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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.
 

Awards: Stoker (1988), Nebula (1981), BFA (1980), WFA (1978)  see all

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

More books 


Awards
2011 Locus Award for Best Collection : Selected Stories
1988 Bram Stoker Award for Lifetime Achievement
1985 Locus Award for Best Collection : The Ghost Light
1981 Grand Master Award
1980 British Fantasy Award for Best Short Story : The Button Molder
1978 World Fantasy Award for Best Novel : Our Lady of Darkness
1976 World Fantasy Award for Lifetime Achievement
1976 Nebula Award for Best Short Story : Catch That Zeppelin!
1976 Hugo Award for Best Short Story : Catch That Zeppelin!
1976 British Fantasy Award for Best Short Story : The Second Book of Fritz Leiber
1971 Nebula Award for Best Novella : Ill Met in Lankhmar [short story]
1971 Hugo Award for Best Novella : Ill Met in Lankhmar [short story]
1970 Hugo Award for Best Novella : Ship of Shadows [short story]
1968 Nebula Award for Best Novelette : Gonna Roll the Bones [short story]
1968 Hugo Award for Best Novelette : Gonna Roll the Bones [short story]
1965 Hugo Award for Best Novel : The Wanderer
1958 Hugo Award for Best Novel : The Big Time

Award nominations
2019 Retro Hugo Award for Best Novelette (nominee) : Thieves' House
2018 Retro Hugo Award for Best Short Story (nominee) : The Sunken Land
2003 Locus Award for Best Collection (nominee) : Smoke Ghost
2001 Retro Hugo Award for Best Short Story (nominee) : Coming Attraction
1998 Locus Award for Best Novella (nominee) : The Dealings of Daniel Kesserich
1991 World Fantasy Award for Best Collection (nominee) : The Leiber Chronicles: Fifty Years of Fritz Leiber
1991 Locus Award for Best Collection (nominee) : The Leiber Chronicles: Fifty Years of Fritz Leiber
1989 Locus Award for Best Collection (nominee) : Farewell to Lankhmar
1984 Locus Award for Best Novella (nominee) : The Curse of the Smalls and the Stars
1983 World Fantasy Award for Best Novella (nominee) : Horrible Imaginings
1983 Nebula Award for Best Novella (nominee) : Horrible Imaginings
1983 Locus Award for Best Novella (nominee) : Horrible Imaginings
1980 World Fantasy Award for Best Short Story (nominee) : The Button Molder
1980 Locus Award for Best Collection (nominee) : Ship of Shadows
1980 Locus Award for Best Collection (nominee) : The Change War
1979 World Fantasy Award for Best Collection (nominee) : Heroes and Horrors
1978 Nebula Award for Best Novelette (nominee) : A Rite of Spring
1978 British Fantasy Award for Best Novel (nominee) : Our Lady of Darkness
1977 World Fantasy Award for Best Short Story (nominee) : Dark Wings
1976 World Fantasy Award for Best Short Story (nominee) : Belsen Express
1975 Hugo Award for Best Novelette (nominee) : Midnight by the Morphy Watch
1971 Locus Award for Best Anthology (nominee) : Swords Against Death
1970 Nebula Award for Best Novella (nominee) : Ship of Shadows [short story]
1968 Nebula Award for Best Short Story (nominee) : Answering Service
1966 Nebula Award for Best Short Story (nominee) : The Good New Days
1966 Nebula Award for Best Short Story (nominee) : Cyclops
1966 Nebula Award for Best Novelette (nominee) : Four Ghosts in Hamlet
1966 Hugo Award for Best Short Story (nominee) : Stardock
1963 Hugo Award for Best Short Story (nominee) : The Unholy Grail
1962 Hugo Award for Best Short Story (nominee) : Scylla's Daughter
1959 Hugo Award for Best Short Story (nominee) : Rump-Titty-Titty-Tum-Tah-Tee
1959 Hugo Award for Best Novelette (nominee) : A Deskful of Girls


Fritz Leiber recommends
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The Model (1987)
Robert Aickman
"He is a weatherman of the subconscious."
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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."
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The Many-Coloured Land (1981)
The Many-Colored Land

(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."

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