The Dealings of Daniel Kesserich

George Kramer sets off from New York to the small California town of Smithville after hearing about the death of the wife of a former college classmate, John Ellis. Hoping to both comfort his old friend and to re-connect with both him and another classmate, Daniel Kesserich, he reaches the town and heads to Kesserich's house only to find it empty. And something else strange -- from out of nowhere, a small red stone appears on the ground. Then another a few feet away. As another appears, George follows them to an old tree. Finding that odd, he returns in time to Kesserich's house only to have it explode. However, neither Kesserich nor his remains are to be found in the debris.

In the ensuing days, George scours Smithville, trying to show more determine what happened to his friend but instead running into obstacles in the form of a town possibly going crazy at the same time. Inexplicable bouts of uncertainty and guilt strike everyone whom he meets -- even the local priest -- and George begins to learn that Kesserich's disappearance and the mysterious death of Ellis' wife may have something to do with the strangeness.

An intriguing blend of horror and science fiction, this early novel from Fritz Leiber is very reminiscent of the works of H.P. Lovecraft. And no surprise since Leiber was in communication with Lovecraft while writing this tale back in 1936. That may be where he gets the inspiration to use a "mad" scientist dealing trying to break into the 4th dimension -- Time -- and mixes in the dangers of tampering with the unknown. And also like a Lovecraft tale, a bit of madness is thrown into the mix, but it's revealed slowly enough that even as a reader, I wasn't completely certain that George Kramer himself hadn't fallen victim to the madness, leaving me to guess as to his own authenticity in re-counting the events.

"The Dealings of Daniel Kesserich" is a fun trip into science and madness of which I think fans of both Leiber and Lovecraft would be proud. show less

A nifty little novella, and while not Leiber's best, it's a worthy addition to any weird fiction library. Time travel, resurrection of the dead, a creepy little California town where something is Not Quite Right -- what more can one want? It would have made a great Twilight Zone episode.

I quite enjoyed this short offering from Fritz Leiber. Said to be written in nineteen thirty-six while the author was in correspondence with H.P. Lovecraft, the manuscript of The Dealings of Daniel Kesserich was later lost. It wasn't until the mid nineteen nineties that it resurfaced and was published with added illustrations.
I found this book to be far less whimsical than other works I've read by Leiber. One can sense a definite influence by Lovecraft. While Leiber never quite managed to entirely creep me out, causing me to sit with my back to the wall, listening almost paranoically to every sound as many of H.P.'s stories have, there are some moments of genuine suspense and surprise. I would almost say that this might have been the show more product had Lovecraft written science fiction instead of horror.
I normally have a great deal of fun reading Fritz Leiber, and while that was not exactly the case with this book, I do believe that this is a must read for any fan of his, or for any fan of classic sci-fi era stories of the unexplored dimensions of time and space. show less

It's a minor tale, but an intriguing one. Still, I can see why it spent time in the trunk.

Though there's nothing incredibly new here, the story is a neat little slice of sci-fi mystery. Leiber generates a nice atmosphere of the uncanny and provides enough details to keep you interested. The revelation of the books mysteries are well-handled, though not entirely surprising.

After having read all of the reviews for this book, I figured that I was going to be in for a major treat, but I was a bit disappointed. The story didn't hold me -- I put this one down for a while and read 3 others in the meantime -- so it was tough. However, on the positive side, I'm always looking for books about time travel, so this just added to my list.

here's the story in a nutshell:
Back in their college days, there were four friends that hung out together -- Mary Andrews, John Ellis, Daniel Kesserich, and the narrator of our story, George Kramer. Time passes and Kramer receives a letter to come to Smithville, CA, where Ellis now lives. It seems that Mary has died. So off Kramer goes, but when he gets there, there is no Ellis. What show more he finds is a town sort of run amuck, looking for Ellis, bent on lynching the guy for supposedly murdering his wife. In the midst of this, Kramer is surrounded by strange happenings that he cannot explain. As events progress and as things heat up, Kramer is intent on solving these seemingly inexplicable occurrences.

I won't say more, because it will give things away. Once I got back to the book, it didn't take me long to read it, since it was only a short novella. If you like somewhat-Lovecraftian-style writing, then you'll like this one, but don't even think about comparing it to HPL and his writings. It's just not the same dark ambiance that oozes out of HPL's stories. It was okay. show less