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The Sunken Land
A classic tale featuring two of the most-memorable characters in sword and sorcery, Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser.
Over a span of 50 years, the late Fritz Leiber wrote dozens of adventures, set in the fictional city of Lankhmar, featuring the seven-foot-tall barbarian and the diminuitive thief. The stories were recognized with both the Hugo and Nebula Awards.
Over a span of 50 years, the late Fritz Leiber wrote dozens of adventures, set in the fictional city of Lankhmar, featuring the seven-foot-tall barbarian and the diminuitive thief. The stories were recognized with both the Hugo and Nebula Awards.
- GenresFantasy
1 pages, MP3 CD
First published February 1, 1942
About the author
Fritz Leiber
1,376 books1,079 followersFritz 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
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
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
February 10, 2017
He’s gone a Viking!
Many people don’t know that the original term “Viking” was a gerund, as in I’ve gone sailing, and raiding, and raping and pillaging. One succinct Norseman combined all into one definition.
And while Fafhrd does not demonstrate all of these elements in Fritz Leiber’s 1942 Fafhrd and Gray Mouser story, he does find himself again on a longboat rowing into a misty fog.
Leiber was a student of HP Lovecraft and this has many Lovecraftian elements and perhaps even a spot on reference to great Cthulhu. This also has an Atlantis theme in a mentioning of the lost city of Simorgya and hidden treasures beneath the sea.
More good fun and a great Fafhrd and Gray Mouser adventure.
Many people don’t know that the original term “Viking” was a gerund, as in I’ve gone sailing, and raiding, and raping and pillaging. One succinct Norseman combined all into one definition.
And while Fafhrd does not demonstrate all of these elements in Fritz Leiber’s 1942 Fafhrd and Gray Mouser story, he does find himself again on a longboat rowing into a misty fog.
Leiber was a student of HP Lovecraft and this has many Lovecraftian elements and perhaps even a spot on reference to great Cthulhu. This also has an Atlantis theme in a mentioning of the lost city of Simorgya and hidden treasures beneath the sea.
More good fun and a great Fafhrd and Gray Mouser adventure.
June 13, 2018
This is a review of the printed story in the anthology Ill Met in Lankhmar.
This is a wonderful, self-contained story. Leiber is a master of creating word pictures, adding just enough details to keep the story moving in a modern style. There is a dreamlike quality to the writing, evoking a sense of time and place. Being an entry in a long running series does not hurt the story; the reader learns everything about the characters as is necessary. The is a definite conclusion to the story, sometimes absent in a chapter of a series. This is a story with magic, suspense, and adventure. This is a very worthy finalist for the Retro Hugo Award for 1942.
This is a wonderful, self-contained story. Leiber is a master of creating word pictures, adding just enough details to keep the story moving in a modern style. There is a dreamlike quality to the writing, evoking a sense of time and place. Being an entry in a long running series does not hurt the story; the reader learns everything about the characters as is necessary. The is a definite conclusion to the story, sometimes absent in a chapter of a series. This is a story with magic, suspense, and adventure. This is a very worthy finalist for the Retro Hugo Award for 1942.
June 19, 2018
I am not really into short stories so that is why I only can give this 2 stars.
April 24, 2017
This story was first published 1942. We learn a lot more of Fafhrd and his homeland in this story as more than half of it is centered around him.
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews