Fritz Leiber's picture
77 followers

Fritz Leiber


(Fritz Reuter Leiber Jr)
USA flag (1910 - 1992)
Father of Justin Leiber

Fritz Leiber 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.
 

Genres: Science Fiction, Horror, Fantasy
 
Series
Fafhrd and Gray Mouser
   Two Sought Adventure (1957)
   Return to Lankhmar (1968)
   1. Swords and Deviltry (1970)
   2. Swords Against Death (1970)
   3. Swords in the Mist (1968)
   4. Swords Against Wizardry (1968)
   5. The Swords of Lankhmar (1968)
   6. Swords and Ice Magic (1975)
   7. Farewell to Lankhmar (1988)

     aka The Knight and Knave of Swords

continued in the series by Robin Wayne Bailey
thumbthumbthumbthumb
thumbthumbthumbthumb
thumb
 
thumbthumb
 
Novels
   Gather, Darkness! (1943)
   Destiny Times Three (1945)
   Conjure Wife (1953)
   The Green Millennium (1953)
   The Sinful Ones (1953)
     aka You're All Alone
   The Big Time (1957)
   The Silver Eggheads (1961)
   No Great Magic (1963)
   The Wanderer (1964)
   A Specter is Haunting Texas (1968)
     aka A Spectre is Haunting Texas
   Rime Isle (1977)
   Our Lady of Darkness (1977)
   The Dealings of Daniel Kesserich (1997)
   What's He Doing in There? (2011)
thumbthumbthumbthumb
thumbthumbthumbthumb
thumbthumbthumbthumb
thumbthumb
 
Collections
   Night's Black Agents (1947)
   The Mind Spider (1961)
   Shadows with Eyes (1962)
   A Pail of Air (1964)
   Ships to the Stars (1964)
   The Night of the Wolf (1966)
   The Secret Songs (1968)
   Night Monsters (1969)
   The Book of Fritz Leiber (1974)
   The Best of Fritz Leiber (1974)
   The Second Book of Fritz Leiber (1975)
   The Worlds of Fritz Leiber (1976)
   Bazaar of the Bizarre (1978)
   Heroes and Horrors (1978)
   The Change War (1978)
   Ship of Shadows (1979)
   Ervool (1980)
   The Mystery of the Japanese Clock (1982)
   The Ghost Light (1984)
   The Leiber Chronicles (1990)
   Gummitch and Friends (1992)
   Dark Ladies (1999)
   Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser (2000)
   The Black Gondolier (2003)
   The Creature from Cleveland Depths and Other Tales (2007)
   Poor Superman and Others (2009)
   The Night of the Long Knives And Other Works (2010)
   Selected Stories (2010)
   The Night of the Long Knives / Creature From The Cleveland Depths (2010)
   Strange Wonders (2010)
   Science Fiction Collection 001 (2011) (with Harry Harrison)
   Smoke Ghost And Other Apparitions (2011)
   Science Fiction Collection 002 (2011) (with Kurt Vonnegut Jr)
   Horror Gems, Volume Two (2011) (with Joseph Payne Brennan)
   Lords of Quarmall / Beacon to Elsewhere (2011) (with Harry Fischer)
   Horror Gems, Volume Three (2012) (with others)
   Horrible Imaginings (2012)
   Day Dark, Night Bright (2012)
   Science Fiction Gems, Volume Four (2012) (with others)
   Hatchery of Dreams (2012)
   The Wildside Book of Fantasy (2012) (with others)
   The Moon is Green and Other Tales (2013)
   Masters of Science Fiction Fritz Leiber (2016)
   The Science Fiction Collection 3 (2018) (with others)
thumbthumbthumbthumb
thumbthumbthumbthumb
thumbthumbthumbthumb
thumbthumbthumbthumb
thumbthumbthumbthumb
thumbthumbthumbthumb
thumbthumbthumbthumb
thumbthumbthumbthumb
thumbthumbthumbthumb
thumbthumbthumbthumb
thumbthumbthumbthumb
 
Novellas and Short Stories
   Later Than You Think (1950)
   The Ship Sails at Midnight (1950)
   The Wolf Pack (1950)
   Coming Attraction (1950)
   The Dead Man (1950)
   The Foxholes of Mars (1952)
   The Moon is Green (1952)
   Friends and Enemies (1957)
   Bread Overhead (1958)
   The Last Letter (1958)
   Damnation Morning (1959)
   Schizo Jimmie (1959)
   The Night of the Long Knives (1960)
   Mariana (1960)
   The Snowbank Orbit (1962)
   The Unholy Grail (1962)
   The Creature from Cleveland Depths (1962)
     aka The Lone Wolf
   Gonna Roll the Bones (1967)
thumbthumbthumbthumb
thumbthumbthumbthumb
thumbthumbthumbthumb
thumbthumbthumbthumb
thumbthumb
 
Anthologies edited
thumb
 
Fritz Leiber recommends
thumb
The Model (1987)
Robert Aickman
"He is a weatherman of the subconscious."
thumb
The Sword Is Forged (1983)
Evangeline Walton
"I hadn't thought it possible to combine a novel of feminism with one of genuine romantic love, but Walton achieves this brilliantly. The language is clear, businesslike, and rises to heights at the climaxes. The story hews to it's thrilling tragic line, avoiding subplots and mere chronicle. This is certainly the best fictional depiction of the Amazons that I've ever encountered."
thumb
The Many-Coloured Land (1981)
(Pliocene Exiles, book 1)
Julian May
"Altogether enchanting and engrossing...it stirs the mind and engages the feelings. I was captivated by its glamorous, sinister movement through the misty forests of Earth's true past."

More recommendations 


Anthologies containing stories by Fritz Leiber
thumb
Black Cat Weekly #95 (2023)
(Black Cat Weekly, book 95)
thumb
Black Cat Weekly #92 (2023)
(Black Cat Weekly, book 92)

More anthologies 


Awards
Hugo Best Novel winner (1958) : The Big Time
Hugo Best Novellette nominee (1959) : A Deskful of Girls
Hugo Best Short Story nominee (1959) : Rump-Titty-Titty-Tum-Tah-Tee
Hugo Best Short Story nominee (1962) : Scylla's Daughter
Hugo Best Short Story nominee (1963) : The Unholy Grail
Hugo Best Novel winner (1965) : The Wanderer
Hugo Best Short Story nominee (1966) : Stardock
Nebula Awards Best Short Story nominee (1966) : Cyclops
Nebula Awards Best Novellette nominee (1966) : Four Ghosts in Hamlet
Nebula Awards Best Short Story nominee (1966) : The Good New Days
Hugo Best Novellette winner (1968) : Gonna Roll the Bones [short story]
Nebula Awards Best Short Story nominee (1968) : Answering Service
Nebula Awards Best Novellette winner (1968) : Gonna Roll the Bones [short story]
Hugo Best Novella winner (1970) : Ship of Shadows [short story]
Nebula Awards Best Novella nominee (1970) : Ship of Shadows [short story]
Hugo Best Novella winner (1971) : Ill Met in Lankhmar [short story]
Nebula Awards Best Novella winner (1971) : Ill Met in Lankhmar [short story]
Hugo Best Novellette nominee (1975) : Midnight by the Morphy Watch
Hugo Best Short Story winner (1976) : Catch That Zeppelin!
Nebula Awards Best Short Story winner (1976) : Catch That Zeppelin!
World Fantasy Lifetime Achievement winner (1976)
World Fantasy Best Short Story nominee (1976) : Belsen Express
World Fantasy Best Short Story nominee (1977) : Dark Wings
Nebula Awards Best Novellette nominee (1978) : A Rite of Spring
World Fantasy Best Novel winner (1978) : Our Lady of Darkness
World Fantasy Best Collection nominee (1979) : Heroes and Horrors
World Fantasy Best Short Story nominee (1980) : The Button Molder
Nebula Awards Best Novella nominee (1983) : Horrible Imaginings
World Fantasy Best Novella nominee (1983) : Horrible Imaginings
World Fantasy Best Collection nominee (1991) : The Leiber Chronicles: Fifty Years of Fritz Leiber


Visitors also looked at these authors


About Fantastic Fiction       Information for Authors