Poll

No Kindle version of Heroes and Horrors, so I will be voting against it. I have been wanting to read The Wanderer for a while, so it's fine, but I would also like to read Conjure Wife. Actually, I own all of the nominees except Heroes and Horrors

One question, though. Why are we possibly reading Swords Against Death (Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser #2) when this is the first month of reading so we obviously have not yet read Swords and Deviltry (Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser Book 1?) Just wondering . . .

Some think it is a better introduction to the characters. I don't agree...

Well, if it wins, I might just read Swords and Deviltry first.

Leiber wrote the stories all out of internal chronological order anyway. I don't think therefore the order one reads the stories matters in the slightest.

If I were to choose an order in which to read the stories, it would be in publication order. All of the collections (and there are many) that reprint these short stories as far as I know pay no attention whatsoever to the publication order.

I just listed the publication order of all the Fahfrd and the Gray Mouser stories, if anyone is interested: https://www.goodreads.com/topic/group...

OK. thanks for the link, Dan. I guess I will just have to ignore my chronological order habit. If you guys think Book II is the place to start, you are the experts. I am with you!

Dan wrote: "Leiber wrote the stories all out of internal chronological order anyway. I don't think therefore the order one reads the stories matters in the slightest."

That is true and I agree. However I think the way Ace collected them works. We're introduced to the characters separately and then we see how they met.

If one was reading the stories as they were published in magazines, it probably mattered less. In collected editions, the chronology might be more noticeable. The editions I have even have a foreword from Leiber noting the "correct" order.

I think one would have to take Leiber's "correct" order as authoritative, but is it complete?

Leiber's ACE collection is complete ... well, except for a seventh book published in the 1980s, but that continues the established story order. The general consensus is to start with book two. For new readers to F&GM, you get straight into the action and it is a lot of fun. The theory is once you are hooked, you can go back to the two origin stories and even though they are a little tough going for some readers, you'll finish them. Then Swords & Deviltry ends with "Ill Met in Lankhmar," which is a fantastic story and a Hugo winner. From there, move onto book 3.

Wow, the vote is tied one all among the five books. Lol! (BTW, that is the first time I've used lol.) We need some folks to come in for a tie-breaker!

We are still early on. Lots can happen between now and next Wednesday night.

I went to the used bookstore next to the college I attend today. They had two and only two Fritz Leiber books. Neither was in my library, so I picked them up. They were a 1977 Ace paperback Conjure Wife and a hardback with dustjacket copy of The Wanderer, this edition: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1.... I like the painting, but wonder if that scene really took place in the book. It's hard even from the blurb to figure out what the book is about. Maybe some kind of First Contact story. Anyhow, according to Wikipedia, "P. Schuyler Miller described the book as a 'thoroughly uncharacteristic' Leiber novel."

I read The Wanderer years and years ago and I remember little about it except that I really liked it. And I remember that caused me to read The Big Time, which I remember I didn't like so well. But I'm up for any other than Heroes and Horrors