Day Dark, Night Bright

by Fritz Leiber

Stories of suspense, surprise, wit, and weirdness from Grand Master of Science Fiction and Fantasy—as well as a must-read horror author—Fritz Leiber.
 
Assembled from magazine submissions, fanzines, and even “lost” manuscripts discovered among the author’s personal papers, Day Dark, Night Bright includes the following short “Time Fighter,” “Femmequin 973,” “Night Passage,” “Moon Duel,” “Later Than You Think,” “Mirror,” “The 64‑Square MadHouse,” “All the Weed in the World,” “The Mutant’s Brother,” “The Man Who Was Married to Space and Time,” “Thought” “Crystal Prison,” “Bullet Was His Name,” “Success,” “To Make a Roman Holiday,” “Bread Overhead,” “The Reward,” “Taboo,” “Business of Killing,” and “Day Dark, Night Bright.”
 

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

275 pages, Kindle Edition

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.