Assembled here is a selection of some of Mr. Leiber's most renowned tales with a liberal dose of rarities that have been unavailable in any form for many years. Considered by many to be the greatest writer in the field of fantastic fiction, Fritz Leiber's long and productive career spanned fifty years. This present collection assembles stories from sources ranging from the pulp magazines of the 1940's to modern "slicks" like Esquire. As a special treat, this book includes a "lost" novelette, "Night Passage", which was recently discovered in the author's papers at the University of Houston. Most of the stories gathered here are making their first appearance in book form or have been virtually unobtainable for many years. Fritz Leiber was the winner of every major award for science fiction, fantasy, and horror during his career. While many of his novels remain in print, much of his great short fiction has been virtually unobtainable for decades. This is the first of several volumes intended to bring the best of Fritz Leiber's science fiction short stories back into print. CONTENTS: Introduction by John Pelan Time Fighter Femmequin 973 Night Passage Moon Duel Later than you Think Mirror The 64-Square Madhouse All the Weed in the World The Mutants Brother The Man who was married to Space and Time Thought The Crystal Prison Bullet with his Name Success To Make a Roman Holiday Bread Overhead The Reward Taboo Business of Killing Day Dark Night Bright
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
