Day Dark, Night Bright

by Fritz Leiber

Assembled here is a selection of some of Mr. Leiber's most renowned tales with a liberal dose of rarities that have been unavailable in any form for many years. Considered by many to be the greatest writer in the field of fantastic fiction, Fritz Leiber's long and productive career spanned fifty years. This present collection assembles stories from sources ranging from the pulp magazines of the 1940's to modern "slicks" like Esquire. As a special treat, this book includes a "lost" novelette, "Night Passage", which was recently discovered in the author's papers at the University of Houston. Most of the stories gathered here are making their first appearance in book form or have been virtually unobtainable for many years. Fritz Leiber was the winner of every major award for science fiction, fantasy, and horror during his career. While many of his novels remain in print, much of his great short fiction has been virtually unobtainable for decades. This is the first of several volumes intended to bring the best of Fritz Leiber's science fiction short stories back into print.

CONTENTS:
Introduction by John Pelan
Time Fighter
Femmequin 973
Night Passage
Moon Duel
Later than you Think
Mirror
The 64-Square Madhouse
All the Weed in the World
The Mutants Brother
The Man who was married to Space and Time
Thought
The Crystal Prison
Bullet with his Name
Success
To Make a Roman Holiday
Bread Overhead
The Reward
Taboo
Business of Killing
Day Dark Night Bright

Genres: Short Stories, Science Fiction, Fantasy, Horror, Fiction

272 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2002

About the author

Fritz Reuter Leiber Jr. was one of the more interesting of the young writers who came into HP Lovecraft's orbit, and some of his best early short fiction is horror rather than sf or fantasy. He found his mature voice early in the first of the sword-and-sorcery adventures featuring the large sensitive barbarian Fafhrd and the small street-smart-ish Gray Mouser; he returned to this series at various points in his career, using it sometimes for farce and sometimes for gloomy mood pieces--The Swords of Lankhmar is perhaps the best single volume of their adventures. Leiber's science fiction includes the planet-smashing The Wanderer in which a large cast mostly survive flood, fire, and the sexual attentions of feline aliens, and the satirical A Spectre is Haunting Texas in which a gangling, exo-skeleton-clad actor from the Moon leads a revolution and finds his true love. Leiber's late short fiction, and the fine horror novel Our Lady of Darkness, combine autobiographical issues like his struggle with depression and alcoholism with meditations on the emotional content of the fantastic genres. Leiber's capacity for endless self-reinvention and productive self-examination kept him, until his death, one of the most modern of his sf generation.

Used These Alternate Names: Maurice Breçon, Fric Lajber, Fritz Leiber, Jr., Fritz R. Leiber, Fritz Leiber Jun., Фриц Лейбер, F. Lieber, フリッツ・ライバー

Reviews

[Carl Palmateer · Rating 5 out of 5]

Another good collection, this one being primarily Science Fiction. I do like the continued theme of chess related stories in his collections so far.

[Charl · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting. I liked everything but the title story. That one felt insufficiently explained. The rest showcase Leiber's mastery.

[Trish Graboske · Rating 3 out of 5]

I particularly love Fritz Leiber's novel Conjure Wife, and his Fahfrd and the Gray Mouser series. The stories in this book range from the 1940s into the 1970s, and some of them have become very dated. Still, I loved several of them, including Night Passage, The Mutant Brother, and Time Fighter. The rest I thought were good, often leaning toward hard science, and the old solve-it-yourself SF (Moon Duel, Mirror, Day Dark, Night Bright).

[P · Rating 3 out of 5]

Quite OK classic SF stories by a very professional writer. Just a bit too long and slow for my spoiled modern taste.

[Adam Meek · Rating 4 out of 5]

A strong collection from SF Grandmaster Fritz Leiber, but not limited to SF. There are some Horror and Crime stories here too.