Thieves' World

Thieves' World is a shared world fantasy series created by Robert Lynn Asprin in 1978. The original series comprised twelve anthologies, including stories by science fiction authors Poul Anderson, John Brunner, Andrew J. Offutt, C. J. Cherryh, Janet Morris, and Chris Morris.
"Thieves' World" is set in the city of Sanctuary at the edge of the Rankan Empire. The city is depicted as a place where many are downtrodden and where the invading Rankan gods and the Ilsigi gods they had ousted begin a struggle for dominance. As the series continues, additional invasions occur, and the city is taken over by the snake-worshipping Beysib as the Rankan empire collapses. Over time, a number of the characters in the series are revealed either to be the offspring of or otherwise blessed by various figures in the pantheons of the competing deities, and they discover or develop various powers as the series progresses.
First published in 1979, the series went on hiatus in 1989 after the twelfth anthology. In addition to the official anthologies, several authors published novels set in Thieves' World.
In 2002, Lynn Abbey, who co-edited several of the original anthologies, relaunched the series with the novel "Sanctuary". It was followed by the anthologies "Turning Points" and "Enemies of Fortune", which contain some returning authors and several new ones. Abbey also oversaw the republication of the original anthologies in omnibus editions.
Concept and origin.
The "Thieves' World" anthologies were conceived by authors Robert Lynn Asprin, Lynn Abbey, and Gordon R. Dickson during a casual meeting at the Boston science-fiction convention Boskone in 1978. Asprin suggested that the task of world-building was a major hurdle for modern fantasy writers:
"Whenever one set out to write heroic fantasy, it was first necessary to reinvent the universe from scratch regardless of what had gone before. Despite the carefully crafted Hyborean world of Howard or even the delightfully complex town of Lankhmar which Leiber created, every author was expected to beat his head against the writing table and devise a world of his own. Imagine, I proposed, if our favorite sword-and-sorcery characters shared the same settings and time-frames. Imagine the story potentials.”
Abbey described the 1978 meeting as "a casual conversation [that] changed the lives of a couple dozen people who had no idea what they had been missing or what they were getting into." The writers who were recruited for the series saw "Thieves' World" as both a challenge and an opportunity to bring "new oddments of human behavior, new quirks of character that the authors wouldn't dare put in a universe for which he or she was solely responsible."
Geography.
Abbey stated that the geography of Sanctuary and its surrounding regions shifted due to each writer's needs. "We had Crom-many drugs, magicians, vices, brothels, dives, haunts, curses, and feuds. Sanctuary wasn't a provincial backwater; it wasn't even the Imperial armpit; it was the Black Hole of not-Calcutta."
The city itself was envisioned as a late medieval town with similarities to the Shambles in York, England, and additional elements of Baghdad. The faraway capital city of Ranke is based on Rome. "Nobody knows how big Sanctuary really is. Anytime any one of us needs a secret meeting place we just create one – Sanctuary is either very large or very cramped."
Storylines and chronology.
The dynamics of sharing characters led to occasional conflicts between authors, as referenced by C.J. Cherryh in her afterword to "Blood Ties": "You write your first "Thieves' World" story for pay, you write your second for revenge."
In an interview for Green Ronin's Sanctuary-based roleplaying guides, Abbey explained the increase of interconnected storylines as the series progressed. "The stories of the first few volumes stood by themselves. But starting in about volume three ("Shadows of Sanctuary") the authors began collaborating… big time. Eventually just about every author worked with the same plot threads, some of which stretched over several volumes." Authors would often mine each others' stories for plot ideas, with a minor plot point or piece of dialogue turning into a complete story in a subsequent volume.
Asprin addressed the difficulty of the intersecting, overlapping, and diverging timelines in the preface to the fourth collection, "Storm Season": "While in earlier volumes I have tried to keep the stories in the order in which they occur, this has proved to be impossible in "Storm Season"... I've left it to the reader to understand what is happening and construct his/her mental timeline as necessary."
Abbey noted that the interwoven plots eventually hurt the series' readership: "The very plot and character denseness of a "Thieves' World" volume, while it was eagerly anticipated by long-time readers, was a bit intimidating to anyone who hadn't been following the series from the beginning." Her observation led to a revised approach for the 2002 relaunch. "When we went to work on 'new "Thieves' World'," we tried to find a happy medium between stand-alone stories and densely interwoven plots. In "Turning Points" and "Enemies of Fortune" there are a few events and situations that serve as a backdrop for the stories."
Reception and awards.
Industry reactions.
The "Thieves' World" anthologies are credited as "pioneering and setting the standard for the shared world format", and the "Journal of the Fantastic in the Arts" cites "Thieves' World" as the "first and protype of the form".
Science fiction author Cory Doctorow says the series "rocked my world when I was about 13", and author Robin Hobb called its concept of a collective setting and characters "a brilliant idea". Author and game designer Robert J. Schwalb said ""Thieves' World" is to authors what "D&amp;D" is to gamers."
Greg Costikyan reviewed "Thieves' World" in "Ares Magazine" #1. Costikyan commented that "since fantasy role-playing involves the group production of a multi-hero fantasy story, role-playing fans especially will find "Thieves' World" enjoyable. [...] The stories themselves range from mediocre to excellent, but all are worth reading."
"The Encyclopedia of Fantasy" describes the series: "It is in the creation and editorial supervision of the "Thieves' World" sequence of shared world anthologies... that Robert Lynn Asprin -- in collaboration with Abbey -- has done his most original work."
In the essay included in the second volume, "Tales from the Vulgar Unicorn," Asprin noted that, though fan response was mostly positive and high sales had led to sequels and the development of the Chaosium board game, many readers had written to the publisher to comment on the series' overall lack of humor.
Awards.
"Thieves' World"
"Tales from the Vulgar Unicorn"
"Shadows of Sanctuary"
Novels and collections.
Several "Thieves' World" standalone novels and short stories have been published in addition to the official anthologies.
Janet Morris introduced "The Sacred Band of Stepsons" in "Thieves' World" and expanded their story in a series of novels about them and their ancient cavalry commander, Tempus. The first three novels in "The Sacred Band of Stepsons" saga were authorized "Thieves' World" novels. Marion Zimmer Bradley was an early contributor to the "Thieves' World" anthologies, but spun off her main character in the novel "Lythande" (1986) and did not return for later volumes.
The official "Thieves' World" novels are:
Other novels/collections include:
The first six Morris novels were published in mass market paperback by Ace Books and subsequently expanded in Author's Cut trade paper editions by Perseid Press. 
Comics.
Published by Starblaze Graphics and illustrated by Tim Sale, the original series was produced in black and white except for the covers.
"Thieves' World Graphics" (1986) collects volumes 1 to 3 above, colorized and with a new cover by David A. Cherry