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The Secret of the Blue Star

Marion Zimmer Bradley

First published October 1979
Type Short Fiction
Length Novelette
Series Lythande

This is the only story in the series set in Asprin's "Thieves' World" series. According to the Afterword in The Complete Lythande:
"Marion wrote the first Lythande story for a shared-world anthology called Thieves' World. Unfortunately, neither Marion nor Lythande found that world to be a particularly congenial place, so Lythande left, never to return. (Given the nature of a shared world, other authors could include Lythande in their stories, but Marion never wrote another story set there.) By the time she wrote the second Lythande story ("The Incompetent Magician") for her anthology Greyhaven in 1982, Lythande had moved to the city of Old Gandrin, on a world called "the world of the Twin Suns." She remained there for the next two stories ("Somebody Else's Magic" and "Sea Wrack"), which were published in Fantasy and Science Fiction. Then she started to jump worlds again."
Because ISFDB software prevents a story from being in two different series, the editor has chosen to keep this story in the series created for the character.

Date Publication Publisher Type Page
October 1979 Cover Thieves' World Ace Books Anthology 267
October 1981 Cover Thieves' World Ace Books Anthology 267
July 1982 Cover Sanctuary Nelson Doubleday / SFBC Omnibus 166
November 1983 Cover Thieves' World Ace Books Anthology 267
1984 Cover Thieves' World Penguin Books Anthology 194
1984 Cover Thieves' World Penguin Books Anthology 194
April 1984 Cover Thieves' World Ace Books Anthology 267
October 1984 Cover Thieves' World Ace Books Anthology 267
1985 Thieves' World Ace Books Anthology 267
July 1985 Thieves' World Ace Books Anthology
November 1985 Cover The Best of Marion Zimmer Bradley Academy Chicago Collection
December 1985 Cover Thieves' World Ace Books Anthology 267
January 1986 Cover The Best of Marion Zimmer Bradley Academy Chicago Collection 283
August 1986 Cover Lythande DAW Books Collection 11
August 1986 Cover Lythande DAW Books Collection 11
January 1987 Cover Der blaue Stern Bastei Lübbe Anthology |05
1988 Cover Tjuvstaden Äventyrsspel Anthology 173
April 1988 Cover The Best of Marion Zimmer Bradley DAW Books Collection 307
April 1988 Cover The Best of Marion Zimmer Bradley DAW Books Collection 307
May 1988 Cover Lythande Sphere Books Collection 11
August 1988 Lythande DAW Books Collection
1989 Cover Lythande Firecrest / Chivers Collection 11
February 1989 Cover Das große Marion Zimmer Bradley Buch: Erzählungen 1950–1980 Bastei Lübbe Collection 264
May 1989 Thieves' World Penguin Books Anthology 194
June 1989 Cover Lythande: As Mágicas Aventuras do Adepto da Estrela Azul Imago Editora Collection |1
November 1989 Cover Orion Orfeu, #4 Teatrul Liric Craiova MAGAZINE 4
1990 Thieves' World Ace Books Anthology 267
January 1990 Cover The Best of Marion Zimmer Bradley Sphere Books Collection 307
May 1990 Cover Atlantisz fantasztikus magazin, May 1990 Móra Ferenc Ifjúsági Könyvkiadó MAGAZINE
June 1991 Cover O melhor de Marion Zimmer Bradley Imago Editora Collection
April 1993 Cover Jamie and Other Stories: The Best of Marion Zimmer Bradley Academy Chicago Collection 309
September 1994 Lythande Orbit Collection
1995 Cover The Best of Marion Zimmer Bradley Orbit Collection 307
December 2003 Cover Thieves' World: First Blood Tor Omnibus 193
November 2010 Cover The Way of the Wizard Prime Books Anthology 459
November 2013 Cover The Complete Lythande Marion Zimmer Bradley Literary Works Trust Collection 1
February 2020 Cover Thieves' World Open Road Integrated Media Anthology |10
February 2020 Cover Thieves' World Collection Volume One Open Road Integrated Media Omnibus |11
August 2023 Cover Thieves' World Tantor Audio / Recorded Books Anthology |267
August 2023 Cover Thieves' World Tantor Media Anthology |9
August 2023 Cover Thieves' World Tantor Media Anthology |9