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Selected Stories
Fritz Leiber's work bridges the gap between the pulp era of H. P. Lovecraft and the paperback era of P. K. Dick, and arguably is as influential as both these authors. From a historical context, Leiber, in fact, knew both of the authors, and his work can be seen as a bridge connecting the many different flavors of genres of science fiction, fantasy, and horror. Edited by award-winning editors Jonathan Strahan and Charles Brown, this new collection of the grand master's fiction covers all facets of his work, and features an Introduction by Neil Gaiman and an Afterword by Michael Chabon.
Skyhorse Publishing, under our Night Shade and Talos imprints, is proud to publish a broad range of titles for readers interested in science fiction (space opera, time travel, hard SF, alien invasion, near-future dystopia), fantasy (grimdark, sword and sorcery, contemporary urban fantasy, steampunk, alternative history), and horror (zombies, vampires, and the occult and supernatural), and much more. While not every title we publish becomes a New York Times bestseller, a national bestseller, or a Hugo or Nebula award-winner, we are committed to publishing quality books from a diverse group of authors.
Skyhorse Publishing, under our Night Shade and Talos imprints, is proud to publish a broad range of titles for readers interested in science fiction (space opera, time travel, hard SF, alien invasion, near-future dystopia), fantasy (grimdark, sword and sorcery, contemporary urban fantasy, steampunk, alternative history), and horror (zombies, vampires, and the occult and supernatural), and much more. While not every title we publish becomes a New York Times bestseller, a national bestseller, or a Hugo or Nebula award-winner, we are committed to publishing quality books from a diverse group of authors.
372 pages, Kindle Edition
First published March 1, 2001
90 people are currently reading
699 people want to read
About the author
Fritz Leiber
1,337 books1,051 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 - 30 of 31 reviews
July 22, 2014
Fritz Leiber's legend looms large, but I'd not read any of his work. His catalog is so goddamn big I didn't know where to start. In turn I was intrigued a couple weeks back when I stumbled upon a newer Selected Stories edition, with an introduction by Neil Gaiman (who bugs me lately, but that's another story, and I'm sure he's very distressed by the news). About an hour before wandering the B and N aisles I dropped my family off at the Milwaukee airport for a Florida visit with my wife's mom. The Leiber would, I hope, serve both as a splurge and a welcome diversion.
Successful on both counts. Fifteen of the seventeen stories are top-notch, the only exceptions the dumb cat one and the unsatisfying “America the Beautiful.” You could probably divide the stories here into the “somehow connected to Leiber's personal experience”, “straightforward science fiction” and “Farfhrd and Grey Mouser” categories. Maybe a couple would span both the first two categories. “The Pale Air” is straightforward dystopian natural disaster pulp fiction, while “Smoke Ghost” is cut of the same cloth but interlaced with subtle social commentary. You could see stumbling upon these early stories in musty, crumbling editions of Analog or Fantasy and Science Fiction. Leiber seems to relax and have fun with the three Farfhrd and Grey Mouser stories, including their origin tale (“Ill-Met in Lankhmar”). But the collection's gems, in my eyes, are in the stories through which Leiber intertwines his personal life and apparent scary darkside with careful literary construction. For example, “The Inner Circles (AKA “The Winter Flies”)” is a fantastic, almost stage-ready tense interaction between a mother, father, and young son in a living room in which light years (either literally or metaphorically, you decide) separate the three, with ghosts filling the space in-between. Leiber sets the brilliant “Horrible Imaginings”, written after his wife died, from the point of an old man living solo in a nondescript apartment building where he sees, out of the corner of his eye, a ghostly woman wandering the halls. “Four Ghosts in Hamlet” and “Midnight by the Morphy Watch” draw upon Leiber's background with actor parents and his chess obsession, respectively. If there's a common theme across the collection it's that more often than not a terrified, almost Kafka-esque narrator/main character is trying to figure out what the hell is going on around him as the world changes in magical and potentially sinister ways.
Leiber's secret weapon is his relentlessly high-quality literary structure. He knows his craft. He makes it look easy. But left in lesser craftman's hands a story about, say, two goofy adventurers like Farfhrd and Grey Mouser, would fall flat. Leiber's a legend not because he comes up with mind-blowing new ideas, although he sometimes does, but because he executes his storytelling like a master. Selected Stories is the kind of book I'll pull off the shelf every now and then to bathe in the highlights. And in a couple years, if not sooner, I'll toss the collection toward my sons when they say they've got nothing to read. Leiber deserves more than legend status. He deserves (at least with these stories, I get the feeling his catalog isn't always even, and these are the greatest hits of a lengthy career) to be read.
Successful on both counts. Fifteen of the seventeen stories are top-notch, the only exceptions the dumb cat one and the unsatisfying “America the Beautiful.” You could probably divide the stories here into the “somehow connected to Leiber's personal experience”, “straightforward science fiction” and “Farfhrd and Grey Mouser” categories. Maybe a couple would span both the first two categories. “The Pale Air” is straightforward dystopian natural disaster pulp fiction, while “Smoke Ghost” is cut of the same cloth but interlaced with subtle social commentary. You could see stumbling upon these early stories in musty, crumbling editions of Analog or Fantasy and Science Fiction. Leiber seems to relax and have fun with the three Farfhrd and Grey Mouser stories, including their origin tale (“Ill-Met in Lankhmar”). But the collection's gems, in my eyes, are in the stories through which Leiber intertwines his personal life and apparent scary darkside with careful literary construction. For example, “The Inner Circles (AKA “The Winter Flies”)” is a fantastic, almost stage-ready tense interaction between a mother, father, and young son in a living room in which light years (either literally or metaphorically, you decide) separate the three, with ghosts filling the space in-between. Leiber sets the brilliant “Horrible Imaginings”, written after his wife died, from the point of an old man living solo in a nondescript apartment building where he sees, out of the corner of his eye, a ghostly woman wandering the halls. “Four Ghosts in Hamlet” and “Midnight by the Morphy Watch” draw upon Leiber's background with actor parents and his chess obsession, respectively. If there's a common theme across the collection it's that more often than not a terrified, almost Kafka-esque narrator/main character is trying to figure out what the hell is going on around him as the world changes in magical and potentially sinister ways.
Leiber's secret weapon is his relentlessly high-quality literary structure. He knows his craft. He makes it look easy. But left in lesser craftman's hands a story about, say, two goofy adventurers like Farfhrd and Grey Mouser, would fall flat. Leiber's a legend not because he comes up with mind-blowing new ideas, although he sometimes does, but because he executes his storytelling like a master. Selected Stories is the kind of book I'll pull off the shelf every now and then to bathe in the highlights. And in a couple years, if not sooner, I'll toss the collection toward my sons when they say they've got nothing to read. Leiber deserves more than legend status. He deserves (at least with these stories, I get the feeling his catalog isn't always even, and these are the greatest hits of a lengthy career) to be read.
April 20, 2012
Leiber is fantastic, as many current popular writers (like Neil Gaiman, Michael Chabon, Harlan Ellison, etc.) will attest. He's my literary father.
He wrote for many decades, so the quality of his stories vary (depending on where they were written, why, for whom, etc.). At his best, he is the best. No one had the sense of mystery, meaning and synchronicity that Leiber brought to his stories. Compared to his work, most modern writing has very little style or poetry to it.
Some of these stories were the first of their kind ever written (like Smoke Ghost) and were written in the 1940's or before, which in itself is astonishing. I find most modern writing dull and dated already. In 100 years, people will still be reading his Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser stories and the best of his horror and science fiction work. He will endure, like other great writers.
Regarding this collection, I give it 5 stars because it contains some stories that are better than anything ever written in the genre, and for the most part, it's a great selection. It's a bit strange to have one of the last Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser stories (The Curse of the Smalls and the Stars) included. Best to just buy the whole series and read it. But it's good that Ill Met In Lanhkmar is included, which is a great introduction to the characters and world. Pail of Air I'm not crazy about and Horrible Imaginings is not one of my favorite horror stories by him, but the rest are great.
Enjoy!
He wrote for many decades, so the quality of his stories vary (depending on where they were written, why, for whom, etc.). At his best, he is the best. No one had the sense of mystery, meaning and synchronicity that Leiber brought to his stories. Compared to his work, most modern writing has very little style or poetry to it.
Some of these stories were the first of their kind ever written (like Smoke Ghost) and were written in the 1940's or before, which in itself is astonishing. I find most modern writing dull and dated already. In 100 years, people will still be reading his Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser stories and the best of his horror and science fiction work. He will endure, like other great writers.
Regarding this collection, I give it 5 stars because it contains some stories that are better than anything ever written in the genre, and for the most part, it's a great selection. It's a bit strange to have one of the last Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser stories (The Curse of the Smalls and the Stars) included. Best to just buy the whole series and read it. But it's good that Ill Met In Lanhkmar is included, which is a great introduction to the characters and world. Pail of Air I'm not crazy about and Horrible Imaginings is not one of my favorite horror stories by him, but the rest are great.
Enjoy!
August 8, 2014
Gaiman's right--most of Lieber's Science Fiction stories haven't aged so well, or at the very least, they're way less interesting than his horror and fantasy stories, of which his Gummitch (represented here by the brilliant Spacetime for Springers) and his Fafhrd and the Grey Mouser stories (represented here by "Ill Met in Lankhmar" and "Bazaar of the Bizarre") are the best.
July 14, 2015
A MATTER OF CONTEXT
The thoughtful foreword by Neil Gaiman along with back cover praise from Michael Chabon and Harlan Ellison reflect the vast influence that Fritz Leiber, an author often heralded a master of his era, had on contemporary writers. Selected Stories is a wonderful homage to an author who not only influenced so many other writers but was also profoundly respected by readers of his own era as his numerous Hugo and Nebula Awards indicate, as does his World Fantasy Award for Life Achievement. His legacy among all three subgenres of the speculative field (horror, fantasy and sci-fi) is clearly evident in this collection.
I don’t think there is any doubt that Michael Swanwick’s charismatic pair of rogues, Darger and Surplus, are also indebted to Leiber’s Fafhrd and the Grey Mouser. Leiber today is undeniably better remembered for his ‘literary’ sword and sorcery stories starring the duo, the tall, broad-shouldered Northerner, Fafhrd and his smaller but equally deadly friend, The Grey Mouser. I had read Swords and Deviltry in my early teens and therefore already knew ‘Ill Met in Lankhmar’ and it was also of no surprise that I’d already read a few of Leiber’s other tales in Selected Stories, including ‘Gonna Roll the Bones’ and ‘Four Ghosts in Hamlet’. It was an amusing surprise though to discover a couple of stories that I’d also studied back in high school: ‘The Inner Circles’ and ‘A Pail of Air’.
It may be a false assumption but I think editors, Jonathan Strahan and Charles N. Brown, aimed to create a collection that reveals the broad work of Leiber rather than just a Best of. Neil Gaiman unequivocally touches on it in his reflective intro: some of these stories are dated…And some are to an egregious extent. It’s not only the stories themselves but also the verbose, showy prose, which at times is splendid, but at other times seems to lose control of rhythm and flow.
But for any aficionado of the history of the spec-fic short story this will not diminish the collection. I suppose it’s all a matter of context. Leiber, after all, was a product of his times. And when speculative fiction writers willingly explore the values and attitudes and ideologies of their era they are always at risk of dating quickly. In terms of contextual understanding and appreciation of the era Leiber fascinates. If you read these stories with an appreciation that Leiber lived in times whereby the political ideologies of fascism as well as communism and capitalism were at the forefront you begin to understand his intentions. The old East vs West Cold War arguments have changed though, which may mean a degree of inaccessibility for some contemporary readers.
Although all the works may be dated a little in terms of prose, the stories that tend to date the most involve themes that explore political and nationalistic ideologies. Leiber was passionate about speculative fiction having a dual role, whereby it not only told an interesting narrative but also explored societal issues of its day. As such, stories such as ‘America the Beautiful’ may bore a reader with the supposedly ‘alien’ disconnect between Russians and Americans; and ‘Belzen Express’ and ‘Catch that Zeppelin’ (which I didn’t finish) explore fascism. I found it challenging to connect with these stories.
‘The outspread newspaper started to slip from his knee. He detained it, let his glance rove over the next page, noted a headline about an uprising in Prague like that in Hungary in 1956 and murmured, “Damn Slavs,” noted another about border fighting around Israel and muttered, “Damn Jews,” and let the paper go.”
from “Belsen Express”
Other works that date tend to be the ones involving dreams. Again this reflects Leiber’s period in which the popular psychoanalytical ideas of Jung were influential. ‘Horrible Imaginings’, critically acclaimed at the time, strongly reflects Jungian notions of individuism but try as I might to finish the story, it defeated me.
“Each “Peformance” of this frightening lightless dream, on those nights when his unconsciousness decided to put on a show, would begin the same way.”
From “Horrible Imaginings”
As previously touched upon, it’s easy to appreciate why these stories, both dated or otherwise, are still included in this selection. It would have been easy for Strahan and Brown to travel down the populist ‘Fafhrd and the Grey Mouser’ path (there are only three stories here from that ‘literary’ Sword and Sorcery genre). It is a credit to both editors that they presented work more truly reflective of Leiber’s varied repertoire.
Standouts include ‘Smoke Ghost’, a wonderful atmospheric tale of psychological horror; ‘A Pail of Air’ which is one of those great dystopian tales of a sunless Earth; the classic Fafhrd and the Grey Mouser story ‘Ill Met in Lankhmar’ along with the entertaining supernatural gambling classic ‘Gonna Roll the Bones’.
But the overall highlight is ‘Bazaar of the Bizarre’, a Fafhrd and the Grey Mouser story. Like most of Leiber’s stories ‘Bazaar of the Bizarre’ works well on a metaphorical level. But this time the story relates strongly to an ideology relevant, if not omnipresent, in our own present day society: that of consumerism. Sure, the metaphor is overt - The Grey Mouser finds himself enchanted by garbage in a shop, all sold by a grotty alien race who produce garbage with the illusion of being something more - but the story is also a fun swashbuckling one. It won me over both in terms of adventure and mystery but also for its satirical attack on consumerism. And who today can’t relate to that?
So ultimately although some of Leiber’s stories may be more of an ephemeral nature and captivate more in terms of historical context and historical interest, there are still several here that hold their own weight. And, more importantly, Selected Stories is a celebration of both Leiber’s influence and also his incredible legacy.
The thoughtful foreword by Neil Gaiman along with back cover praise from Michael Chabon and Harlan Ellison reflect the vast influence that Fritz Leiber, an author often heralded a master of his era, had on contemporary writers. Selected Stories is a wonderful homage to an author who not only influenced so many other writers but was also profoundly respected by readers of his own era as his numerous Hugo and Nebula Awards indicate, as does his World Fantasy Award for Life Achievement. His legacy among all three subgenres of the speculative field (horror, fantasy and sci-fi) is clearly evident in this collection.
I don’t think there is any doubt that Michael Swanwick’s charismatic pair of rogues, Darger and Surplus, are also indebted to Leiber’s Fafhrd and the Grey Mouser. Leiber today is undeniably better remembered for his ‘literary’ sword and sorcery stories starring the duo, the tall, broad-shouldered Northerner, Fafhrd and his smaller but equally deadly friend, The Grey Mouser. I had read Swords and Deviltry in my early teens and therefore already knew ‘Ill Met in Lankhmar’ and it was also of no surprise that I’d already read a few of Leiber’s other tales in Selected Stories, including ‘Gonna Roll the Bones’ and ‘Four Ghosts in Hamlet’. It was an amusing surprise though to discover a couple of stories that I’d also studied back in high school: ‘The Inner Circles’ and ‘A Pail of Air’.
It may be a false assumption but I think editors, Jonathan Strahan and Charles N. Brown, aimed to create a collection that reveals the broad work of Leiber rather than just a Best of. Neil Gaiman unequivocally touches on it in his reflective intro: some of these stories are dated…And some are to an egregious extent. It’s not only the stories themselves but also the verbose, showy prose, which at times is splendid, but at other times seems to lose control of rhythm and flow.
But for any aficionado of the history of the spec-fic short story this will not diminish the collection. I suppose it’s all a matter of context. Leiber, after all, was a product of his times. And when speculative fiction writers willingly explore the values and attitudes and ideologies of their era they are always at risk of dating quickly. In terms of contextual understanding and appreciation of the era Leiber fascinates. If you read these stories with an appreciation that Leiber lived in times whereby the political ideologies of fascism as well as communism and capitalism were at the forefront you begin to understand his intentions. The old East vs West Cold War arguments have changed though, which may mean a degree of inaccessibility for some contemporary readers.
Although all the works may be dated a little in terms of prose, the stories that tend to date the most involve themes that explore political and nationalistic ideologies. Leiber was passionate about speculative fiction having a dual role, whereby it not only told an interesting narrative but also explored societal issues of its day. As such, stories such as ‘America the Beautiful’ may bore a reader with the supposedly ‘alien’ disconnect between Russians and Americans; and ‘Belzen Express’ and ‘Catch that Zeppelin’ (which I didn’t finish) explore fascism. I found it challenging to connect with these stories.
‘The outspread newspaper started to slip from his knee. He detained it, let his glance rove over the next page, noted a headline about an uprising in Prague like that in Hungary in 1956 and murmured, “Damn Slavs,” noted another about border fighting around Israel and muttered, “Damn Jews,” and let the paper go.”
from “Belsen Express”
Other works that date tend to be the ones involving dreams. Again this reflects Leiber’s period in which the popular psychoanalytical ideas of Jung were influential. ‘Horrible Imaginings’, critically acclaimed at the time, strongly reflects Jungian notions of individuism but try as I might to finish the story, it defeated me.
“Each “Peformance” of this frightening lightless dream, on those nights when his unconsciousness decided to put on a show, would begin the same way.”
From “Horrible Imaginings”
As previously touched upon, it’s easy to appreciate why these stories, both dated or otherwise, are still included in this selection. It would have been easy for Strahan and Brown to travel down the populist ‘Fafhrd and the Grey Mouser’ path (there are only three stories here from that ‘literary’ Sword and Sorcery genre). It is a credit to both editors that they presented work more truly reflective of Leiber’s varied repertoire.
Standouts include ‘Smoke Ghost’, a wonderful atmospheric tale of psychological horror; ‘A Pail of Air’ which is one of those great dystopian tales of a sunless Earth; the classic Fafhrd and the Grey Mouser story ‘Ill Met in Lankhmar’ along with the entertaining supernatural gambling classic ‘Gonna Roll the Bones’.
But the overall highlight is ‘Bazaar of the Bizarre’, a Fafhrd and the Grey Mouser story. Like most of Leiber’s stories ‘Bazaar of the Bizarre’ works well on a metaphorical level. But this time the story relates strongly to an ideology relevant, if not omnipresent, in our own present day society: that of consumerism. Sure, the metaphor is overt - The Grey Mouser finds himself enchanted by garbage in a shop, all sold by a grotty alien race who produce garbage with the illusion of being something more - but the story is also a fun swashbuckling one. It won me over both in terms of adventure and mystery but also for its satirical attack on consumerism. And who today can’t relate to that?
So ultimately although some of Leiber’s stories may be more of an ephemeral nature and captivate more in terms of historical context and historical interest, there are still several here that hold their own weight. And, more importantly, Selected Stories is a celebration of both Leiber’s influence and also his incredible legacy.
September 29, 2013
I couldn't finish it. It took me almost the entire book to force myself to drop it (I never drop a book!) but I realized I was so deadly bored I wasn't really reading. I bought this book because I wanted to have examples of "sword and sorcerer" literature and Fritz Leiber was a quoted and founder member of the contained gang. Of all his book I found on Amazon, this was the one that readers appreciated the most, so I got for this. But I didn't find what I was looking for. First: only two stories of the genre I was interested and honestly rather confused and dull, secondly the other stories were really nothing special. I wish I could have given 0 stars but I had to give at least one in order to write a review.
September 30, 2010
This was a wonderful walk backward in time for me. I first ran across Leiber with his chess story "64-Square Madhouse," but I didn't really fall in love until "Ill Met In Lankhmar". The first is not in this collection (though another of his chess stories, "Midnight by the Morphy Watch" is) but the second is, as are a number of his immortal tales, such as "A Pail Of Air" and "Four Ghosts in Hamlet."
Writers like Leiber don't come along very often, and it's sad to see so much of his material out of print. Here, at least, you can find some of the best from this legendary writer. If you've not come across his before, I envy you the discovery you're about to make.
Writers like Leiber don't come along very often, and it's sad to see so much of his material out of print. Here, at least, you can find some of the best from this legendary writer. If you've not come across his before, I envy you the discovery you're about to make.
October 1, 2010
I am a huge fan of Fritz Leiber (pronounced 'Lie-ber') from my early days and this book does a faithful job of representing his scifi, fantasy and dark fantasy writing career. I was pleased to see two Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser stories....
What can I say except he was seminal, original, and a truly wonderful short story writer. All I can say is read it. It is worth it.
What can I say except he was seminal, original, and a truly wonderful short story writer. All I can say is read it. It is worth it.
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February 19, 2022ToC and story notes & sources: http://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/pl.cgi?3...
September 5, 2024
I'd read a few Leiber stories before picking up this compilation, and I was already impressed with the man's talent and imagination, but after this... wow. I've no hesitation in saying he's one of my favorite writers now (fantasy, horror, or sci-fi), and that's saying something. Why he isn't as popular or well-known as Ray Bradbury is anyone's guess.
August 4, 2016
I can’t recall where I first encountered Fritz Leiber — probably in an anthology somewhere — but you don’t see too many of his works in the average bookstore these days. He’s one of those authors who had the fortune to be relatively successful during their lifetime, but who have fallen off the radar in recent years. In this case I suspect the problem is partly that his prose style is very much of its time, and in some respects it hasn’t aged all that well. While the power and range of his imagination is certainly remarkable, his attitude towards women is problematic (to put it lightly), and there’s the constant sense that while he’s striving towards a vision of the future his work remains inextricably tied up with the concerns of the times in which it was written. Not that that’s necessarily a bad thing; but it could make it something of a hard sell in terms of what readers might expect from science fiction.
Leiber is most famous for creating Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser, the starring characters in a series of books and stories which were instrumental in developing the kind of sword-and-sorcery tropes associated with post-Tolkien fantasy fiction. There’s a couple of examples here, and ‘Ill Met in Lankhmar’ is particularly entertaining; it’s basically pulp fiction, but the world-building is finely done, and the whole thing has a grim, messy ambience that reminded me of China Mieville’s Bas-Lag novels.
But elsewhere the stories are harder to pin down. First published way back in 1941, ‘Smoke Ghost’ is probably the best thing here; a deliberate attempt to write a highly modern psychological ghost story set in a crowded metropolis, it is genuinely unsettling in a way that only the finest weird tales can be. Less satisfying is something like ‘The Girl with a Hungry Eyes’ which follows a photographer and his obsession with a pinup-style model with an overwhelming sexual presence. The author’s stories work best when he’s able to channel the latent misogyny in his work into something interesting; but here the anxiety comes across as more like simple frustration without release.
On the other extreme is something like ‘Horrible Imaginings’, a tale which starts out like a ghost story but soon devolves into a frank exposition of what seem to be the author’s own darkest fears and fantasies. At times I found this almost too uncomfortable to read, and I couldn't shake the sense that something in such a confessional style should have stayed in a bottom desk drawer somewhere - but perhaps that's just me being a prude.
Sometimes, though, the strangeness on offer is so spectacular that moral concerns become lost in the fog. ‘A Deskful of Girls’ begins as a conversation with a psychotherapist but turns into a kind of spiritualist seance where the souls of the women the doctor has helped become apparent to his patient and recount their life stories. And yes, there’s a fair amount of unpleasant sexual implications going on here; but it’s also a dark, thoughtful meditation on the way that women are trapped into gender roles in Hollywood, advertising and the workplace. I’m not sure it’s actually good (whatever that means) but it might be the oddest thing here, and is probably worth reading for that reason alone.
Leiber is most famous for creating Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser, the starring characters in a series of books and stories which were instrumental in developing the kind of sword-and-sorcery tropes associated with post-Tolkien fantasy fiction. There’s a couple of examples here, and ‘Ill Met in Lankhmar’ is particularly entertaining; it’s basically pulp fiction, but the world-building is finely done, and the whole thing has a grim, messy ambience that reminded me of China Mieville’s Bas-Lag novels.
But elsewhere the stories are harder to pin down. First published way back in 1941, ‘Smoke Ghost’ is probably the best thing here; a deliberate attempt to write a highly modern psychological ghost story set in a crowded metropolis, it is genuinely unsettling in a way that only the finest weird tales can be. Less satisfying is something like ‘The Girl with a Hungry Eyes’ which follows a photographer and his obsession with a pinup-style model with an overwhelming sexual presence. The author’s stories work best when he’s able to channel the latent misogyny in his work into something interesting; but here the anxiety comes across as more like simple frustration without release.
On the other extreme is something like ‘Horrible Imaginings’, a tale which starts out like a ghost story but soon devolves into a frank exposition of what seem to be the author’s own darkest fears and fantasies. At times I found this almost too uncomfortable to read, and I couldn't shake the sense that something in such a confessional style should have stayed in a bottom desk drawer somewhere - but perhaps that's just me being a prude.
Sometimes, though, the strangeness on offer is so spectacular that moral concerns become lost in the fog. ‘A Deskful of Girls’ begins as a conversation with a psychotherapist but turns into a kind of spiritualist seance where the souls of the women the doctor has helped become apparent to his patient and recount their life stories. And yes, there’s a fair amount of unpleasant sexual implications going on here; but it’s also a dark, thoughtful meditation on the way that women are trapped into gender roles in Hollywood, advertising and the workplace. I’m not sure it’s actually good (whatever that means) but it might be the oddest thing here, and is probably worth reading for that reason alone.
November 17, 2017
Neil Gaiman gave a glowing foreword so I was really looking forward to some great stories, especially in light of the fact my previous Leiber reads had been disappointing.
I felt this collection was a mixed bag. I can say without hesitation the Fafhrd and Gray Mouser stories were thoroughly entertaining, some great fantasy writing that put a smile on my face with every story. I felt the stories earlier in the collection, which also represent his earlier work chronologically, were stronger. They may be dated in some elements, but their weird was still effective and interesting.
The later stories had elements of Kafka, Lovecraft and PKD, which overall isn't a bad thing. I just felt there was a certain sameness to them that was missing from his earlier works. The novella, "Horrible Imaginings", was at times dull, weird, dark and paranoid. I wasn't sure how I felt about it, despite some great writing. The end was both satisfying and unsatisfying. I guess I could say that about the collection in general.
I would enthusiastically recommend the Fafhrd and Gray Mouser stories, but much of the collection leaves me questioning Leiber's reputation as one of the all-time science fiction greats.
I felt this collection was a mixed bag. I can say without hesitation the Fafhrd and Gray Mouser stories were thoroughly entertaining, some great fantasy writing that put a smile on my face with every story. I felt the stories earlier in the collection, which also represent his earlier work chronologically, were stronger. They may be dated in some elements, but their weird was still effective and interesting.
The later stories had elements of Kafka, Lovecraft and PKD, which overall isn't a bad thing. I just felt there was a certain sameness to them that was missing from his earlier works. The novella, "Horrible Imaginings", was at times dull, weird, dark and paranoid. I wasn't sure how I felt about it, despite some great writing. The end was both satisfying and unsatisfying. I guess I could say that about the collection in general.
I would enthusiastically recommend the Fafhrd and Gray Mouser stories, but much of the collection leaves me questioning Leiber's reputation as one of the all-time science fiction greats.
July 29, 2011
Where Leiber turns most completely from the hardboiled tone and attendant misogyny prevalent in the earlier stories, this collection becomes thoughtful, diverse, and sometimes magnificently strange.
In the better stories, even the queasy anxiety about women and desire gets worked through in a satisfying way, delineating a character's madness as in "The Inner Circles," or loneliness as in "Horrible Imaginings" (which seems in many ways to be about an elderly writer confronting some of his hang-ups).
But I find that even though on review I enjoyed at least nine of these stories and thought a few of them were first-rate, important works of speculative fiction, the occasional clunkers (like "Catch that Zeppelin!") and the frequent ugliness in Leiber's depiction of women significantly soured my impression of the selection.
In the better stories, even the queasy anxiety about women and desire gets worked through in a satisfying way, delineating a character's madness as in "The Inner Circles," or loneliness as in "Horrible Imaginings" (which seems in many ways to be about an elderly writer confronting some of his hang-ups).
But I find that even though on review I enjoyed at least nine of these stories and thought a few of them were first-rate, important works of speculative fiction, the occasional clunkers (like "Catch that Zeppelin!") and the frequent ugliness in Leiber's depiction of women significantly soured my impression of the selection.
April 18, 2017
I actually didn't completely finish this book. I tried various stories over time but finally decided there are too many good books to waste my time struggling through this one.
I'm a fan of Lovecraft and John Collier and thought this might be similar but I just couldn't get interested in the characters, settings, or stories so...
I'm a fan of Lovecraft and John Collier and thought this might be similar but I just couldn't get interested in the characters, settings, or stories so...
August 17, 2010
Dull. Dated. Couldn't finish.
December 2, 2021
Wow, this person *seriously* had a problem with women. When reviews are saying "dated", that's code for "hideously misogynist, even for the times". I mean, this made me yearn for Heinlein's portrayals of women. I might not have been as sensitive to the portrayal of Female as Evil if I hadn't just read Dead Blondes and Bad Mothers, which is all about women in horror.
I picked this up for unknown reasons, probably partly for "A Pail of Air" -- a childhood favorite -- plus reading that he was one of the founding creators of several genres that I've become a fan of. Fortunately I wasn't able to get through the included Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser stories, since that saved me some time, and the others... well.
Smoke Ghost -- good horror atmosphere. Miss Millick is the nervous-giggling type, who also takes a turn as a manifestation of evil when the smoke ghost takes her form. The main character's wife isn't really a fleshed-out character.
The Girl With the Hungry Eyes -- female ambition and hunger portrayed as evil (and deadly to men, in a laughably literal way).
Coming Attraction -- the female character, Theda, is complicit in her own abuse in a country where entertainment is often male/female wrestling matches "with the man greatly outclassed in weight and reach", which the main character "simply detests". I don't know what was going on with this story.
A Pail of Air -- Ma and Sis aren't very fleshed-out characters but they aren't awful either. This one at least didn't make me cringe.
A Deskful of Girls -- 100% as bad as it sounds, can we leave it at that?
Space-Time for Springers -- the sister is depicted as entirely evil and the mother isn't fleshed-out at all.
Four Ghosts in Hamlet -- the one woman who matters is a macguffin, and given to saying things like "Thank you for coming so quickly when I went idiot and screamed".
Gonna Roll the Bones -- contains several women, none of them named. Ma and Wife are both presented rather bestially and the main character wants to escape or kill them, while the ones at the gambling joint are sexual but demonic.
The Inner Circles -- all right, Jane is a reasonable if minor character.
America the Beautiful -- oddly the best depiction of a female character in the whole book, where Emily both seduces and debates with the main character. He can't handle it, perceives "shadows" and heads back to England as fast as he can go. I never did catch the whiff of horror I was expected to.
Midnight by the Morphy Watch -- no important women, therefore no problem.
Belsen Express -- the wife is just a foil, so again there's not much trouble.
Catch That Zeppelin -- no women.
Horrible Imaginings -- woman as ghost who is deadly to men (again). Also, women whose eroticism is creepy.
I won't be keeping this one, or probably even passing it on. Nobody needs to be reading most of this stuff. The recycle bin will do.
I picked this up for unknown reasons, probably partly for "A Pail of Air" -- a childhood favorite -- plus reading that he was one of the founding creators of several genres that I've become a fan of. Fortunately I wasn't able to get through the included Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser stories, since that saved me some time, and the others... well.
Smoke Ghost -- good horror atmosphere. Miss Millick is the nervous-giggling type, who also takes a turn as a manifestation of evil when the smoke ghost takes her form. The main character's wife isn't really a fleshed-out character.
The Girl With the Hungry Eyes -- female ambition and hunger portrayed as evil (and deadly to men, in a laughably literal way).
Coming Attraction -- the female character, Theda, is complicit in her own abuse in a country where entertainment is often male/female wrestling matches "with the man greatly outclassed in weight and reach", which the main character "simply detests". I don't know what was going on with this story.
A Pail of Air -- Ma and Sis aren't very fleshed-out characters but they aren't awful either. This one at least didn't make me cringe.
A Deskful of Girls -- 100% as bad as it sounds, can we leave it at that?
Space-Time for Springers -- the sister is depicted as entirely evil and the mother isn't fleshed-out at all.
Four Ghosts in Hamlet -- the one woman who matters is a macguffin, and given to saying things like "Thank you for coming so quickly when I went idiot and screamed".
Gonna Roll the Bones -- contains several women, none of them named. Ma and Wife are both presented rather bestially and the main character wants to escape or kill them, while the ones at the gambling joint are sexual but demonic.
The Inner Circles -- all right, Jane is a reasonable if minor character.
America the Beautiful -- oddly the best depiction of a female character in the whole book, where Emily both seduces and debates with the main character. He can't handle it, perceives "shadows" and heads back to England as fast as he can go. I never did catch the whiff of horror I was expected to.
Midnight by the Morphy Watch -- no important women, therefore no problem.
Belsen Express -- the wife is just a foil, so again there's not much trouble.
Catch That Zeppelin -- no women.
Horrible Imaginings -- woman as ghost who is deadly to men (again). Also, women whose eroticism is creepy.
I won't be keeping this one, or probably even passing it on. Nobody needs to be reading most of this stuff. The recycle bin will do.
August 17, 2023
The high-powered blurbs on the back cover of this short-story collection (Neil Gaiman, Michael Chabon, Harlan Ellison) all portentously inform that Leiber is "literature." If he were still around, I'm sure Leiber would smirkingly agree---only because it might drive book sales. These stories are pulps, no insult intended.
And some are pretty damn good. There are three Fafhrd and Gray Mouser stories, including "Ill Met in Lanhkmar," an essential for fans of low fantasy. ("The Curse of the Smalls and the Stars" probably could have been skipped.) "Four Ghosts in Hamlet," a semi-fantastical story told from the perspective of a journeyman Shakespearean actor, is a standout. ON EDIT: I also should have mentioned the sentient cats of "Spacetime for Springers," which beautifully captured the borderline between their intelligence and apathy.
Most stories felt like fever dreams, vivid and outlandish but not tightly plotted. Many featured provocative or underdressed girls, sometimes with a masochistic bent, making the stories feel like sidebars in a cheesy men's magazine with a name like "Knockers."
There are engagingly weird science fiction settings, bargains with devils of various types, and multiple flavors of paranoia (including Cold War paranoia; remember when Russian commies were the bad guys?). Overall the stories were diverting, with one notable exception: the late, overlong tale "Horrible Imaginings," which starts explicitly in a peepshow booth and ends by transcending reality, amounted to creepy, self-indulgent garbage.
All due respect to the pulps, it's fun but not literature (LIT-rah-CHOOR). And while some stories suggest attitudes race and sex that might have been enlightened for the time, others are far less so. Recommended for fans and students of those old fantasy and science fiction pulps; modern, more forward-thinking readers may be inclined to pass.
And some are pretty damn good. There are three Fafhrd and Gray Mouser stories, including "Ill Met in Lanhkmar," an essential for fans of low fantasy. ("The Curse of the Smalls and the Stars" probably could have been skipped.) "Four Ghosts in Hamlet," a semi-fantastical story told from the perspective of a journeyman Shakespearean actor, is a standout. ON EDIT: I also should have mentioned the sentient cats of "Spacetime for Springers," which beautifully captured the borderline between their intelligence and apathy.
Most stories felt like fever dreams, vivid and outlandish but not tightly plotted. Many featured provocative or underdressed girls, sometimes with a masochistic bent, making the stories feel like sidebars in a cheesy men's magazine with a name like "Knockers."
There are engagingly weird science fiction settings, bargains with devils of various types, and multiple flavors of paranoia (including Cold War paranoia; remember when Russian commies were the bad guys?). Overall the stories were diverting, with one notable exception: the late, overlong tale "Horrible Imaginings," which starts explicitly in a peepshow booth and ends by transcending reality, amounted to creepy, self-indulgent garbage.
All due respect to the pulps, it's fun but not literature (LIT-rah-CHOOR). And while some stories suggest attitudes race and sex that might have been enlightened for the time, others are far less so. Recommended for fans and students of those old fantasy and science fiction pulps; modern, more forward-thinking readers may be inclined to pass.
April 6, 2019
It was an interesting mix of stories across genres. I personally found his horror stories the most compelling with the unease and mounting dread that they conjured in me. But his speculative fiction was also so interesting. You can see it's dated reading from today's perspective, but I enjoyed that aspect and the ideas of what different things could have been.
April 7, 2018
A terrific over-all collection of Leiber's output. Not every one is a 5*, but that's not the point of such collections. Has 6 duplicates from the "Best of" collection.
The Kindle version does not have the Chabon Afterward. And the TOC is at the end of the book FFS.
The Kindle version does not have the Chabon Afterward. And the TOC is at the end of the book FFS.
February 19, 2021
While most of the stories in this anthology were pretty well done, there were a couple that I found unreadable - couldn't even get past the first page. But if you're a fan of Fritz Lieber, I think you will enjoy the majority of the stories.
March 22, 2018
Read most of the stories, they were great. I happened up on this book by chance and was glad that I did.
September 26, 2019
All solid stories, some of the contemporary ones moved into horror territory for me. I enjoyed the whimsy behind most of them.
i-gave-up
November 1, 2019Tried two stories. Feels like the Twilight Zone. I can respect it, but the slow 1950s straight-backed vibe wasn’t doing it for me as a book, despite Gaiman’s enthusiastic intro.
November 10, 2021
Just hasn’t aged well. What in the past might have been regarded as whimsical, is now just ludicrous and tedious.
March 25, 2024
I had never read any Fritz Leiber before picking up this book. Wow what a collection of stories. Loved all of them. Fritz Leiber is now one of my favourite authors.
September 24, 2025
- El hombre que nunca llegaba a joven (2 estrellas): Tenía potencial pero se centro mucho en la gran historia y menos en la vida personal.
November 6, 2012
Leiber wasn't one of my favourites, but I'm really enjoying some of these. I remember Gonna Roll The Bones which is extraordinary and still gives me a thrill. This collection includes the story of the first meeting between Fafhrd and the Grey Mouser, and a delightful piece about a kitten with a sense of destiny.
February 24, 2013
His goodreads bio calls him a stepping stone from H.P. Lovecraft to Phillip K. Dick. Throw in a bit of Robert E. Howard and Frederik Pohl and you have a pretty good idea of the kind of short stories you might find in this excellent collection.
December 29, 2015
This is a collection of short stories from an author that I had never read before. Most of the stories were either variations of fantasy or ghost stories. There was one sci-fi story which I did enjoy. I suspect I'll only read stuff by him in the future if it is clearly sci-fi.
August 29, 2016
excellent mix of genre writing, sci-fi, horror, abstract, et al. Leiber can really spook you out, i'll be keeping this collection.
April 15, 2016
Uneven, but always interesting, with some solid five star elements, especially Spacetime for Springers, and three Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser stories, which I highly recommend!
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