For the first time-the story of how the greatest heroes in fantastic literature first met. 'The two thieves had themselves been robbed by two youths, who eyed each other suspiciously over the sprawled, senseless bodies. Fafhrd said: 'Our motives for being here seem identical.' 'Surely, they must be!' the Mouser answered curtly, fiercely eyeing his huge, potential foe. Fafhrd glanced down at the belts and money-pouches of the fallen thieves. Then he looked up at the Mouser with an honest, open, ingenuous smile. 'Sixty-sixty?' he suggested. Thus was born the most improbable relationship in the whole history of swords and sorceries. Contains: 7 • Induction • [Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser] • (1957) • shortstory by Fritz Leiber 11 • The Snow Women • [Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser] • (1970) • novella by Fritz Leiber 91 • The Unholy Grail • [Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser] • (1962) • novelette by Fritz Leiber 123 • Ill Met in Lankhmar • [Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser] • (1970) • novella by Fritz Leiber

Bailey forges ahead with the new adventures of the popular characters Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser, in this first book in a new series of novels set in Fritz Leiber's legendary world of Nehwon—a sequel to Leiber's own "Ill-Met in Lankmar".

Neil Gaiman Presents: the second book in Fritz Leiber's classic sword-and-sorcery series. In Swords Against Death, Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser journey from the ancient city of Lankhmar, searching for a little adventure and debauchery to ease their broken hearts. When a stranger challenges them to find and fight Death on the Bleak Shore, they battle demonic birds, living mountains, and evil monks on the way to their heroic fate. The late Fritz Leiber's tales of Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser launched the sword-and-sorcery genre, and were the inspiration for the fantasy role-playing game Dungeons and Dragons. BONUS AUDIO: Includes an exclusive introduction by Neil Gaiman.

Fafhrd and Gray Mouser visit the Witch's Tent to consult a sorceress who holds the secret to their escape-but when would they ever need to escape? Their luck has been good so far; one way out should work. Their luck continues as thieves. They are the best thieves in Lankhmar until better positions The Lords of Quarmall. Gray Mouser and Fafhrd steal a kingdom within a hill and declare themselves Lords.

Fahrd and the Gray Mouser, master swordsmen, are determined to climb to the summit of Stardock, a dangerously steep mountain, in search of treasure.

One of them was a huge, brawny, full-bearded barbarian from the northlands of Nehwon. His name was Fafhrd, his weapon a broadsword. The other was a small, nimble man dressed all in gray. Men called him the Gray Mouser, and he carried both rapier and dirk. They were known throughout the city of Lankhmar as brawlers, cutpurses, and rogues. But they were the most dangerous fighting-men in Lankhmar, so when the Overlord Glipkerio Kistomerces needed guards for an all-important shipment of gifts to a neighbouring monarch, he chose them for the task. Thus began one of the most fabolous sword-and-sorcery adventures in the famous Fafhrd-Gray Mouser saga—a full-length novel which Ace Books is proud to bring to you as the first in this action-packed new series.

Contents: · The Sadness of the Executioner · ss Flashing Swords! #1, ed. Lin Carter, Dell, 1973 · Beauty and the Beasts · vi The Book of Fritz Leiber, DAW, 1974 · Trapped in the Shadowland · ss Fantastic Nov ’73 · The Bait · vi Whispers Dec ’73 · Under the Thumbs of the Gods · ss Fantastic Apr ’75 · Trapped in the Sea of Stars · ss The Second Book of Fritz Leiber, DAW, 1975 · The Frost Monstreme · nv Flashing Swords! #3, ed. Lin Carter, Dell, 1976 · Rime Isle · na Cosmos SF&F Magazine May ’77 (+1)

Ramsey Campbell, the highly regarded British horror author, called him: "the greatest living writer of supernatural horror fiction". Drawing many of his own themes from Shakespeare, Edgar Allen Poe, and H.P. Lovecraft, master manipulator Franz Leiber is a worldwide legend within the Fantasy genre, actually coining the term "Sword and Sorcery", which would describe the sub-genre he would more than help create. While Lord of the Rings took the world by storm, Leiber's fantastic but thoroughly flawed anti-heroes, Fafhrd and Grey Mouser, adventured and stumbled deep within the caves of Inner Earth as well, albeit a different one. They wondered and wandered to the edges of the Outer Sea, across the Land of Nehwon and throughout every nook and cranny of gothic Lankhmar, Nehwon's grandest and most mystically corrupt city. Lankhmar is Leiber's fully realized, vivid incarnation of urban decay and civilization's corroding effect on the human psyche. Fafhrd and Mouse are not innocents; their world is no land of honor and righteousness. It is a world of human complexities and violent action, of discovery and mystery, of swords and sorcery. "Fritz Leiber's tales of Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser are virtually a genre unto themselves. Urbane, idiosyncratic, comic, erotic and human, spiked with believable action of a master fantasist!" - William Gibson "After too long a wait, the master story teller of us all returns with a huge, anecdotal adventure in the magic-drenched lives of Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser. Glowing imagination melds with gorgeous language to make this one of Leiber's very best... which is a better best than this poor world usually has to offer. Leiber's back: rejoice!" - Harlan Ellison "It's all Fritz Leiber's fault. If he weren't such a deadly fine fantasist I wouldn't be stopping everything to read his tales. And if he weren't such a master I wouldn't occasionally look out of the window and wish he'd interrupt my routine again, as he doesn't do it often enough. The Knight and Knave of Swords came into my life and took over an otherwise fully programmed afternoon. I stop everything when a new Fafhrd and Gray Mouser story comes into my hands." - Roger Zelazny Contents: 9 · Sea Magic · ss The Dragon, December 1977 29 · The Mer She · nv Heroes & Horrors, Whispers Press, 1978 63 · The Curse of the Smalls and the Stars · na Heroic Visions, ed. Jessica Amanda Salmonson, Ace, 1983 117 · The Mouser Goes Below · na - portions first printed as “The Mouser Goes Below” (Whispers #23, 1987) and “Slack Lankhmar Afternoon Featuring Hisvet” (Terry’s Universe, ed. Beth Meacham, Tor, 1988)

From the moment when they first met, in the commission of the same, audacious theft, Fafhrd, the giant barbarian warrior from the Cold Waste, and the Gray Mouser, master thief, novice wizard and expert swordsman, felt no ordinary affinity. Forged over the gleam of sharpened steel as, back to back, they faced their foes, theirs was a friendship that would take them from adventure to misadventure across all of Nehwon, from the caves of the inner earth to the waves of the outer sea. But it was in the dark alleys and noisome back streets of the great fog-shrouded city of Lankhmar that they became legends. The First Book of Lankhmar includes the first four volumes of the hugely enjoyable Swords series.

They are the two greatest heroes ever to walk the World of Fafhrd, the giant barbarian warrior from the Cold Waste; and the Gray Mouser, novice wizard, master thief, and swordsman unparalleled. In this one volume, fantasy legend Fritz Leiber takes readers through the first two books of the classic sword-and-sorcery Swords and Deviltry and Swords Against Death. "Solid entertainment."—Kirkus Reviews.

Fafhrd è un barbaro del Nord, alto e muscoloso. Il Gray Mouser è il suo inseparabile compagno, e non potrebbe essere più diverso: piccolo, scaltro, ex apprendista di un mago e ladro. I due vivono mille avventure nel mondo di Nehwon, tra colossali bevute, feste, corteggiamenti, risse, ruberie e giochi d'azzardo... Prototipi degli eroi di mille romanzi successivi, Fafhrd e il Gray Mouser sono protagonisti dei tanti racconti riuniti in questo volume e hanno ispirato nei decenni infiniti adattamenti.