Fritz Leiber, Jr., was born on Christmas Eve in 1910. I was spending the day with family and didn’t get a post up. Although considering it was Christmas Eve, I’m not sure how many people would have seen it. And since I’m writing this while Christmas dinner is being prepared, this is going to be a short post.
But I digress. Leiber was one of the greatest writers of fantasy, horror, and science fiction of the 20th Century. He’s best known among fans of Sword and Sorcery as the creator of Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser. It’s a landmark series in the genre.
But if that’s all you know about Leiber, then you’ve missed out. Leiber was a leading figure in the trend to bring horror into contemporary settings. He was also an accomplished science fiction writer. Other than a few short stories and a some Fafhrd and Gray Mouser, it’s been a while since I read any of his work. So later today, I’m going to work in a few of his short stories. There are a number of his works available in electronic format, so if you would like to do the same and don’t have any of his print books handy, you can still download some (after paying for them, of course.)
Don’t feel bad, Keith. I didn’t get my Leiber post up until today, either. I totally second the emotion that Fritz was AT LEAST as good a writer of SF and horror as he was of fantasy/S&S.
‘Tis the season to be busy.
Here’s Deuce’s post on Leiber. It’s definitely worth a read.
https://dmrbooks.com/test-blog/2018/12/25/the-sf-and-horror-fiction-of-fritz-leiber
I tend to think of Fritz Leiber as the third tent pole of modern fantasy, along with Howard and Tolkien. His work in the horror genre was also important being one of the first to use more modern and urban settings. I’ve read Our Lady of Darkness about four times and I don’t know how many times I read the Fafhrd and the Grey Mouser stories.
I’m inclined to agree with you about the third tent pole.
I’m trying to figure who the fourth tent pole is or even if there is one? Jack Vance? Lord Dunsany?
That’s an interesting question. I’m not sure I want to touch it with a ten foot pole. 🙂 However, I’ve never let that stop me before, so I’ll say Michael Moorcock just to stir things up, even though I’m not really a fan. And after further consideration, I’ll argue that if we’re going to consider Dunsany, we need to include Clark Ashton Smith.
Anyone want to make any other suggestions?
Moorcock is important so it could be him. So would Smith. Then again Lord Dunsany influenced everyone from H. P. Lovecraft to Robert E. Howard to J.R.R. Tolkien.
You just summed up why I said I shouldn’t touch this one with a 10 foot pole. There is more than one contender for the fourth tent pole, and compelling arguments can be made for all of them. I think you make a pretty strong point with Dunsany.
Just to stir things up, let me throw out two other names: E. R. Eddison and Poul Anderson.