve and his demon mentor Aahz, and for the comic military science fiction of Phule's Company. Born in St. Johns, Michigan, he studied at the University of Michigan and served in the US Army before publishing his first novel, The Cold Cash War, in 1977. With Lynn Abbey he created and edited the Thieves' World shared-world anth...

Characters

Tempus ThalesProtagonist

An immortal mercenary introduced in this volume of the Thieves' World series.

Jubal (Sanctuary)Supporting

A crime lord of Sanctuary, a recurring figure across the Thieves' World anthologies.

All characters in Tales from the Vulgar Unicorn

Frequently asked questions

  • Is Tales from the Vulgar Unicorn part of a larger series?

    This collection is the first book in the 'Thieves' World' shared universe, which features multiple authors contributing stories set in the city of Sanctuary. While it introduces many characters and the setting, subsequent books continue to build on this world with new and returning figures.

  • Do I need to read the stories in a specific order?

    The stories within 'Tales from the Vulgar Unicorn' can generally be read in any order, as each is a self-contained narrative focusing on different characters and events. However, reading them sequentially as presented in the collection provides a natural introduction to the various inhabitants and locales of Sanctuary.

  • How does this book relate to other fantasy anthologies?

    Tales from the Vulgar Unicorn is notable for pioneering the 'shared world' fantasy concept, where multiple authors contribute stories to a single, consistent setting. This approach was influential in the fantasy genre, inspiring many similar collaborative projects that followed.