The Incompeat Nifft

Nifft the Lean #1-2

by Michael Shea

THIS TIME, THEY WOULD MAKE A KILLINGJoin master thief Nifft the Lean with his companion-at-arms, mighty barbarian Barnar Hammer-Hand, as they trust to their wits and their luck. Once Nifft and Barnar were hired by the ghost of a dead woman to kidnap the man who betrayed her and drag him down to hell to join her. A simple task -- or so they thought at first....Another time, the pair lucked into an even more lucrative proposition, when they were shipwrecked on the way to work in Costard's sap mine -- very dangerous and sometimes nauseating work far below ground -- and were hired by Bunt to bring back twenty gills of the ichor exuded only by the monstrous insectile queen. It seemed like easy money -- they wouldn't have to go to hell Of course, the best laid plans sometimes do go astray, but this time they were sure they would...make a killing.Publisher's Parts of this work were previously published as "Nifft the Lean" and "The Mines of Behemoth."

Genres: Fantasy, Science Fiction Fantasy, Literature, Weird Fiction, Fiction

Paperback

First published January 1, 2000

About the author

For the British author of thrillers and non-fiction see Michael Shea

Michael Shea (1946-2014) was an American fantasy, horror, and science fiction author who lived in California. He was a multiple winner of the World Fantasy Award and his works include Nifft the Lean (1982) (winner of the World Fantasy Award) and The Mines of Behemoth (1997) (later republished together as The Incomplete Nifft, 2000), as well as The ARak (2000) and In Yana, the Touch of Undying (1985).

Reviews

[Robert · Rating 5 out of 5]

For my money, Michael Shea is one of the best writers alive. The man paints with such wonder and beauty, such brilliant darkness -- the kind that cuts deep into the human condition in the most subtle of ways. This man is a poet. His Nift tales deal with a Fritz Leiber-esque duo and their adventures in a Jack Vance-ian world -- a dark fantasy world rich with ancient magic and exploits beyond imagining. Seriously, fuck your eight-volume fantasy series and the thousands of pages they span. Give me the likes of Shea any day -- an artist of the highest caliber, capable of opening up the reader's mind to a new universe of possibility with but a single paragraph. Most of the tales in this book are fantastic, most deal -- at least in part -- with the Primary Subworld, the first of the many layers of Dante's Inferno-esque hell beneath our fragile earth. Shea's talent for the fantastic and the demonic is virtually unparalleled in this century. In this CENTURY. Why are you still reading ME. You should be reading HIM. Maybe I'll revise this when I'm not so rich in the consumption of wine, but trust me -- this man is a living master of the dark fantasy genre and these tales are AMAZING. One of the few books I know I'll return to again and again for the rest of my life.

[Yael · Rating 5 out of 5]

I've actually read and reread this collection of some of Michael Shea's best several times over the past thirty years, first under the title Nifft the Lean, and then, years later, as The Incompleat Nifft. Here are the chronicles of Master Thief Nifft the Lean and his companion, Barnar Hammer-Hand, whose tours of hell and Earth make up some of the best fiction I've ever read. I'm not sure whether these stories are science-fiction or fantasy, because they stretch the limits of both. They describe the Earth long after our present civilization has become so much dust, which could make them science-fiction. But they also involve encounters with fantastic beings which perhaps could simply be unfamiliar manifestations of a universal biology, or creatures which could only exist in the fevered brains of artists, writers, and their appreciative audiences. Either way, they are magnificent fruits of the writer's art, odysseys through worlds of wonder, glory, and terror.

Set in a time far enough in our future that our advanced technology is known only as rumors of wizards of unparalleled Magickal abilities, these stories describe men who know that once some of us reached the stars, but who now haven't the faintest idea how to go about duplicating such a feat. Their world, the future Earth, is afflicted with deep subterranean levels on which live creatures which are, in behavior and psychology, true demons, even if their origin lies in terrestrial biology. From time to time those demons come out to plague humanity. More often, though, enterprising humans such as Nifft and Barnar descend into the home territories of those demons to garner treasure from the vast troves of precious gems, artifacts of gold and silver, jewelry, and much else that the Subworlds have acquired over the eons by hook, crook, or accident. It is those treasues that Nifft and Barnar mean to acquire. But for the reader, the real treasures are the descriptions of the wonderful and terrible Subworlds and the stories that take place on surface of the Earth, which seem to glow with supernal radiance and color thanks to the skill with which Shea writes. It would take a Salvador Dali or Luis Royo to do justice to these stories, artistically speaking, and it would probably be beyond any filmmaker's skill to turn them into a movie worthy of them.

I never get tired of reading Shea's work -- which is probably the best thing anyone can say about any author.

[Justus · Rating 2 out of 5]

The Incompleat Nifft is an old book (parts of it originally came out in 1982) but is a throwback to an even older style of swords & sorcery fantasy that has now almost entirely vanished. Nifft's spiritual predecessors are things like Fafhrd & the Grey Mouser, Conan, and the Dying Earth. This isn't a single novel; instead it is a collection of short stories and novellas.

For those who are desperate for some old school sword & sorcery, they might like what they find here. But for most of the rest of us, this book (which won a World Fantasy Award in 1983!) highlights why this kind of story has fallen by the wayside.

Yes, the disconnected serial nature of it is one part of the problem. That kind of thing always worked better in monthly magazines, where you'd read a new adventure every few months at most. Just as an example: the first Fafhrd & Grey Mouser story was published in 1939. Then a new short story came out every year in 1940, 1941, 1942, 1943. Then another one wouldn't come out until 1947. That spacing meant the honestly somewhat repetitive nature of the adventures wasn't quite as obvious.

Here the problem is exacerbated by none of the characters -- especially the titular Nifft -- actually having much, well, character. Nifft is an accomplished thief and these are the stories of some of his wildest capers. And....that's about the extent of the character building.

The real star here is the imaginative and psychedelic worldbuilding, something that has lamentably disappeared in modern fantasy except perhaps in the handful of Weird and New Weird authors. But it is tough to carry stories on "wow that's imaginative" worldbuilding alone.

One particular area where this is very much a book of its time and its sword & sorcery tradition -- but somewhat jarring to modern readers -- is the pretty heavy male gaze. Nearly every female character introduced is naked at some point and we are treated to descriptions of their fantastic bodies and large breasts and...you get the idea.

One final note: each story is introduced in a bizarre story within a story within a story format that doesn't really add anything. The framing device is that one of Nifft's friends has collected stories from Nifft's other friends that Nifft told them. I'm not sure it really adds anything, since we're meant to take all of the stories at face value and there's not exactly some noticeable change in authorial tone from one story to the next.

[Nippy Katz · Rating 4 out of 5]

Never heard of Shea before reading this book. He's dead. Now I won't have any new books by Shea to look forward to. At least there's a bunch I haven't read yet.

OK, it's 4 stars for the swords and sorcery genre. It's still genre fiction. The title alludes to Pratt and DeCamp's "Incompleat Enchanter." Shea's style owes a bit to Jack Vance, but not as much as some blurb writers would lead you to believe. Vance had a large vocabulary but a spare style. Shea allows his vocabulary some elbow room. I wouldn't go as far as florid, but he wasn't a minimalist.

Nifft is a picaro in the Fritz Leiber, Jack Vance mode. He's clever and knows it. He has a lot of experiences where he almost succeeds in making the Big Score. The stories in this book deal mostly with Nifft in the underworld and his interaction with what are called "demons." In Nifft's world demons aren't the minions of a kingpin of evil. They live underground and prey on humans. Shea's imagination shines in his portrayal of demonkind. The descriptions of the underworld are worth more than the price of admission.

[Adam Robbins · Rating 5 out of 5]

Big thumbs up on this 5-story fantasy. Creative as hell (literally, as the trips to two underworlds give us brilliantly excessive heaps of devilish brutality), lurid language, funny. Does fantasy get better? Trying to gather all Shea's stuff!

[Aaron Singleton · Rating 5 out of 5]

Yesterday I found out that Michael Shea had died. He was one hell of a writer, a unique and original voice in fantasy, horror, and weird fiction in general. I suppose this review will be my tiny tribute to Mr. Shea, may he be in peace.

Anyway, Nifft the Lean.

I first heard of Michael Shea through my reading of Jack Vance. I read somewhere that Shea had written a fully authorized book featuring Vance's Cugel the clever and set in his Dying Earth. I did a little research about the man and discovered that he had written a bunch of stories featuring his original characters and setting collected in the book "The Incompleat Nifft".

I had to have it. If this guy got Vance's OK to use his character and setting? He must be something special, I thought.

I bought it and read it in two days. I absolutely loved it. It met, then exceeded my expectations. The baroque writing style, the grotesque monsters, the clever characters and their many schemes, some ending badly for them. Why wasn't Michael Shea more well-known? I had asked the same about Jack Vance and Gene Wolfe and Glen Cook and... Sorry. Got a little sidetracked there.

Anyway, the stories in this book are magic. If I had to use known authors to describe Shea's style in these stories, I guess I would have to say Lovecraft meets Vance meets... Well, that isn't working. But if you like fantasy or swords and sorcery, a mannered style and ornate prose, if you like to be amazed, then you owe it to yourself to read this book and any others by Shea that you can find. Rest in Peace Mr. Michael Shea.

[Thomas Rau · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a massive book, and maybe I should not have tried to read it in one go. In the end, it was a bit of a slog. "Will my folly be believed? Can such utter abdication of my faculties be credited?", Nifft asks, and I feel I must answer in the negative.
Parts of this collection are excellent. The hellish underworlds Shea creates are fantastic nightmares straight out of Bosch. Most of the stories are set in these underworlds, and they're frequently about size - how men are dwarfed by underworld life. It's all a bit repetitive? Which I don't mind in Fritz Leiber or Jack Vance.

[Robert · Rating 3 out of 5]

Had read NIFFT THE LEAN a few years back, but had no idea that there were more tales... overall, pretty good. I normally don't read a lot of this type of fantasy, but I liked the character of NIFFT and how the tales are sort of a harder edged Fafhrd & The Grey Mouser vibe.

[Rick English · Rating 3 out of 5]

The Incomplete Nifft
I read this volume because it was rumored to be akin to the works of the late, and truly great, Jack Vance. If you are not a Vance devotee then this review will have little meaning. Otherwise, read on and please comment.
The only works of Vance that can be compared to Nifft would be the Dying Earth Series and a few of his shorter works of fantasy. It is relatively incomparable to Vance’s science fiction (don’t call it scifi) or even his great Lyonesse series.
Monsters abound to the point that in two of the longer stories, there are so many that they actually become boring. Shea delights in detailed descriptions of demonic nastiness. There is one talking demon that adds some entertainment. The vocabulary in this book is ornate to the point that many descriptive words appear to have been “coined” on the spot. It is odd that after finishing this book, I would be hard pressed to describe many of these monsters beyond a proliferation of tentacles, teeth and tough hides. The activities of these monsters are pretty easy to recall.
The characters are fun and deviously seeking to maximize their wealth by taking advantage of the others. Some are stubborn and/or ignorant to the point of self-destruction and near destruction of others. No good guys here. I would have preferred that there was more of the subversive banter between characters and less emphasis on the descriptions of the demonic domains and denizens. There is very little suggestion of amorous interaction between the very few characters of opposite sex or of like sexual orientation.
Nifft can very loosely be compared to Vance's Cugel the Clever. He is overtly greedy as opposed to Cugel’s conniving approach to enriching himself. The less than rewarding outcomes of Nifft’s greed and Cugel’s conniving are analogous.
I have the rest of the series. I need guidance as to whether I should continue reading.

[Victor S. · Rating 3 out of 5]

Deve ser a primeira vez que leio um clássico de fantasia neste gênero, mas não sei se me agradou muito.
Se você não se importar em ver isso em todas as histórias, a desconfiança e capacidade de enganação dos personagens são algo interessante. Há também uma atenção aos detalhes em ramificações de eventos fantásticos que é bem bacana. Como é se sentir fortalecido por uma magia que tira a fome e a cede? Quais seriam os resultados da exploração econômica de criaturas que se alimentam de rochas?
O diálogo tem um inglês denso (às vezes meio sofrível pois não sinto que é rebuscado em nome da beleza) e a história segue em ritmo decente. A construção de mundo do autor é incrível e acho que o escatológico atinge um equilíbrio raro entre interessante e repulsivo. O problema é que fora isso, o livro é um tanto fraco.
Primeiro quesito é nos acontecimentos de cada história, que sempre acabam mais ou menos da mesma forma - tudo dá "certo" ou pelo menos Nifft sai mais ou menos ileso e com uma recompensa que é eficientemente gasta antes da próxima aventura. Os objetivos gerais ficam fracos, também, pois o enredo segue o prometido: ele vai buscar o tesouro, ele pega o tesouro. Fim.
O segundo, é nos personagens, que fora sua descrição física são quase a mesma coisa em questão de objetivos, interesses, habilidades, personalidade. Tem um ponto problemático com relação a mulheres, mas pela época e gênero, não dá pra se pedir muito.
As outras resenhas falam bastante de um Jack Vance, talvez valha a pena conferir. Este livro acabou sendo longo demais pelo tanto que ele foi apenas decente.

[Julian · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is at least two, maybe three different books in my mind. One is a Vance-Lieber pastiche that ultimately fails to hit the high notes of those grandmasters (especially Vance), although it does convincingly pay tribute. He loved his teachers, for good reason, and it shows.

The second book is a wildly creative and somewhat original take on Vancian concepts ("sub-world" in particular) that takes things to their logical extremes in ways that JV never got around to. The language is thick and often poetic, whereas Vance is minimalist, despite his use of the occasional five-dollar vocabulary. The first person narration is perhaps the least Vancian thing about the works, and perhaps becomes a motive to use denser prose.

Like Fafhrd & Mouser stories, the stories are episodic and to some degree, the shorter ones are "better", as well as the ones that keep the focus on Nifft, and leave the logical extremes of silly magical effects aside... the latter stories in particular lose focus on the core characters and focus on the bizarre effects and personages of various locales-- which are rich and interesting, but ultimately, not what the reader had signed up for, perhaps.

To say it's not for everyone is to say nothing. It must be said that I doubt it's even for every Vance fan. I don't think they're as funny, compelling or as developed as they could be, but I found them entertaining and kept coming back to finish them nonetheless.

[Mjhancock · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read this book about a decade ago, and it always stuck in my mind; it's good to know that it's every bit as memorable years later. Essentially, it's a set of short stories/novellas in the sword and sorcery, Fafhrd and the Grey Mouser-type, where Nifft and Barnar the Chilite get in a series of series of scraps in search of the big score. Dating back to Conan the Barbarian, the sword and sorcery subgenre of fantasy is perhaps the clearest example of an opposition that comes up over and over in fantasy in general. On the one side, you have civilization, which is full of riches, but also decadent and corrupt. On the other, there's Nature (or maybe Wildness would be a better word), unfettered power of an unimaginable degree that can't be entirely contained by civilization. And the protagonists sit between the two; while not being particularly pure or good (this is sword and sorcery, after all), they are resourceful and cunning, and thus are able to (temporarily) exploit Nature and escape the confines of Civilization. My favorite stories in this collection are the ones where that best use this opposition, where Nature is at its most wild, Civilization its most corrupt, and the attempts of the latter to exploit the former go disastrously, spectacularly wrong, and Nifft and Barnar are caught in the middle.

There are five stories in all. First, in Come Then, Mortal--We Will Seek Her Soul has Nifft and Barnar-substitute Haldar Dirkniss avenge a woman scorned. Essentially, imagine a Romeo and Juliet type love story, where Romeo backs out at the last moment, and lives another twenty years or so; how do you think Juliet would react? Add a trip through hell with a miser's soul and a fight with Death's champion, and you've got a story. Come Then, Mortal sets the basic pattern for the stories, even with Barnar being mostly absent. Our protagonists are commissioned, and they wind up in some larger than life battle and/or hellscape.

Pearls of the Vampire Queen and The Goddess in the Glass are probably my least favorites in the set. Pearls of the Vampire Queen has some monster-hunting, in the form of wrestling pearls from giant swamp palyps, and the Vampire Queen offers some decadence in her own decaying form and willingness to feast on her subjects. But--as even the framing narrator admits--the tone is a little more cartoonish than most of the stories, the monster hunting and swindle don't feed into each other very much, and it all boils down to a swindle. It's not bad, just a little tonally separate from the rest. In Goddess in the Glass, a city of rich merchants is forced to turn to the priestess they've mocked after their mining risks toppling the local mountain on top of them; she in turn forces them to recruit the Goddess' herd, seemingly mindless giant insects. It all hinges on the merchants thinking of the herd as just another resource, and it turns out as well as you'd expect. It's a story that works well within the stated themes, but Nifft's presence isn't really required; I prefer the stories where there's something for him to do.

In The Fishing of the Demon-Sea, Nifft and Barnar are shanghaid into rescuing a merchant's boy who fancies himself a wizard from a demon realm he's magicked himself into, and along the way come across a man who has braved the demon sea, but isn't sure he's still human enough to depart from it. Like the first story, it's a descent into a hell realm, and an implicit comparison of characters--in the Death story, the soul of the woman who died for love is held in contrast with the man who succumbed to average mercantilism; here, the boy who is certain he can master the Demon-sea serves as contrast to the man who actually did thrive in it, not by mastering it, but becoming part of it. The longest story, the Mines of Behemoth, have Nifft and Barnar working in a mine for Costard, his nephew, but the plot thickens before they get there. This is no ordinary mine--rather, it's a hive, for a race of giant bee creatures that feed off the deeper demon realms. And--in yet another civilization exploiting nature variation--humans have started mining operations, stealing the sap the insects use to feed their young. They're approached by a third party to exploit the bees even further by stealing some of the Queen's royal jelly. (Basically, it's that episode of Futurama with the giant bees, only with more giant monster horror and demons.)

This story in particular plays with the civilization/Wild in interesting ways. First, Barnar and Nifft don't care about the mining at all until they're approached for larceny--straight capitalism and labour holds no interest to them. Second, as is traditional in big score stories, everyone's allegiances in the face of such riches falls apart--but more importantly, it pits Barnar and Nifft at each other's throats as well, that they'd have enough riches to perform one of their dream jobs--but only one. And finally, the post-mine sequence plays out in a way that really drives home the book's themes thus far. It's a nice capstone for the book.

The book is probably not to everyone's tastes. It's a bit of a pastiche of the sword and sorcery as well as being part of it, and as such, it tends towards exaggeration in tone, and in the unlikeable, greedy nature of its protagonists. There's Nifft's biographer/historian making contributions between chapters, and while I'm grateful that Shea felt the need to give some value to the book (since most of the stories were published elsewhere already), he doesn't really add very much. But if you're in the right mood for a dark comedy story--or, if like me, you're really into stories that invest heavily on playing with genre tropes--it's a set of mostly fun fantasy stories.

[Max · Rating 2 out of 5]

I hate to say this because I can tell Shea is smart and talented and unappreciated, but this didn't really grab me. Didn't come close to finishing it.

I got this out of print book used online after I read a short story from Shea and thought it painted a great mental picture, very psychedelic and subtle, much more artsy than the usual commercial fantasy. Sadly, reading a bunch of these stories back to back just made me long for some kind of connected story, some suspense, some characterization, some plot, some consequences, some psychological realism, some ... something other than clever, evocative word paintings of colourful magical situations that come and go very much like vivid nightly dreams or drug trips.

[Ryan Houlette · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fantastic and one of a kind. One of the blurbs described it as "Jack Vance meets Fafhrd & the Gray Mouser," which is not far off, though I think Michael Shea may actually be even better than Jack Vance. The language is beautifully over-the-top and the book overflows with wildly creative images depicted in dynamic and vivid clarity. It's classic swords and sorcery but with a beating human heart and a sense of humor.

It's a travesty that this book -- a World Fantasy Award winner -- is not only out of print but almost impossible to obtain.

[Bookweevil · Rating 2 out of 5]

Somewhat in the vein of Jack Vance's Dying Earth stories, but without the charm or whimsy, and with the addition of (almost universally, very pedestrian) verse at the start of each chapter. Read Paula Volsky's The Luck of Relian Kru instead.

[Lindsay Kyle · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is the vivid darkness of Wayne Barlowe's art brought to life, seen through the eyes of characters to love and cheer, callous though some of their acts may be. While often dark and horrific, the final act was a culmination of farce which had me in tears of laughter. One of the best books I've read in a long time.

[Psychophant · Rating 3 out of 5]

Michael Shea has tried to recover the magic and wonder of the classical fantasy adventure, from Conan to Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser, with a healthy helping of Vance's Dying Earth.

That is a combination that is bound to attract me, and Michael Shea delivers, with a witty, sparkling style and great descriptive prose. The characters, as typical in the genre are two dimensional (sometimes one dimensional) but the main characters are the world and the adventure itself. Which is why this is a succesion of short stories, as the repetition would get quickly tiring.

There are problems, inherent also in the models. There is a limit to the adjectives that can be used, so it gets repetitive in certain moments, especially dealing with strong muscles of hellish monsters. As well, unlike his writing models, our heroes start strong and go to bigger and weirder adventures. Once you have visited the kingdom of Death and sacked Hell, most adventures just do not seem so exciting, so they go through Epic into ridicule (oh, another trip to Hell, I am so not impressed...).

To take in small doses, as that way you will enjoy the strong points and skip the bad ones.

[Michael McCormack · Rating 2 out of 5]

Frankly, this book has enough of a following that I'll probably get hate mail for this. First off, it's a very creative work with a unique voice and truly interesting characters. Nearly the entire book is written as if the main character himself were doing the writing. This leads to creative grammer and distracted spelling, not unlike the title itself.

The cadence is off, and the fantasy, though interesting is distracted/distracting. When I finished reading it, all I could think was "must have been a slow year for the World Fantasy Awards". There is a point when the affectations of language used will distract from the overall experience, and if you've ever wondered where that is, for most of us it's in this book.

Don't get me wrong, it was wildly creative and I even got through the whole book. That's why I gave it one extra star. Out of 5 people who I know tried to read the book, I'm the only person who made it through. The language was so convoluted, the other 4 just gave up. Sick as I am, I wouldn't put it down, but it took a while. I've been bragging about finishing it ever since.

[Chris Cangiano · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fun series of novella length tales recounting some of the adventures of Nift the Lean and his companion Barnar the Chilite, a pair of traveling thieves in the mold of Leiber's Fafhrd and the Grey Mouser. Shea builds an intricate and wonderfully strange world filled with demons and vampire queens, magic and advanced technology in a really entertaining way. His writing is wonderfully descriptive and often quite funny. Higly recommended especially to those who have enjoyed the above mention Fritz Leiber series, or are fans of Jack Vance or the Robert Howard's Conan.

[Steven · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another re-read. High fantasy with the thief Nifft the Lean as the protagonist, definitely recommended for Jack Vance fans and others who will appreciate Nifft's jaundiced view of society. Vivid characters and descriptions, a splendid mix of high and low fantasy. This collects Nifft the Lean and The Mines of Behemoth.

[Julia · Rating 2 out of 5]

Really good with the purple-prose physical descriptions of fantastic thises and thatses, especially the gross thises and thatses, but pretty thin as far as story and characters and style go. The better stories were the shorter ones; the final novelette was rather a slog.

[Read to me by Michael.:]

[JM · Rating 5 out of 5]

If you liked Jack Vance's "Dying Earth" stories, especially those featuring the not-quite-heroic Cugel the Clever*, Michael Shea's Nifft the Lean stories are right up your alley. This volume compiles the first two books, "Nifft the Lean" and "Mines of Behemot," and is really fun.

*Unsurprisingly, Shea actually did write a Cugel the Clever story with Jack Vance's blessing.

[S.J. Arnott · Rating 5 out of 5]

Anyone who enjoys fantasy should read Michael Shea's works. They're intelligent, interesting, exciting with a lot of humour. Michael himself is a fan of Jack Vance's fantasy series and the two authors complement each other perfectly. If you like one, you'll like the other.

[Dantegideon · Rating 3 out of 5]

Bit of a mixed bag. Highly inventive, excellent in places, but equally given to sonorous description that goes on for simply pages like a boor enjoying his own rhetoric. And the last story was mostly that, plus two main characters behaving like arseholes.

[Lynn Calvin]

baen ebook

[David Paul · Rating 5 out of 5]

In the spirit of Vance, an excellent read. Never slow, and brimming with imagination and interesting characters.