Leiber, Fritz

Entry updated 18 November 2024. Tagged: Author.

(1910-1992) US author, father of Justin Leiber; his work runs the gamut from sf through fantasy and horror, with many tales achieving an eloquent Equipoise that enabled him to jostle various genres together, riding them with a freedom unusual for the period of their composition, making him a powerful model for later writers. Leiber majored in psychology and physiology at the University of Chicago, then spent a year at a theological seminary. His subsequent career included periods as an editor (chiefly with Science Digest) and as a drama teacher. He wrote a draft in 1936 of The Dealings of Daniel Kesserich: A Study of the Mass-Insanity at Smithville (February 1996 Omni Online; 1997), a tale that would have eventually appeared in Unknown had the magazine not folded, though the narrative ultimately unpacks as an exercise in Time Travel; but he became seriously interested in writing primarily through voluminous correspondence with a college friend, Harry Fischer, who in 1934 suggested the characters of Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser, the Heroic-Fantasy duo whose adventures were central to Leiber's career. Both men worked intermittently on embellishments to the saga, as described in detail by Leiber in his essay "Fafhrd and Me" (included in The Second Book of Fritz Leiber, coll 1975) and further discussed in Fafhrd & Me (coll 1990 chap); Fischer was important to Leiber as both a friend and an inspiration, and was the model for the small and nimble Gray Mouser, the very tall Leiber being the model for the likewise tall Fafhrd. The first published story of the sequence, and Leiber's first published story, is "Two Sought Adventure" (August 1939 Unknown; vt "The Jewels in the Forest" in Two Sought Adventure, coll 1957); he was still adding to the saga half a century later. The publishing history of the series as a whole is complex, perhaps – given the fact that most of the vts and resorts that confuse the picture are posthumous in origin – unduly complex. The first collection of Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser material is assembled in Two Sought Adventure (coll 1957; exp and rev vt Swords Against Death 1970); Leiber's own multi-volume version of the sequence, published without much regard for internal chronology, comprises, in terms of that internal chronology, Swords and Deviltry (coll 1970), Two Sought Adventure (coll 1957; exp and rev vt Swords Against Death 1970), Swords in the Mist (coll 1968), Swords Against Wizardry (coll 1968) – including "The Lords of Quarmall" (January-February 1964 Fantastic), for which Fischer is credited as co-author – The Swords of Lankhmar (May 1961 Fantastic as "Scylla's Daughter"; exp 1968), Swords and Ice Magic (coll 1977; with six of the eight stories cut vt Rime Isle 1977) and The Knight and Knave of Swords (coll 1988). Further iterations of the sequence can be found in the Checklist.

From fairly prosaic beginnings the series developed into a complex and enjoyable cycle owing little to the standard Cliché of its subgenre (for which Leiber is credited with coining the widely used description Sword and Sorcery). The mood varies from sombre introspection to broad comedy, and there is a very wide range of invention. On its original publication, the long story Ill Met in Lankhmar (April 1970 F&SF; 1990 dos) won both Hugo and Nebula awards. The Swords of Lankhmar, which adds an element of sophisticated fetishistic Sex to its other virtues – as does the weaker book-length title story in The Knight and Knave of Swords – has strong claims to be considered the best modern Heroic-Fantasy novel, as well as Leiber's own best novel. The exuberant depiction of the city of Lankhmar and its Underground counterpart Lankhmar Below (inhabited by an advanced Rat civilization) is both engaging and memorable, and the handling of human Miniaturization and its reverse is ingenious.

Leiber was noted also for his fantasies in modern settings, and was an influential model for the evolution through the 1980s of the subgenre of Contemporary Fantasy, a form later to be called Urban Fantasy [see The Encyclopedia of Fantasy under links below]; Leiber's work, in fact, more closely resembles British Urban Fantasy – a genuinely urban form (see Cities), with elements of Steampunk and Fantasy of History (see The Encyclopedia of Fantasy) enriching the mix – than it does Urban Fantasy in its American guise, where it can be defined as a rebranding of paranormal romance, without necessary marriages. Leiber's examples include: the seminal "Smoke Ghost" (October 1941 Unknown), which superbly captures and animates the hauntedness of life in the modern City; Conjure Wife (April 1943 Unknown; assembled in Witches Three, anth/omni 1952, ed Fletcher Pratt; as a solo book 1953; vt Burn Witch Burn 1962), a novel of twentieth-century witchcraft which has twice been filmed – as Weird Woman (1944) and Burn, Witch, Burn (1961; vt Night of the Eagle) – as well as being adapted for television; "The Man Who Made Friends with Electricity" (March 1962 F&SF); and Our Lady of Darkness (January-February 1977 F&SF as "The Pale Brown Thing"; 1977), a subtle and touching Gothic with strong autobiographical elements which won a World Fantasy Award. Other fantasy tales include "Gonna Roll the Bones" (in Dangerous Visions, anth 1967, ed Harlan Ellison), which won a Hugo and a Nebula and later appeared, with other tales of interest, in The Ghost Light (coll 1984), which won a Locus Award, and was further published as Gonna Roll the Bones (graph 2004) illustrated by David Wiesner; it describes the fate of a compulsive gambler who finds himself playing dice with the Devil, the stake being his soul. "Belsen Express" (in The Second Book of Fritz Leiber, coll 1975) won both the Lovecraft Award and the August Derleth Award. Leiber's further awards for fantasy included the 1975 Grand Master of Fantasy (Gandalf) Award and the 1976 Life Achievement Lovecraft Award; the 1981 SFWA Grand Master award (see Nebulas) was presented for his work as a whole. During his lifetime he won altogether six Hugos (two for novels), four Nebulas and about twenty other awards; posthumous plaudits have also been granted.

Leiber's first important work of sf is Gather, Darkness! (May-July 1943 Astounding; 1950), in which a religious dictatorship (see Religion) is overthrown by rebels who disguise their superscience (colourfully, if by far-fetched logic) as witchcraft. Destiny Times Three (March-April 1945 Astounding; 1957) is a neglected Parallel Worlds tale whose protagonists simultaneously inhabit three radically different time-lines. In the early 1950s Leiber became a regular contributor to Galaxy Science Fiction, for which he wrote a number of notable stories, chiefly social Satire, paramount among these being "Coming Attraction" (November 1950 Galaxy), which depicts an unpleasantly decadent future USA. The Green Millennium (1953) shows some similar thematic concerns, particularly regarding sexual mores. Leiber then fell silent for four years, through alcoholism (about which he was candid).

His return to sf in 1958 was vigorous, his first stories introducing the Change War series (see Changewar: a theme entry based on Leiber's work), built around Time Paradoxes generated by a war fought through time and space and Alternate History by two factions, the "Spiders" and the "Snakes". The sequence comprises The Big Time (March-April 1958 Galaxy; 1961 dos) along with most of The Mind Spider and Other Stories (coll 1961 dos; rev 1976), this material being variously reassembled as The Change War (coll of linked stories 1978; cut vt Changewar 1983). The Big Time, which takes place entirely in one room (an R & R location called the Place, for resting Time Police, sited beyond normal realities) is suggestive of a play in prose form, and reflects Leiber's background in theatre: both his parents were Shakespearean actors and his father appeared in many films; Leiber himself acted on both stage and screen, including a small part in the Greta Garbo film Camille (1936). The Big Time won a Hugo as Best Novel, as did his most ambitious sf work, The Wanderer (1964), a long Disaster novel telling of the havoc caused by the intrusion into the solar system of a strange planet which proves to be a World Ship. Its mosaic narrative technique, through which events are observed through a multiplicity of viewpoints, foreshadowed the profusion of such novels and films in Technothrillers in the 1970s and later. In his last sf work of substance, A Specter Is Haunting Texas (July-September 1968 Galaxy; 1969), an exoskeleton-supported Mars-born human (see Space Habitats) travels back to a Canada taken over – as so often in sf written by Americans – by the land to the south, and has been renamed North Texas; Leiber's description of post-World War Three Texan America is sharply Satirical, in particular through its rendering of North America as a Western arena inhabited by bloated half-wits.

Leiber won a further Hugo for Ship of Shadows (July 1969 F&SF; 1989 chap dos), a novella first published in a special Leiber issue of The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction, and before its release as a standalone title assembled in Ship of Shadows (coll 1979); and for the third time won both a Hugo and a Nebula for "Catch that Zeppelin!" (March 1975 F&SF), a vivid Alternate History story in which the Invention of pollution-free transport, and a clement ending to World War One, leads to a fragile Utopia. Selections of his best short fiction include The Best of Fritz Leiber (coll 1974) edited by Angus Wells anonymously, The Worlds of Fritz Leiber (coll 1976), The Ghost Light (also noted above) and The Leiber Chronicles: Fifty Years of Fritz Leiber (coll 1990) edited by Martin H Greenberg. Later compilations do not add significantly to the picture, though The Black Gondolier & Other Stories (coll 2000), Smoke Ghost and Other Apparitions (coll 2001) and Horrible Imaginings (coll 2004) are resorts providing some new perspectives and material.

Despite his many awards Leiber never quite established an identity as an sf writer in the way he had for his fantasy; for this reason his work has sometimes been undervalued. His work reflected a variety of enthusiasms – Cats, Chess and the theatre are all recurrent motifs – and convictions, notably a distaste for sexual repression and hypocrisy; and he approached his material in various ways. His prose is ebullient; its idiosyncrasies occasionally appear mannered, but its baroque and colourful qualities are usually prevented from becoming slapdash by the force and precision of his narrative style, and by the appositeness of his imagery, at least in his fantasies. Leiber was never perhaps quite as comfortable in sf, where a straining for effect is more often noticeable. Many of his sf works, he revealed, were in fact fantasies rewritten when the fantasy market began to contract. By refusing to create an easily recognizable template for his sf and then adhering to it, he may have sacrificed some popularity; in compensation, he was the only sf and fantasy writer of his generation to be still developing and producing his best work in the late 1970s, and perhaps, in the twenty-first century, seems inherently more modern than any of his peers who, like him, began to publish before World War Two. His dis-ease with univocal modes of telling as a way to describe the world seems increasingly prescient. In 1976 he received the World Fantasy Award for lifetime achievement. He was posthumously inducted into the Science Fiction Hall of Fame in 2001. [MJE/JC]

Fritz Reuter Leiber Jr

born Chicago, Illinois: 24 December 1910

died San Francisco, California: 5 September 1992

works

series

Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser

Listed in order of book publication:

Two Sought Adventure (New York: Gnome Press, 1957) [coll: Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser: hb/Lionel Dillon]
- Swords Against Death (New York: Ace Books, 1970) [coll: cut vt of the above: Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser: pb/Jeff Jones]
  - Lankhmar, Book 2: Swords Against Death (Milwaukie, Oregon: Dark Horse, 2007) [vt of the above: Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser: pb/Heidi Fainza]
  - Swords Against Death (Lakewood, Colorado: Centipede Press, 2018) [coll: exp of the above: essays and other material added: introduction by Steve Rasnic Tem: Fafhrd and the Grey Mouser: illus/hb/Dominick Saponaro]
Swords in the Mist (New York: Ace Books, 1968) [coll: Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser: pb/Jeff Jones]
Swords in the Mist (Lakewood, Colorado: Centipede Press, 2019) [coll: exp of the above: essays and other material added: introduction by Tim Powers: Fafhrd and the Grey Mouser: illus/hb/Grant Griffin]
- Swords in the Mist (New York: ibooks, 2004) [vt of the above: Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser: pb/Jim Steranko]
- Lankhmar, Book 3: Swords in the Mist (Milwaukie, Oregon: Dark Horse, 2007) [vt of the above: Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser: pb/Heidi Fainza]
Swords Against Wizardry (New York: Ace Books, 1968) [coll: Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser: pb/Jeff Jones]
- Lean Times in Lankhmar (Stone Mountain, Georgia: White Wolf, 1995) [omni of the above two: Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser: hb/Mike Mignola]
- Lankhmar, Book 4: Swords Against Wizardry (Milwaukie, Oregon: Dark Horse, 2007) [vt of the above: Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser: pb/Heidi Fainza]
  - Swords Against Wizardry (Lakewood, Colorado: Centipede Press, 2020) [coll: exp of the above: essays and other material added: introduction by John Pelan: Fafhrd and the Grey Mouser: illus/hb/Ruth Keegan, Jim Keegan]
The Swords of Lankhmar (New York: Ace Books, 1968) [first part appeared May 1961 Fantastic as "Scylla's Daughter": Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser: pb/Jeff Jones]
- The Swords of Lankhmar (Lakewood, Colorado: Centipede Press, 2021) [coll: exp of the above: essays and other material added: introduction by Michael Swanwick: Fafhrd and the Grey Mouser: illus/hb/Tyler Jacobsen]
Swords and Deviltry (New York: Ace Books, 1970) [coll: Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser: pb/Jeff Jones]
- Swords and Deviltry (Boston, Massachusetts: Gregg Press, 1977) [rev with extra poems: in the 1977 edition with the surtitle "The Saga of Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser": hb/Wayne Barlowe]
  - Swords and Deviltry (Lakewood, Colorado: Centipede Press, 2017) [coll: exp of the above: essays and other material added: introduction by Michael Moorcock: Fafhrd and the Grey Mouser: illus/hb/Tom Kidd]
- The Three of Swords (New York: Science Fiction Book Club, 1989) [omni of the above plus Swords Against Death and Swords in the Mist: Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser: hb/Dean Morrissey]
- Ill Met in Lankhmar (New York: Tor, 1990) [dos: cut vt of the above, publishing only the named story: first appeared April 1970 F&SF: Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser: pb/Sam Rakeland]
- Ill Met in Lankhmar (Stone Mountain, Georgia: White Wolf, 1995) [omni of the above plus Swords Against Death: Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser: hb/Mike Mignola and Sherilyn Van Valkenburgh]
  - Lankhmar: Tales of Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser, Volume 1 (Stone Mountain, Georgia: White Wolf, 2000) [cut vt of half of the above: Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser: pb/Mike Mignola]
  - Thieves' House: Tales of Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser, Volume 1 (Stone Mountain, Georgia: White Wolf, 2001) [cut vt of a second half of the above: Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser: pb/Mike Mignola]
- The First Book of Lankhmar (London: Gollancz, 2001) [omni of the above plus Swords Against Death, Swords in the Mist and Swords Against Wizardry: Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser: pb/Chris Moore]
- Lankhmar, Book 1: Swords and Deviltry (Milwaukie, Oregon: Dark Horse Comics/DH Press, 2006) [vt of the above: Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser: pb/Heidi Fainza]
Swords and Ice Magic (New York: Ace Books, 1977) [coll: Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser: pb/Michael Whelan]
- Rime Isle (Chapel Hill, North Carolina: Whispers Press, 1977) [coll: cut vt of the above: six of eight stories removed: Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser: hb/Tim Kirk]
- The Saga of Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser (Boston, Massachusetts: Gregg Press, 1977) [version or omni of the above six: published in six volumes replicating original settings, except when listed as a rev under individual titles above: "The Saga of Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser" is a surtitle: Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser: hb/Wayne Barlowe for all volumes]
- Swords' Masters (New York: Science Fiction Book Club, 1990) [omni of the above plus Swords Against Wizardry and The Swords of Lankhmar: hb/Dean Morressy]
- Return to Lankhmar (Stone Mountain, Georgia: White Wolf, 1997) [omni of the above plus The Swords of Lankhmar: hb/Mike Mignola]
Bazaar of the Bizarre (West Kingston, Rhode Island: Donald M Grant Publisher, 1978) [coll: Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser: hb/Michael Whelan]
The Knight and Knave of Swords (New York: William Morrow, 1988) [coll: Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser: hb/Tom Canty]
- Farewell to Lankhmar (Stone Mountain, Georgia: White Wolf, 2000) [vt of the above: Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser: pb/Geoff Taylor]
- The Second Book of Lankhmar (London: Gollancz, 2001) [omni of the above plus The Swords of Lankhmar and Swords and Ice Magic: pb/Chris Moore]
- Lankhmar, Book 7: The Knight and Knave of Swords (Milwaukie, Oregon: Dark Horse Comics/DH Press, 2008) [vt of the above: Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser: pb/Heidi Fainza]
Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser Book 1 (New York: Epic Comics, 1991) [coll: graph: versions by Howard V Chaykin: Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser: pb/Mike Mignola]
Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser Book 2 (New York: Epic Comics, 1991) [coll: graph: versions by Howard V Chaykin: Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser: pb/Mike Mignola]
Adept's Gambit: The Original Version (Welches, Oregon: Arcane Wisdom, 2014) [novella: first appeared in Night's Black Agents below: with added material: edited by S T Joshi: Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser: hb/Alex McVey]
The Lords of Quarmall (Medford, Oregon: Armchair Fiction, 2011) with Harry Fischer [dos: first appeared January-February 1964 Fantastic Stories: Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser: pb/Ed Emshwiller]
Scylla's Daughter (Medford, Oregon: Armchair Fiction, 2018) [dos: original magazine text exp as The Swords of Lankhmar above: first appeared May 1961 Fantastic: Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser: pb/Vernon Kramer]
Lean Times in Lankhmar (Floyd, Virginia: Positronic Publishing, 2021) [story: first appeared November 1959 Fantastic: Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser: hb/]

Change War

The Big Time (New York: Ace Books, 1961) [dos: first appeared March-April 1958 Galaxy: with The Mind Spider below: Change War: pb/Ed Emshwiller]
- The Big Time: with No Great Magic! (Madison, Wisconsin: Resurrected Press, 2010) [exp vt of the above and No Great Magic below as omni: Change War: pb/]
The Mind Spider and Other Stories (New York: Ace Books, 1961) [coll: dos: with The Big Time above: Change War: pb/Ed Emshwiller]
- The Mind Spider and Other Stories (New York: Ace Books, 1976) [rev of the above: Change War: pb/Walter Rane]
- The Change War (Boston, Massachusetts: Gregg Press, 1978) [omni of the above two: Change War: hb/nonpictorial]
  - Changewar (New York: Ace Books, 1983) [cut vt of the above: Change War: hb/Joe Chiodo]
No Great Magic (no place given: Project Gutenberg, 2007) [novella: ebook: first appeared December 1963 Galaxy: Change War: na/]

individual titles

Gather, Darkness! (New York: Pellegrini and Cudahy, 1950) [first appeared May-July 1943 Astounding: hb/uncredited]
Conjure Wife (New York: Twayne Publishers, 1953) [first appeared April 1945 Unknown; assembled in Witches Three, anth/omni 1952, ed Fletcher Pratt: hb/Herbstman]
- Burn Witch Burn (New York: Berkley, 1962) [quasi-vt of the above with film title Burn Witch Burn prominent on front cover but original title retained on spine and copyright page: pb/]
The Green Millennium (New York: Abelard, 1953) [hb/B Sabrom?]
Destiny Times Three (New York: Galaxy SF Novel, 1957) [first appeared March-April 1945 Astounding: in the publisher's Galaxy Science Fiction Novel series: pb/Leo Dillon]
The Silver Eggheads (New York: Ballantine Books, 1962) [first appeared January 1959 F&SF: Recursive SF: pb/Richard Powers]
The Wanderer (New York: Ballantine Books, 1964) [pb/Richard Powers]
Tarzan and the Valley of Gold (New York: Ballantine Books, 1966) [tie to the film in the Tarzan universe: Tarzan and the Valley of Gold: see Tarzan Films: one of two ties authorized by the Edgar Rice Burroughs estate (the other being by Joan D Vinge): pb/Foster]
A Specter Is Haunting Texas (New York: Walker Books, 1969) [first appeared July-September 1968 Galaxy: hb/Jack Gaughan]
Our Lady of Darkness (New York: Berkley Publishing Corp, 1977) [January-February 1977 F&SF as "The Pale Brown Thing": hb/Richard Powers]
- Conjure Wife/Our Lady of Darkness (New York: Tor, 1991) [omni of the above plus Conjure Wife: pb/Wayne Barlowe]
  - Dark Ladies (New York: Tor/Orb, 1999) [vt of the above: pb/Richard Deas]
- The Pale Brown Thing (Dublin, Ireland: Swan River Press, 2016) [novella: shorter version of the above: first appeared January-February 1977 F&SF: hb/Jason Zerrillo]
The Sinful Ones (New York: Pocket Books, 1980) [first appeared July 1950 Fantastic Adventures as "You're All Alone": exp, with unauthorized cuts and additions by other hands, as The Sinful Ones/Bulls, Blood and Passion (anth 1953): cut vt (ie original magazine version) as title story of You're All Alone (see below): full text appears for first time in current version: pb/Michael Whelan]
The Dealings of Daniel Kesserich: A Study of the Mass-Insanity at Smithville (New York: Tor, 1997) [written 1936-1944: first appeared February 1996 Omni Online: hb/Jason Van Hollander]
Let Freedom Ring (Medford, Oregon: Armchair Fiction, 2015) [dos: first appeared April 1950 Amazing Stories: pb/Robert Stanley]

collections and stories

Night's Black Agents (Sauk City, Wisconsin: Arkham House, 1947) [coll: hb/Ronald Clyne]
- Tales from Night's Black Agents (New York: Ballantine Books, 1961) [cut vt of the above: pb/Richard Powers]
- Night's Black Agents (New York: Berkley Books, 1978) [exp of the above: two stories added: pb/Wayne Barlowe]
Shadows with Eyes (New York: Ballantine Books, 1962) [coll: pb/Richard Powers]
Ships to the Stars (New York: Ace Books, 1964) [coll: chap: dos: pb/Jack Gaughan]
A Pail of Air (New York: Ballantine Books, 1964) [coll: pb/Richard Powers]
The Night of the Wolf (New York: Ballantine Books, 1966) [coll: pb/Richard Powers]
The Secret Songs (London: Rupert Hart-Davis, 1968) [coll: hb/Ken Reilly]
Night Monsters (New York: Ace Books, 1969) [coll: dos: with reprint of The Green Millennium above: pb/Jack Gaughan]
- Night Monsters (London: Victor Gollancz, 1974) [rev of the above: hb/nonpictorial]
The Demons of the Upper Air (Glendale, California: Roy Squires, 1969) [poetry: coll: chap: pb/nonpictorial]
You're All Alone (New York: Ace Books, 1972) [coll: for details see The Sinful Ones above: pb/JW]
The Best of Fritz Leiber (London: Sphere Books, 1974) [coll: edited by Angus Wells anonymously: pb/A Roberts]
The Book of Fritz Leiber (New York: DAW Books, 1974) [coll: pb/George Barr]
The Second Book of Fritz Leiber (New York: DAW Books, 1975) [coll: pb/Jack Gaughan]
- The Book of Fritz Leiber (Boston, Massachusetts: Gregg Press, 1980) [omni of the above two: hb/nonpictorial]
The Worlds of Fritz Leiber (New York: Ace Books, 1976) [coll: pb/Patrick Woodroffe]
Heroes and Horrors (Chapel Hill, North Carolina: Whispers Press, 1978) [coll: edited by Stuart David Schiff: hb/Tim Kirk]
Sonnets to Jonquil and All (Glendale, California: Roy Squires, 1978) [poetry: coll: chap: pb/nonpictorial]
Ship of Shadows (London: Victor Gollancz, 1979) [coll: hb/Fred Gambino]
- Ship of Shadows (New York: Tor, 1989) [chap: dos: cut version of the above, publishing only the title novella: first appeared July 1969 F&SF: pb/Robin Wood]
Ervool (Roanoke, Virginia: Cheap Street, 1980) [story: chap: pb/Alva Powers]
Riches and Power: A Story for Children (New Castle, Virginia: Cheap Street, 1982) [story: chap: hb/nonpictorial]
In the Beginning (New Castle, Virginia: Cheap Street, 1983) [story: chap: hb/Alicia Austin]
Quicks around the Zodiac: A Farce (New Castle, Virginia: Cheap Street, 1983) [story: chap: hb/Alicia Austin]
The Ghost Light (New York: Berkley Books, 1984) [coll: hb/John Jude Palencar]
The Leiber Chronicles: Fifty Years of Fritz Leiber (Arlington Heights, Illinois: Dark Harvest, 1990) edited by Martin H Greenberg [coll: hb/Bob Eggleton]
Gummitch and Friends (Hampton Falls, New Hampshire: Donald M Grant, Publishers, 1992) [coll: hb/Thomas Canty]
Kreativity for Kats and Other Feline Fantasies (Newark, New Jersey: Wildside Press, 1992) [coll: chap: pb/Jill Bauman]
The Black Gondolier & Other Stories (Seattle, California: Midnight House, 2000) [coll: hb/Allen Koszowski]
Smoke Ghost and Other Apparitions (Seattle, California: Midnight House, 2001) [coll: hb/Allen Koszowski]
Day Dark, Night Bright (Eugene, Oregon: Darkside Press, 2002) [coll: hb/Allen Koszowski]
Gonna Roll the Bones (New York: ibooks, 2004) [story: chap: graph: adapted by Sarah L Thomson as a picture book: hb/David Wiesner]
Fritz Leiber and H.P. Lovecraft: Writers of the Dark (Holicong, Pennsylvania: Wildside Press, 2004) with H P Lovecraft [coll: edited by S T Joshi and Ben J S Syumskyj: hb/]
Horrible Imaginings (Seattle, California: Midnight House, 2004) [coll: hb/Allen Koszowski]
Bread Overhead (no place given: Project Gutenberg, 2007) [story: ebook: first appeared February 1958 Galaxy: na/]
The Creature from Cleveland Depths (no place given: Project Gutenberg, 2007) [novelette: ebook: first appeared December 1962 Galaxy: na/]
The Creature from Cleveland Depths and Other Tales (Rockville, Maryland: Wildside Press, 2009) [coll: pb/Virgil Finlay]
The Night of the Long Knives (no place given: Project Gutenberg, 2008) [novelette: ebook: first appeared January 1960 Amazing: na/]
- The Night of the Long Knives and The Creature from Cleveland Depths (Madison, Wisconsin: Resurrected Press, 2010) [omni of the two named novelettes: pb/Virgil Finlay]
What's He Doing in There? (no place given: Project Gutenberg, 2009) [novelette: ebook: first appeared December 1957 Galaxy: na/]
The Moon Is Green (no place given: Project Gutenberg, 2009) [story: ebook: first appeared April 1952 Galaxy: na/]
Poor Superman and Others (no place given: Wonder Publishing Group, 2009) [coll: pb/Virgil Finlay]
Fritz Leiber: Selected Stories (San Francisco, California: Night Shade Books, 2010) [coll: edited by Charles N Brown and Jonathan Strahan: introduction by Neil Gaiman: hb/Claudia Noble]
Strange Wonders: A Collection of Rare Fritz Leiber Works (Burton, Michigan: Subterranean Press, 2010) [coll: hb/Jason Van Hollander]
Deadly Moon and Other Tales (Medford, Oregon: Armchair Fiction, 2012) [coll: pb/Alex Schomburg]
- The Moon Is Green and Other Tales (Medford, Oregon: Armchair Fiction, 2013) [coll: vt of the above: in the publisher's Masters of Science Fiction series: pb/Alex Schomburg]
Masters of Science Fiction: Fritz Leiber (Lakewood, Colorado: Centipede Press, 2016) [coll: edited by John Pelan: hb/Jim Keegan, Ruth Keegan]
Masters of the Weird Tale: Fritz Leiber (Lakewood, Colorado: Centipede Press, 2016) [coll: edited by John Pelan: hb/Tom Kidd]

works as editor

The First World Fantasy Convention: Three Authors Remember (West Warwick, Rhode Island: Necronomicon Press, 1980) with Robert Bloch and T E D Klein [nonfiction: chap: pb/Duncan Eagleson]
The World Fantasy Awards 2 (Garden City, New York: Doubleday and Company, 1980) with Stuart David Schiff [anth: World Fantasy Award: hb/Roger Dean]

nonfiction

The Mystery of the Japanese Clock (Monica, California: Montgolfier Press, 1982) [chap: hb/Alex McCrea]
Fafhrd & Me (Newark, New Jersey: Wildside Press, 1990) [nonfiction: coll: chap: Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser: pb/Charles Dougherty]

about the author

Sam Moskowitz. "Fritz Leiber" in Seekers of Tomorrow: Masters of Modern Science Fiction (Cleveland, Ohio: World Publishing Co, 1966) [nonfiction: coll: hb/]
The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction (July 1969) [special Leiber edition: mag/]
Fritz Leiber. "The Profession of Science Fiction: XII: Mysterious Islands" (March 1977 Foundation #11/#12) [pp29-38: mag/]
James Tucker and Erin McKee, editors. Touchstone: Celebrating the Lives of Fritz Leiber and Ray Bradbury (Salt Lake City, Utah: Mysterious Stranger Press, 1978) [nonfiction/fiction: anth: chap: pb/]
Jeff Frane. Fritz Leiber (Mercer Island, Washington: Starmont House, 1980) [nonfiction: chap: pb/Stephen E Fabian Sr and Stephen E Fabian Jr]
Tom Staicar. Fritz Leiber (New York: Frederick Ungar, 1983) [nonfiction: hb/Tom Christopher]
Gordon Benson Jr and Phil Stephensen-Payne. Fritz Leiber: Sardonic Swordsman: A Working Bibliography (Leeds, West Yorkshire: Galactic Central Publications, 1990) [bibliography: chap: second edition: in the publisher's Bibliographies for the Avid Reader series: pb/nonpictorial]
Bruce Byfield. Witches of the Mind: A Critical Study of Fritz Leiber (West Warwick, Rhode Island: Necronomicon Press, 1991) [nonfiction: chap: pb/Robert H Knox]

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