Renewal is an abiding concern of Roger Zelazny's writing, especially his early work. In fact, this theme is so deeply engrained in his thinking that most of his significant fiction uses it in one way or another. "A Rose for Ecclesiastes" treats the restoration of fertility to a barren Mars and the salvation of the natives from racial suicide. This Immortal treats the restoration of an irradiated Earth. Lord of Light treats the renewal of a society. The five "Amber" novels treat the restoration of the land and the salvation of the world of form from Chaos.

In Zelazny's writing, renewal comes in two distinct forms: renewal as a physical objective and renewal as a psychological objective. Most of the guises in which it appears are of the physical kind, such as the revival of a planetary ecology, the restoration of fertility, the restructuring of a culture, the...