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Liavek
Casting Fortune
The theater anywhere is a magical place - but in Liavek, where wizardry is as common as unemployed actors, the theater is a place where magic rules.
"May These Events" is opening for its first (and only) run, and wizard Oten Chitaru is behind the scenes. Chitaru thinks nothing of producing steaming hot cups of tea from his sleeves for the actors awaiting auditions - what effects will he produce for the audience?
And if that weren't enough magic for one evening, what will happen when the mystically reanimated actor finally decides to take his revenge on the director?
With two bonus stories set in the same universe! (From book cover)
"May These Events" is opening for its first (and only) run, and wizard Oten Chitaru is behind the scenes. Chitaru thinks nothing of producing steaming hot cups of tea from his sleeves for the actors awaiting auditions - what effects will he produce for the audience?
And if that weren't enough magic for one evening, what will happen when the mystically reanimated actor finally decides to take his revenge on the director?
With two bonus stories set in the same universe! (From book cover)
249 pages, Paperback
First published June 1, 1989
1 person is currently reading
158 people want to read
About the author
John M. Ford
101 books208 followersJohn Milo "Mike" Ford was a science fiction and fantasy writer, game designer and poet.
Ford was regarded (and obituaries, tributes and memories describe him) as an extraordinarily intelligent, erudite and witty man. He was a popular contributor to several online discussions. He composed poems, often improvised, in both complicated forms and blank verse, notably Shakespearean pastiche; he also wrote pastiches and parodies of many other authors and styles.At Minicon and other science fiction conventions he would perform "Ask Dr. Mike", giving humorous answers to scientific and other questions in a lab coat before a whiteboard.
Ford passed away from natural causes in 2006 at his home in Minneapolis.
Biography source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_M._...
Ford was regarded (and obituaries, tributes and memories describe him) as an extraordinarily intelligent, erudite and witty man. He was a popular contributor to several online discussions. He composed poems, often improvised, in both complicated forms and blank verse, notably Shakespearean pastiche; he also wrote pastiches and parodies of many other authors and styles.At Minicon and other science fiction conventions he would perform "Ask Dr. Mike", giving humorous answers to scientific and other questions in a lab coat before a whiteboard.
Ford passed away from natural causes in 2006 at his home in Minneapolis.
Biography source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_M._...
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Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews
May 16, 2014
John M Ford is one of our forgotten treasures.
This small book is a collection of two short stories and a novella set in the shared world of Liavek, a sort of Lankhmarian city state filled with magic, weird cults and the like. I'd previously read a few other stories set in this universe, including one by Gene Wolfe, but none of them compare to this. As with other works set in a shared world, Ford takes the setting and makes it entirely his own. Ford was incapable of dialling it in, and there is a huge richness and complexity here above and beyond what you would expect of such a work. That he didn't write further stories in this universe is a huge (though, I suspect, largely unacknowledged) shame.
The first piece, A Cup of Worrynot Tea, is a tricksy little coming of age story involving a pair of childhood friends, an immortal wizard and a conspiracy to topple the Liavekan government. Though short, it's a satisfying and intelligent story, filled with emotion.
Green is the Color is a longer and relatively more straightforward tale, sort of a murder mystery cum fantasy crime thriller. A number of prominent wizards are being bumped off around the city, and it is up to Jemuel, the resident chief of police, to solve the crime and bring the killer to justice. Though the culprit is more or less figured out by the halfway stage, the reason for their killings and the very nature of the killer don't become apparent till relatively late on. Much of the mystery is maintained by the descriptions of the murders themselves, each of which seems to take the form of something intensely personal to the victim themselves, but which always involves the color green.
The Illusionist is the longest work in the book. A prominent playwright is staging a new play, and he's looking for four new actors to play the roles. At the same time, something about the playwright's past has attracted the attention of Jemuel (a recurring character in the stories). Might he have been involved in a grotesque crime? Might he be about to commit another, live on stage?
This is a story which I'll probably go back and re-read at some point. There were a number of elements I didn't entirely understand, and a couple of scenes whose significance to the main plot I didn't grasp, if indeed I was meant to grasp them at all. There's loads to love about it though. The camaraderie between the actors and their tyrannical director as well as the small glimpses we get of their private lives felt passionate and real. The catty, razor-wire tensions of life in the theater are brilliantly evoked; Ford must have had some experience in the theatrical profession, and if not then he's a genius. The play itself, a comedy, literally made me laugh out loud. The ending felt wonderfully warm and complete, despite the somewhat hazy motives of the main culprits. Ford was an individual who felt things deeper and more passionately than most, and that can't help but imprint itself on his work, and by that feed into and enrich your own soul.
A first-rate book.
This small book is a collection of two short stories and a novella set in the shared world of Liavek, a sort of Lankhmarian city state filled with magic, weird cults and the like. I'd previously read a few other stories set in this universe, including one by Gene Wolfe, but none of them compare to this. As with other works set in a shared world, Ford takes the setting and makes it entirely his own. Ford was incapable of dialling it in, and there is a huge richness and complexity here above and beyond what you would expect of such a work. That he didn't write further stories in this universe is a huge (though, I suspect, largely unacknowledged) shame.
The first piece, A Cup of Worrynot Tea, is a tricksy little coming of age story involving a pair of childhood friends, an immortal wizard and a conspiracy to topple the Liavekan government. Though short, it's a satisfying and intelligent story, filled with emotion.
Green is the Color is a longer and relatively more straightforward tale, sort of a murder mystery cum fantasy crime thriller. A number of prominent wizards are being bumped off around the city, and it is up to Jemuel, the resident chief of police, to solve the crime and bring the killer to justice. Though the culprit is more or less figured out by the halfway stage, the reason for their killings and the very nature of the killer don't become apparent till relatively late on. Much of the mystery is maintained by the descriptions of the murders themselves, each of which seems to take the form of something intensely personal to the victim themselves, but which always involves the color green.
The Illusionist is the longest work in the book. A prominent playwright is staging a new play, and he's looking for four new actors to play the roles. At the same time, something about the playwright's past has attracted the attention of Jemuel (a recurring character in the stories). Might he have been involved in a grotesque crime? Might he be about to commit another, live on stage?
This is a story which I'll probably go back and re-read at some point. There were a number of elements I didn't entirely understand, and a couple of scenes whose significance to the main plot I didn't grasp, if indeed I was meant to grasp them at all. There's loads to love about it though. The camaraderie between the actors and their tyrannical director as well as the small glimpses we get of their private lives felt passionate and real. The catty, razor-wire tensions of life in the theater are brilliantly evoked; Ford must have had some experience in the theatrical profession, and if not then he's a genius. The play itself, a comedy, literally made me laugh out loud. The ending felt wonderfully warm and complete, despite the somewhat hazy motives of the main culprits. Ford was an individual who felt things deeper and more passionately than most, and that can't help but imprint itself on his work, and by that feed into and enrich your own soul.
A first-rate book.
March 30, 2019
the man was a genius. the book is a collection of vignettes, not all of them, on their surfaces, t'do with theatre... but surfaces, and theatre, as the book makes, well, not plain, precisely, but brilliantly, are - perhaps by their natures? - deceptive. i can't do it justice. it hurts me to know ford will write no more.
October 29, 2020
Although I am a strong fan of world building in novels, I think I traveled over the hill from like into ennui when reading this short collection of stories set in the shared world of Liavek. This setting is a mishmash country of Central European/Middle Eastern/magical origins and is shared by several authors. Maybe I’m just too old for this genre but - there are too many descriptions and not enough actions to hold up the framework. The interesting vibes of the stories - one about political upheaval, one about death and religion and one that may be about revenge (or maybe theatrical jealousy?) - are just buried in descriptions. Characters, clothing, bodies, neighborhoods, magical games, ancient texts - they are piled high with adjectives! The author may have created these cluttered stories as a way to stand out amongst the other fantasies of the day (they were written in the 1980s) but reading them today made my head hurt.
September 2, 2025
There is such a sense of frustration and enjoyment when reading Ford. You know that even if he were alive, he would never return to the same setting twice. These characters and their world will never be explored further. Yet, it seems appropriate.
His world-building is carefully sketched yet still hints at unspoken riches. My only issue is his characterization. He sometimes writes his protagonists with a bit too much cleverness, almost as type of wish fulfillment.
His world-building is carefully sketched yet still hints at unspoken riches. My only issue is his characterization. He sometimes writes his protagonists with a bit too much cleverness, almost as type of wish fulfillment.
May 20, 2024
Four and a half stars
This book contains three stories that share a setting. My favourite is the longest, The Illusionist, but they are all satisfying and complex and twisty in the best way.
This book contains three stories that share a setting. My favourite is the longest, The Illusionist, but they are all satisfying and complex and twisty in the best way.
July 21, 2008
Three stories set in one world--the first two, "A Cup of Worrynot Tea" and "Green Is the Color" are about 50 pages each, while the final story, "The Illusionist", which the back of the book claims is the novel, is about 150 pages.
"A Cup of Worrynot Tea" was the least interesting of the three stories. It sets up the basic political environment of Liavek, a major city in a world where sorcery is common and technology is early-industrial. It focuses on three teenagers who get caught up in a political game they don't really understand, and parts of it left me with the confusion I'm starting to expect from Ford's work--I'm always excited when I don't get lost halfway through ( Web of Angels was particularly bad on this front).
"Green is the Color" digs much deeper into the practical methods of sorcery within the world, and it's just great--plotty and with a complex mythology. It's a murder mystery--seemingly disconnected magicians are dying in the night, leaving corpses surrounded by a green glow-- with a very human heart, as the the solution revolves around a sick child and a disgruntled toymaker. Great read.
"The Illusionist" is definitely the masterwork of the set. Set around a production of a comedy as complex and violent as any Jacobian revenge tragedist could conceive, the story itself is an equally complex revenge plot. Ford is generally at his best doing literary pastiche, and some of the best moments in "The Illusionist" are just that. For example, take this description of two of the deaths in the play-within-the-story:
There were two identical glasses on the table; everyone knew one of them was poisoned. Every few seconds, something would distract one of the two, and the other would switch the glasses again, or consider and _not_ switch the glasses.
Eventually, eyeing one another warily, they drank, at the last moment hooking arms to sip from each others' glasses. Hirander rose slowly, trembled, leaned against the wall.
"You need not have gone to so much trouble, sir," Viscusi said, polishing his nails on his lapel. "Both glasses were in fact poisoned. I drank the antidote an hour ago."
Hirander thudded to the floor...
The next scene was virtually a repeat of the last, with the Ambassador meeting Viscusi this time. The same glasses, same poison same maneuverings, same gasp of horror by the Ambassador as he pushed away from the table, same nonchalant confession by the Doctor that both had been spiked.
The Ambassador staggered to the table, picked up a glass, drained it. He stood quite firm. "Actually, Doctor, neither glass was poisoned. I had Thillius poison your antidote _two_ hours ago."
"A Cup of Worrynot Tea" was the least interesting of the three stories. It sets up the basic political environment of Liavek, a major city in a world where sorcery is common and technology is early-industrial. It focuses on three teenagers who get caught up in a political game they don't really understand, and parts of it left me with the confusion I'm starting to expect from Ford's work--I'm always excited when I don't get lost halfway through ( Web of Angels was particularly bad on this front).
"Green is the Color" digs much deeper into the practical methods of sorcery within the world, and it's just great--plotty and with a complex mythology. It's a murder mystery--seemingly disconnected magicians are dying in the night, leaving corpses surrounded by a green glow-- with a very human heart, as the the solution revolves around a sick child and a disgruntled toymaker. Great read.
"The Illusionist" is definitely the masterwork of the set. Set around a production of a comedy as complex and violent as any Jacobian revenge tragedist could conceive, the story itself is an equally complex revenge plot. Ford is generally at his best doing literary pastiche, and some of the best moments in "The Illusionist" are just that. For example, take this description of two of the deaths in the play-within-the-story:
There were two identical glasses on the table; everyone knew one of them was poisoned. Every few seconds, something would distract one of the two, and the other would switch the glasses again, or consider and _not_ switch the glasses.
Eventually, eyeing one another warily, they drank, at the last moment hooking arms to sip from each others' glasses. Hirander rose slowly, trembled, leaned against the wall.
"You need not have gone to so much trouble, sir," Viscusi said, polishing his nails on his lapel. "Both glasses were in fact poisoned. I drank the antidote an hour ago."
Hirander thudded to the floor...
The next scene was virtually a repeat of the last, with the Ambassador meeting Viscusi this time. The same glasses, same poison same maneuverings, same gasp of horror by the Ambassador as he pushed away from the table, same nonchalant confession by the Doctor that both had been spiked.
The Ambassador staggered to the table, picked up a glass, drained it. He stood quite firm. "Actually, Doctor, neither glass was poisoned. I had Thillius poison your antidote _two_ hours ago."
October 25, 2025
This volume collects two of John M. Ford's pre-existing short stories from the Liavek universe and introduces a novella set in the same world. The stories share a handful of minor characters, so not too much time passes between them (though the passage of some time is evident). I only learned of the existence of the Liavek shared world after reading this. I wish publishers had made this sort of thing more evident; you couldn't just "Google" things in 1989.
The world of Liavek doesn't appeal to me. It's difficult to put how I feel about it into words. There's too much tea and "kaf" drinking, and I dislike all the quasi-Asian names (little things like that). I do appreciate how fitting the title is. Liavek is a place where magic seems to be luck-based, thus "fortune." And "casting" here has a double meaning. Magic is something you "cast." And the novella prominently features a stage play and its four-member cast.
...
"A Cup of Worrynot Tea" (1986) - previously published in "Liavek: The Players of Luck"
5/10
I wanted to like this one because the character Ghosh seemed pretty cool, but then she annoyingly becomes mute. The plot turns incredibly vague by the end. The author doesn't do a very good job of conveying his ideas to the reader.
...
"Green Is the Color" (1987) - previously published in "Liavek: Wizard’s Row"
4/10
This one was unappealing to me. The characters' natures and motives are, once again, unclear.
...
"The Illusionist" (1989)
6/10
I didn't find this one very enjoyable, though I can see the work that went into it. The author still fails to communicate why the characters say and do certain things. But at least the general plot actually makes sense for a change. The so-called "humor" of the play was entirely unfunny.
...
5/10 overall.
The world of Liavek doesn't appeal to me. It's difficult to put how I feel about it into words. There's too much tea and "kaf" drinking, and I dislike all the quasi-Asian names (little things like that). I do appreciate how fitting the title is. Liavek is a place where magic seems to be luck-based, thus "fortune." And "casting" here has a double meaning. Magic is something you "cast." And the novella prominently features a stage play and its four-member cast.
...
"A Cup of Worrynot Tea" (1986) - previously published in "Liavek: The Players of Luck"
5/10
I wanted to like this one because the character Ghosh seemed pretty cool, but then she annoyingly becomes mute. The plot turns incredibly vague by the end. The author doesn't do a very good job of conveying his ideas to the reader.
...
"Green Is the Color" (1987) - previously published in "Liavek: Wizard’s Row"
4/10
This one was unappealing to me. The characters' natures and motives are, once again, unclear.
...
"The Illusionist" (1989)
6/10
I didn't find this one very enjoyable, though I can see the work that went into it. The author still fails to communicate why the characters say and do certain things. But at least the general plot actually makes sense for a change. The so-called "humor" of the play was entirely unfunny.
...
5/10 overall.
July 8, 2010
In the 1980s, John M. Ford was invited to contribute to the shared "Liavek" universe by Emma Bull and Will Shetterly. Casting Fortune is a collection of three of his Liavek short stories. (It omits several poems and songs, as well as the more rare short story "Riding The Hammer.")
"A Cup Of Worrynot Tea" is a typical Ford story, a coming-of-age bildungsroman set in a fantasy world, complex, with unspoken subtleties and deep characterization. "Green Is The Color" is a more straightforward fantasy about death and magic, and probably the weakest of the volume.
"The Illusionist," the concluding novella, is the best of the three stories. It is, variously (and sometimes all at once) a meditation on the power of theater, a story of actors and acting, a literary pastiche, and a murder mystery.
It's not the best of Ford's work. (That's probably Heat of Fusion and Other Stories.) It's still a beautiful and entertaining read.
"A Cup Of Worrynot Tea" is a typical Ford story, a coming-of-age bildungsroman set in a fantasy world, complex, with unspoken subtleties and deep characterization. "Green Is The Color" is a more straightforward fantasy about death and magic, and probably the weakest of the volume.
"The Illusionist," the concluding novella, is the best of the three stories. It is, variously (and sometimes all at once) a meditation on the power of theater, a story of actors and acting, a literary pastiche, and a murder mystery.
It's not the best of Ford's work. (That's probably Heat of Fusion and Other Stories.) It's still a beautiful and entertaining read.
March 17, 2011
I skipped past "A Cup of Worrynot Tea" (didn't do much for me when I first read it) and "Green is the Color" (awesome story, but I wanted to get to the new-to-me stuff) to read "The Illlusionist." And it had everything that I enjoy about Liavek. I loved that Jemuel got lots of lines, I loved Aritoli, I loved the reference to Deleon Benedicti.
March 29, 2012
This is one of my favorite collections of fantasy stories-they leave images hanging in my head that I can recall for years. One of my favorite stories is A Cup of Worry-not tea, which I have read to very different understandings over the years. This book will remain on my shelves for as long as I have shelves.
May 11, 2010
Story about a possibly-insane playwright; centers on the cast and whether somebody is planning to kill them all. Beautiful writing, some plot holes.
The book comes with two short stories which were okay but weaker.
The book comes with two short stories which were okay but weaker.
September 20, 2016
Nice collection of stories about a pre-industrial society with a bit of magic thrown in...
Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews