Heroes and Horrors

by Fritz Leiber

Contents:

· Preface · Stuart David Schiff · pr
· Fritz Leiber: An Appreciation · John W. Jakes · in
· Sea Magic [Fafhrd & Gray Mouser] · ss The Dragon Dec ’77
· The Mer She [Fafhrd & Gray Mouser] · nv *
· A Bit of the Dark World · nv Fantastic Feb ’62
· Belsen Express · ss The Second Book of Fritz Leiber, DAW, 1975
· Midnight in the Mirror World · ss Fantastic Oct ’64
· Richmond, Late September, 1849 · ss Fantastic Feb ’69
· Midnight by the Morphy Watch · ss Worlds of If Jul/Aug ’74
· The Terror from the Depths · na The Disciples of Cthulhu, ed. Edward P. Berglund, DAW, 1976
· Dark Wings · nv Superhorror, ed. Ramsey Campbell, W.H. Allen, 1976

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

240 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published December 1, 1978

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

[✨Bean's Books✨ · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was an okay read. The stories didn't really grab me except for the first one. The stories are all written well but struck me as a bit dated with the word usage throughout the book. It was okay but I don't think many folks now days would enjoy this one.

[Craig · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a good sampler of Leiber's heroic fantasy and horror stories. Stuart David Schiff put it together for a small press, which was great, and then Pocket released it in mass market format, which struck me as kind of unnecessary since I believe that (at least almost) all of the stories were available in other Leiber collections. The "heroes" portion consists of a couple Fafhrd and the Grey Mouser tales, always a delight, and then there are seven horror stories, including a pretty good Cthulhu pastiche, The Terror from the Depths. I also liked Belsen Express, and most especially Midnight by the Morphy Watch, a good chess horror. The striking cover is one of Michael Whelan's dark fantasies.

[Shawn · Rating 3 out of 5]

And here we have a little sampler from a great name of fantasy and sci-fi. I'll admit it upfront, this review of HEROES AND HORRORS covers only the "HORRORS" part. Leiber is famous, along with Robert E. Howard, for revitalizing the whole fantasy/sword & sorcery sub-genre. Howard provided Conan to the mix, and Leiber provided the land of Lankhmar and the duo of Fafhrd and The Grey Mouser. Well, I'm not a heroic fantasy guy, never was much of one and I find it a struggle to read even the good stuff at my age. So, let it be known that this books contains two Lankhmar stories, "Sea Magic" and "The Mer She", to be read by someone other than me. Now, onto the horrors!

I give Leiber a lot of credit. He's got a descriptive yet breezy style and an interest in psychological depth of content that backs up his writing chops. Included here is the award winning "Belsen Express", a horror story about the dangers of ignoring the historical impact of the Holocaust. "Richmond, Late September, 1849" is an interesting meditation on Edgar Allan Poe's missing days before he was found dying in Baltimore in a gutter (would it be too much to say that he meets Baudelaire's sister....but even Poe knows Baudelaire doesn't HAVE a sister?). "Midnight In The Mirror World" is an interesting tale that starts with a man walking down his mirrored-lined staircase at midnight (mirrors on either side, so he gets that "infinity tunnel" effect) who sees that his reflection about, oh, seven levels in is being advanced upon by some black-draped figure of death. And, of course, each night at midnight it's one level closer...

Not all of these tales are exemplary. "The Terror From The Depths" is a fun, if routine, Lovecraftian story. "Midnight By The Morphy Watch" is a strange attempt to write a horror story about chess. It's not bad, but seems to run out of gas by the ending.

Two stories are real standouts. "Dark Wings" is a story I read when I was about 11 years old and, in retrospect, I had almost no chance of understanding it. It's a strange meditation on sexuality, parental abuse, lesbianism, the sexual revolution, Jungian archetypes of the Animus (or Anima? The story plays games with gender blurring) manifest in reality, and ends in a very disturbing manner with something akin to a psychic (and possibly physical) rape occurring. Very creepy.

Finally, there's "A Bit Of The Dark World", another meditation on Jungian archetypes bleeding into reality that contends with a subject dear to my heart, the inability of supernatural horror tropes to retain their ability to frighten in a rationalist age. It's a pretty damn great story with some astonishing visions of cosmic horror. I was able to present a reading of "A Bit Of The Dark World" on the 500th episode of the horror fiction reading podcast I co-edit, PSEUDOPOD.

All in all, a very solid read.

[Fraser Burnett · Rating 3 out of 5]

Did anyone else see 'The Willows' in 'A Bit of the Dark World'?

[Garick Cooke · Rating 3 out of 5]

A very cool concept and title for a late-career collection of Fritz Leiber's short fiction, with introductory material by Stuart David Schiff and John Jakes. The cover art is nice, too.

"Sea Magic" & "The Mer She" 3/5 stars. These seem to me to be typical of the Fafhrd / Gray Mouser series. Fans will be pleased; newcomers may wonder what the big deal is (or they may actually be offended by Mouser dabbling with the bondage and rape of a putatively underage girl (she is actually an ancient sea-demon in the guise of a teenager); this may be a trope of the sword and sorcery genre: the very first Conan story famously featured him pursuing a woman with the intention of raping her).

"A Bit of the Dark World" 2/5 stars. Leiber grapples with the nature of horror fiction and attempts to reinvent it. He fails, but points for ambition, at least. Also, the Rim House described herein reminded me so strongly of Al Barker's house in Rogue Moon that I think Leiber must have read Budrys' novel before he wrote his own story. (Rogue Moon was first published in 1960, two years before "A Bit of the Dark World.")

"Belsen Express" 1/5 stars. Nazis Were Bad! This one actually won a World Fantasy Award, though I can't imagine why. A trite waste of Leiber's talent.

"Midnight in the Mirror World" & "Midnight by the Morphy Watch" 4/5 stars. The "Midnight" stories were the two high points of the collection for me. "Mirror" is a fun, creepy bit of imagination, only four stars because I though the ending was a little too pat, but this is an example of Leiber at his best, or nearly so. The Morphy story features a (very) thinly-disguised Leiber set in his own San Francisco and apparently even in his own real apartment and is thus a sort of wish-fulfillment gone wrong, involving his interest in chess. Again, great stuff.

"Richmond, Late September, 1849" 3/5 stars. An atmospheric story about Poe's last days that never quite convinced me.

"The Terror from the Depths" 2/5 stars. A mediocre Lovecraftian pastiche.

"Dark Wings" 1/5 stars. Again, a great title. I actually bought the book specifically to read this one, because I had not read or even heard of it before. (I had read all the others, but so long ago that they were nearly new and it was a pleasure to rediscover them.) I guess I was hoping for something like Howard's "Wings in the Night", but with Leiber's literary flourish. Instead, this is a strange story about twins that manages to combine Jungian archetypes, rape, bondage, and incest--all in one repellant package! Well-written in places, but off-putting. It's an unfortunate end to the collection.

[Blake Carey · Rating 5 out of 5]

"The Terror from the Depths", and "Sea Magic" are the standouts here. But they are all superb.

[Joseph Schlag · Rating 4 out of 5]

Some stories reflect the decade in which they were written, but otherwise, a majority of the stories were well-crafted and enjoyable to read.

[Lynda · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fitz Lieber's Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser stories were a youthful favorite of mine. I'm weeding my bookshelves now and have decided these must go, because I won't read them again with the same eyes. But it's nice to be able to record them on Goodreads first.

[Brett]

Horror,Anthology