Fritz Leiber, Jr. was born on this day, December 24, in 1910. He was one of the giants of not only sword and sorcery, but science fiction, as well.

His science fiction isn’t as well remembered today as it once was, but his tales of Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser are still in print and being read today.

In a way, I think that’s a shame. He was such a versatile writer that I would love to see a collected short fiction series of books, much like the Del Rey Rober E. Howard books. Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser are now iconic characters, and that’s how it should be. But they shouldn’t overshadow Leiber’s other work. He wrote a number of dark fantasy and horror stories that are first rate.

I’ve not had a chance to read something for his birthday, but I’ll try to work something in over the next few weeks.

Still, later tonight, after everyone else has gone to bed and I’ve finished stuffing stockings, I’ll raise a glass in his memory.

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.)

Fritz Leiber was born 106 years ago, on December 24, 1910, in Chicago.  He was one of the greatest writers of the fantastic the world has ever seen, being a major writer of fantasy, science fiction, and horror.

It’s hard to know where to start when discussing Leiber.  Probably of greatest interest to readers of this blog would be his sword and sorcery series about the adventures of Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser.  I’ve always enjoyed his horror stories, especially the ones he wrote in the 1940s.  These days an urban setting for horror is nothing unusual.  Back then it was still fairly new.  Leiber set the bar for that type of horror story, and he set it high.  He also wrote a great deal of science fiction, much of it involving time travel or cats.

I’ve not read many of Leiber’s novels, something I intend to correct over the next year.  There’s been renewed interest in Leiber’s short fiction lately.  Centipede Press earlier this year released Masters of Science Fiction:  Fritz Leiber (one of two inaugural volumes in that series) as well as the two volume slip-cased Masters of the Weird Tale:  Fritz Leiber.

Both of the above titles are sold out by the publishers, but fear not if you missed or weren’t able to afford them.  (They weren’t cheap.)  About a dozen or so years ago, give or take, Darkside Press/Midnight House published four collections of Leiber’s short work.  And while those books are also sold out from the publisher (who is no longer in business, and weren’t cheap either), they’ve been reprinted in inexpensive electronic editions:  Smoke Ghost; Day Dark, Night Bright; Horrible Imaginings; and The Black Gondolier.  They are also available in trade paperback.  They make great Christmas gifts for yourself.