Tales from the Flat Earth
First edition cover of Night's Master
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| Author | Tanith Lee |
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| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Genre | Fantasy |
| Publisher | DAW Books |
| Published | 1978-1987 |
Tales From The Flat Earth is a fantasy series by Tanith Lee. The novels take inspiration from One Thousand and One Nights and are similarly structured as interconnected stories. The series has been well-received, and Death's Master, the second book in the series, won the British Fantasy Award for Best Novel in 1980.
In the Flat Earth series, the world is a flat square, with area approximating that of the Earth. The Flat Earth floats amid formless chaos; the sun and moon rise out of the chaos in the east, travel across the upper ethers of the world, and then descend back into chaos in the west. What happens to the sun and moon while in chaos is not clear.
The cosmology of the books is composed of four "layers": the Underearth, which is the realm of demons; the Flat Earth itself; the Upperearth, which is the realm of the gods; and the Innerearth, the realm of the dead.
The Underearth is a place of fantastic, awful, sorcerous beauty and wonder. It is most often reached through the shaft of a gigantic extinct volcano; this shaft is guarded by three gates: the first is made of agate, the second is made of blue steel, and the third gate is made of black fire. There is only one city in the Underearth – Druhim Vanashta, the city of demons. It is made of precious minerals, gems, and metals and is beautiful, though its inhabitants are cruel and wicked.
The Flat Earth appears to include temperate, sub-tropical, and tropical zones, including many deserts. Since "polar" regions would be impossible on a flat world, they are not mentioned in the series. There are many seas, but bodies of water large enough to be called "oceans" do not appear to be present.
The Upperearth is an ethereal realm not visited by humans, and infrequently visited by demons. It is a blue, cloudy realm, with hazy mountains ever at the horizon but impossible to reach. One feature is a glass well that contains the water of immortality; it is guarded by two "angelic" beings. The Upperearth is inhabited by "gods" – extremely powerful, ethereal beings that are invisible, formless, genderless, and absorbed in their own magnificent thoughts. They are utterly unconcerned with the affairs of humanity, except for one or two occasions when they meted out a terrible, world-altering punishment.
Azhrarn - called "Azhrarn the beautiful", Night's Master, or Prince of Demons. Azhrarn is the ruler of the demonic Underworld and lord of all three castes of demons. Azhrarn is the most powerful of the Lords of Darkness, being the personification of wickedness (though the demons are also said to have invented love). In the mythology of the Flat Earth, Azhrarn is said to have existed before the gods created humankind, whereas the other Lords of Darkness are personifications of lesser human fears and weaknesses. Azhrarn's role in the series varies between protagonist and worker of random cruelty.
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