Dying of the Light

Hugo Award nominee 1978, British Fantasy Award nominee 1979.

For centuries the planet Worlorn drifted, dark and desolate, among the stars. Suddenly, it was swept into the path of a brilliant constellation called the Wheel of Fire. Worlorn would pass around these stars after an eternity of darkest night.

As the sunlight came, wonderful cities arose. Strange forests sprang up, creatured by alien animals from all over the galaxy. A great Festival of Worlds was held in the streets of Worlorn and people came from all over, building monuments to their cultures and setting up tourist services. But they abandoned everything once Worlorn began to sink into twilight. Only a few lost stragglers, memories and relics remained from a wonderful festival.

It is into this dying world that Dirk t'Larien ships. He has come to Worlorn in answer to the call of a whisperjewel, token of a pledge made many years before to his then-lover, Gwen. Gwen, now older and wiser, lives on Worlorn and studies its ecology. She, he learns, is "bound by jade and silver," or love sworn, to Jaan, a noble, handsome man from High Kavalaan, a horribly violent planet.

Slowly, Dirk learns why Jaan has been banished to Worlorn. He discovers that "mockmen," or stragglers, are brutally hunted for sport by Jaan's few fellow worlders. Dirk t'Larien, a man who never cared about anything but his own idea of love, discovers loyalty, bravery, sacrifice and adventure as he confronts death in the very real yet fantastic world of Worlorn.