If Autarch Severian the Great is successful, the New Sun will arrive and sweep his enemies away, rejuvenating the sun and ushering in a new world if the Other Lords are successful in blocking the Autarch, the old sun and Urth along with it will finally die. He is besieged by the Other Lords, local monsters of Cthulhu scale who are bent on enslaving the world, using their minions the Ascians as shock troops. The Autarch of Urth theoretically rules the entire planet, but in reality controls only a small portion (a nation known as the Commonwealth). And Urth, the cradle of mankind, is a forgotten backwater. The galaxy (if not the universe, which is known as Briah) is currently ruled by hideous aliens known as cacogens who possess truly magical technology and are from Yesod, another universe altogether. Galactic empires have risen and fallen, leaving behind ruins of super-science. Set perhaps a million years in the future, the scenario, in a nutshell, is this: the sun is dying of unnatural causes, a black hole that eats away at it. The Urth Cycle includes the four-volume Book of the New Sun, an additional novel The Urth of the New Sun, the novella Empires of Foliage and Flower, as well as the short stories 'The Boy Who Hooked the Sun,' 'The Cat,' 'The Map,' and 'The Old Woman Whose Rolling Pin Is the Sun.' These works inspired hordes of imitations, but Gene Wolfe's 'Urth Cycle,' while firmly based in the traditions of science fantasy, is so rich, powerful and original as to tower above all others.

these are all familiar elements of that brand of science fantasy pioneered by Clark Ashton Smith with his 'Zothique' stories (1932-1948) and Jack Vance's The Dying Earth (1950). Sorcerers and adventurers battle over 'magical' artifacts that are remnants of super-science, worshipping or killing ancient 'gods' who are actually tyrannical extraterrestrials, while the dying sun glitters above them all, threatening to bring eternal night to a tired world. This article originally appeared in Pyramid #4 Book of the New Sun By Michael Andre-Driussi Timeline | GURPS Time Travel data

Book of the new sun