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The Earth is Flat: Tales from the Flat Earth and Elsewhere
IN THOSE DAYS THE EARTH WAS FLAT
In the 1970s and ‘80s, Tanith Lee composed five books’ worth of tales of the Flat Earth, a fantasy series compared to both Clark Ashton Smith’s Zothique and The Arabian Nights. In later years she would return to the setting for five more stories. All five are included here, along with many others that showcase Lee’s talent for crafting spellbinding tales of heroic warriors, enigmatic magicians, and strange deities.
Stories
"The Origin of Snow"
"The Man Who Stole the Moon"
"The Snake"
"The Pain of Glass"
"I Bring You Forever"
"Foolish, Clever, Wicked and Kind"
"Blue Vase of Ghosts"
"After I Killed Her"
"Cold Spell"
"Beauty is the Beast"
"Into Gold"
"The Truce"
"The God Orkrem"
"The Kingdoms of the Air"
In the 1970s and ‘80s, Tanith Lee composed five books’ worth of tales of the Flat Earth, a fantasy series compared to both Clark Ashton Smith’s Zothique and The Arabian Nights. In later years she would return to the setting for five more stories. All five are included here, along with many others that showcase Lee’s talent for crafting spellbinding tales of heroic warriors, enigmatic magicians, and strange deities.
Stories
"The Origin of Snow"
"The Man Who Stole the Moon"
"The Snake"
"The Pain of Glass"
"I Bring You Forever"
"Foolish, Clever, Wicked and Kind"
"Blue Vase of Ghosts"
"After I Killed Her"
"Cold Spell"
"Beauty is the Beast"
"Into Gold"
"The Truce"
"The God Orkrem"
"The Kingdoms of the Air"
274 pages, Paperback
Published March 4, 2023
67 people are currently reading
137 people want to read
About the author
Tanith Lee
615 books1,965 followersTanith Lee was a British writer of science fiction, horror, and fantasy. She was the author of 77 novels, 14 collections, and almost 300 short stories. She also wrote four radio plays broadcast by the BBC and two scripts for the UK, science fiction, cult television series "Blake's 7."
Before becoming a full time writer, Lee worked as a file clerk, an assistant librarian, a shop assistant, and a waitress.
Her first short story, "Eustace," was published in 1968, and her first novel (for children) The Dragon Hoard was published in 1971.
Her career took off in 1975 with the acceptance by Daw Books USA of her adult fantasy epic The Birthgrave for publication as a mass-market paperback, and Lee has since maintained a prolific output in popular genre writing.
Lee twice won the World Fantasy Award: once in 1983 for best short fiction for “The Gorgon” and again in 1984 for best short fiction for “Elle Est Trois (La Mort).” She has been a Guest of Honour at numerous science fiction and fantasy conventions including the Boskone XVIII in Boston, USA in 1981, the 1984 World Fantasy Convention in Ottawa, Canada, and Orbital 2008 the British National Science Fiction convention (Eastercon) held in London, England in March 2008. In 2009 she was awarded the prestigious title of Grand Master of Horror.
Lee was the daughter of two ballroom dancers, Bernard and Hylda Lee. Despite a persistent rumour, she was not the daughter of the actor Bernard Lee who played "M" in the James Bond series of films of the 1960s.
Tanith Lee married author and artist John Kaiine in 1992.
Before becoming a full time writer, Lee worked as a file clerk, an assistant librarian, a shop assistant, and a waitress.
Her first short story, "Eustace," was published in 1968, and her first novel (for children) The Dragon Hoard was published in 1971.
Her career took off in 1975 with the acceptance by Daw Books USA of her adult fantasy epic The Birthgrave for publication as a mass-market paperback, and Lee has since maintained a prolific output in popular genre writing.
Lee twice won the World Fantasy Award: once in 1983 for best short fiction for “The Gorgon” and again in 1984 for best short fiction for “Elle Est Trois (La Mort).” She has been a Guest of Honour at numerous science fiction and fantasy conventions including the Boskone XVIII in Boston, USA in 1981, the 1984 World Fantasy Convention in Ottawa, Canada, and Orbital 2008 the British National Science Fiction convention (Eastercon) held in London, England in March 2008. In 2009 she was awarded the prestigious title of Grand Master of Horror.
Lee was the daughter of two ballroom dancers, Bernard and Hylda Lee. Despite a persistent rumour, she was not the daughter of the actor Bernard Lee who played "M" in the James Bond series of films of the 1960s.
Tanith Lee married author and artist John Kaiine in 1992.
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Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews
May 10, 2023
Made it through about half of these, enough for now but may revisit in the future. All feature Lee's intoxicating, poetic prose and are fairy tale like stories of human triumph and sorrow set in the world of her Flat Earth series, though no prior acquaintance with these is needed.
Want to read
April 12, 2023Hopefully someone adds the paperback version too, but this is a collection of some previously unreleased short stories set in Tanith Lee's Tales of the Flat Earth series along with some other short stories. I can't wait to buy this!
March 22, 2023
Tanith Lee is a name that conjures wistful memories and often a smile from many fans. Every single one can name a favorite novel or series. Many cite the Flat Earth series, and with good reason.
The Flat Earth series was originally published with those bright yellow spines by DAW Books. The series comprises the books, Night's Master, Death's Master, Delusion's Master, Delirium's Mistress and Night's Sorceries. Later these five books were bound together in the two collections The Lords of Darkness and Night's Daughter.
The Earth is Flat collects five previously uncollected Flat Earth stories. Nine additional tales round out the collection. The Pain of Glass can also be found in the collection Empress of Dreams published by DMR Books in 2021.
Tanith Lee's stories have a timelessness to them. A gothic fairytale quality and setting brimming with unbridled imagination.
The Man who Stole the Moon, the second story in the collection, graces the cover. Many classic S&S themes combined with a great dose of Jack Vance makes this particular story stand out to me.
The Snake wavered in my attention as the story developed, but the denouement made me sit up and reevaluate what had gone before. Well done.
"And there on the floor in the strange light, spine-snapped and crushed in one second by heel, lay a golden snake, dead as yesterday, unmade as tomorrow."
I did not care for The Pain of Glass the first time I read it in Empress of Dreams. Reading it a second time has won me over. It's a lovely story.
Blue Vase of Ghosts presents such an intriguing concept to me. Reminds me of Darrell Schweitzer's Mask of the Sorcerer.
After I Killed Her was different, and that makes it stand out. The film Enemy Mine shares a similar theme.
If you haven't read Tanith Lee before, it's a wonderful time to remedy that. Fans will enjoy reading and adding this new book to their personal libraries.
The Flat Earth series was originally published with those bright yellow spines by DAW Books. The series comprises the books, Night's Master, Death's Master, Delusion's Master, Delirium's Mistress and Night's Sorceries. Later these five books were bound together in the two collections The Lords of Darkness and Night's Daughter.
The Earth is Flat collects five previously uncollected Flat Earth stories. Nine additional tales round out the collection. The Pain of Glass can also be found in the collection Empress of Dreams published by DMR Books in 2021.
Tanith Lee's stories have a timelessness to them. A gothic fairytale quality and setting brimming with unbridled imagination.
The Man who Stole the Moon, the second story in the collection, graces the cover. Many classic S&S themes combined with a great dose of Jack Vance makes this particular story stand out to me.
The Snake wavered in my attention as the story developed, but the denouement made me sit up and reevaluate what had gone before. Well done.
"And there on the floor in the strange light, spine-snapped and crushed in one second by heel, lay a golden snake, dead as yesterday, unmade as tomorrow."
I did not care for The Pain of Glass the first time I read it in Empress of Dreams. Reading it a second time has won me over. It's a lovely story.
Blue Vase of Ghosts presents such an intriguing concept to me. Reminds me of Darrell Schweitzer's Mask of the Sorcerer.
After I Killed Her was different, and that makes it stand out. The film Enemy Mine shares a similar theme.
If you haven't read Tanith Lee before, it's a wonderful time to remedy that. Fans will enjoy reading and adding this new book to their personal libraries.
March 19, 2024
At risk of stating the obvious, we lost Tanith Lee far too early. And entirely too much of her short fiction has remained uncollected since its original appearance, so it's very nice to see another collection of her stories that in most cases haven't been reprinted since their original appearance in various anthologies and magazines.
And even better (as per the title), this collection includes almost all of the stories Lee wrote in her Tales of the Flat Earth series that had come out after the final Flat Earth book (Night's Sorceries) many years ago, including one story that had only ever been published on her website. It was a (darkly brooding) joy to revisit the Flat Earth, presumably for the last time and luxuriate in Lee's sensual and decadent prose. (And bittersweet to know that she had planned at least one more full-length book, but alas!, such was not to be.)
The Flat Earth stories comprise approximately the first third of the book. The remainder is other stories that are kind of a thematic match -- in one case (Foolish, Clever, Wicked and Kind), a story written for Arabesques: More Tales of the Arabian Nights and in other cases stories with the same kind of mythic/Arabian Nights vibe to them, many of which had not been in print in many years, or had only appeared in obscure small-press collections. (Well, sigh, to be sure, this volume is itself a bit of an obscure small-press collection; but at least it's new and in print.)
If you're already familiar with Tanith Lee and most especially with the Flat Earth books, you know you have to read this; if you're not already familiar, I envy you making that initial acquaintance.
And even better (as per the title), this collection includes almost all of the stories Lee wrote in her Tales of the Flat Earth series that had come out after the final Flat Earth book (Night's Sorceries) many years ago, including one story that had only ever been published on her website. It was a (darkly brooding) joy to revisit the Flat Earth, presumably for the last time and luxuriate in Lee's sensual and decadent prose. (And bittersweet to know that she had planned at least one more full-length book, but alas!, such was not to be.)
The Flat Earth stories comprise approximately the first third of the book. The remainder is other stories that are kind of a thematic match -- in one case (Foolish, Clever, Wicked and Kind), a story written for Arabesques: More Tales of the Arabian Nights and in other cases stories with the same kind of mythic/Arabian Nights vibe to them, many of which had not been in print in many years, or had only appeared in obscure small-press collections. (Well, sigh, to be sure, this volume is itself a bit of an obscure small-press collection; but at least it's new and in print.)
If you're already familiar with Tanith Lee and most especially with the Flat Earth books, you know you have to read this; if you're not already familiar, I envy you making that initial acquaintance.
September 21, 2025
4.5
The Earth is Flat is probably my least favorite Tanith Lee so far, but solely for the simple fact that this is a short story collection and thus much more variable in quality than her usual stuff. That said, this still smokes, and all of the Flat Earth parts are particularly great. The epic, mysterious, fantastical tone is all there, and masterful.
Moving out of the first five, any of the 'Elsewhere' section pretty well fit within the Flat Earth style, so if you're already enjoying those, there isn't going to be any major upset. Only a couple things introduced here to note: One, a couple of the stories (The Truce) are just too short to really do much with and...eh. Some might get more than others, but less for me. Two, a couple - but mainly the final story (The Kingdoms of the Air), goes the other way and gets long-winded in this strange esoteric style that's just much less fun (though the arthurian/biblical tale is a neat change).
Third, the later stories (Foolish, Clever, Wicked and King, and Into Gold especially) lean hard into orientalism... which is sorta a silly complaint given how heavily Flat Earth is built on 1001 Nights - but here it's just made more manifest. Nicely, there's usually an inversion of any negative stereotypes, but you have to work through them to get there - The mysterious exotic woman seems dangerous... but turns out she's working for good.... you just have to read a lot of disingenuous descriptions of 'yellow skin' before you get there. Up to you if that's a mood killer or not - again, it's not like it's not present in Flat Earth as a whole, but... just more blatant here.
But oh man, this is still Lee's powerful, fantastical writing at its heights, with great visual imagination and powerful moral cruxes... if you like her other stuff at all, definitely one worth picking up. Just skip past the stuff that bugs you, it's all good.
The Origin of Snow - 4
The Man Who Stole the Moon - 5
The Snake - 5
The Pain of Glass - 4.5
I Bring You Forever - 5
Foolish, Clever, Wicked and Kind - 4.5
Blue Vase of Ghosts - 4.5
After I Killed Her - 5
Cold Spell - 3
Beauty is the Beast - 4.5
Into Gold - 5
The Truce - 3
The God Orkrem - 3.5
The Kingdoms of the Air - 4
The Earth is Flat is probably my least favorite Tanith Lee so far, but solely for the simple fact that this is a short story collection and thus much more variable in quality than her usual stuff. That said, this still smokes, and all of the Flat Earth parts are particularly great. The epic, mysterious, fantastical tone is all there, and masterful.
Moving out of the first five, any of the 'Elsewhere' section pretty well fit within the Flat Earth style, so if you're already enjoying those, there isn't going to be any major upset. Only a couple things introduced here to note: One, a couple of the stories (The Truce) are just too short to really do much with and...eh. Some might get more than others, but less for me. Two, a couple - but mainly the final story (The Kingdoms of the Air), goes the other way and gets long-winded in this strange esoteric style that's just much less fun (though the arthurian/biblical tale is a neat change).
Third, the later stories (Foolish, Clever, Wicked and King, and Into Gold especially) lean hard into orientalism... which is sorta a silly complaint given how heavily Flat Earth is built on 1001 Nights - but here it's just made more manifest. Nicely, there's usually an inversion of any negative stereotypes, but you have to work through them to get there - The mysterious exotic woman seems dangerous... but turns out she's working for good.... you just have to read a lot of disingenuous descriptions of 'yellow skin' before you get there. Up to you if that's a mood killer or not - again, it's not like it's not present in Flat Earth as a whole, but... just more blatant here.
But oh man, this is still Lee's powerful, fantastical writing at its heights, with great visual imagination and powerful moral cruxes... if you like her other stuff at all, definitely one worth picking up. Just skip past the stuff that bugs you, it's all good.
The Origin of Snow - 4
The Man Who Stole the Moon - 5
The Snake - 5
The Pain of Glass - 4.5
I Bring You Forever - 5
Foolish, Clever, Wicked and Kind - 4.5
Blue Vase of Ghosts - 4.5
After I Killed Her - 5
Cold Spell - 3
Beauty is the Beast - 4.5
Into Gold - 5
The Truce - 3
The God Orkrem - 3.5
The Kingdoms of the Air - 4
April 25, 2023
Thank you Dave Ritzlin for making this collection possible! A few years ago, I read Lee's excellent Flat Earth books and they really knocked my socks off. So when I found out there more stories in that universe, I wanted to read them right then and there. BUT there was a problem! The remaining Flat Earth stories had been published in old magazines and on defunct websites and were not going to be easy to track down. I resigned myself to never finishing the series, but then DMR books came to my rescue. As should be expected from Lee, these stories are all beautifully written and hard hitting. A must read for fans!
January 20, 2025
If you haven't read Tanith Lee, then I implore you to read this book. Tanith paints pictures with words, and they are beautiful pictures. Filled with both delicacy and grandure that sweeps you away and fills your soul with sweet melancholy.
January 24, 2025
It's absolutely, inarguably not her best work. But it's still zany, weird, and peculiarly fascinating. It's still Tanith Lee, in fact.
February 6, 2025
I enjoyed some stories more than others - which is the way of short story compendiums - but I did love the lyrical language and the fairytale imagery and symbols woven throughout.
Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews