Bazaar of the Bizarre

by Fritz Leiber

In the Plaza of Dark Delights, which lies seven blocks south of the Marsh Gate and extends from the Fountain of Dark Abundance to the Shrine of the Black Virgin, the shop-lights glinted upward no more brightly than the stars glinted down. For there the vendors of drugs and the peddlers of curiosa and the hawkers of assignations light their stalls and crouching places with foxfire, glowworms, and fire-pots with tiny single windows, and they conduct their business almost as silently as the stars conduct theirs.

Genres: Fantasy, Fiction

34 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 1984

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

[H (no longer expecting notifications) Balikov · Rating 5 out of 5]

“One night in Lankhmar, the Gray Mouser and Fafhrd are summoned by their patron wizards, Ningauble of the Seven Eyes and Sheelba of the Eyeless Face, who have joined forces, to carry out a mission. They are required to enter the Plaza of Dark Delights and obliterate a bazaar that has been established there by the Devourers, alien merchants who magically mesmerize customers into buying high priced merchandise which is actually worthless junk. However, Mouser arrives before him and is enticed into the bazaar. Fafhrd, aided only by the Blindfold of True Seeing and the Cloak of Invisibility, given to him by the wizards, must perform the mission alone.”

Fritz Leiber spent a significant portion of his career crafting tales about these two adventurers. He even goes back to the times before they teamed up. https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
They are an odd couple: One is big, somewhat naïve and impulsive. The other is on the small side, a former magician’s apprentice and very meticulous. Often, they don’t have to seek adventure---it finds them.

This is a fine story that captures much of what makes these tales addictive. Their world is so imaginative and Leiber’s sense of ironic humor is certainly on display. But so are his creative monsters, clever magic and dramatic tension.

You can find this story in many anthologies besides the one listed above.* It was eventually melded into Swords Against Death.

*The Spell of Seven, edited by L. Sprague de Camp and Swords Against Tomorrow, edited by Robert Hoskins

[Connor Hassan · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 stars.

I liked the first two stories much more than the third (and longest) story. Nothing like a sword-wielding giant cloud of angry red fog!

[David · Rating 5 out of 5]

First published in 1963. Another great Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser tale.

[Shawn · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fun Fafhard (sp?) And Grey Mouser story. Beautiful prose. Nicely crafted, galloping, textured story that keeps you entertained.

[Per · Rating 3 out of 5]

https://archive.org/details/Fantastic...

https://www.howardandrewjones.com/swo...

[Kars · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really enjoyed the seamless blend of cosmic horror and medieval fantasy that Leiber pulls off here. Also iconic for the moment when the Gray Mouser takes out the animated iron statue with a single attack from behind. Guess he rolled a crit on his backstab check.