Should have read reviews first. Did not finish, just annoying to read and couldn't find the payoff. ( )

I’ve been in a Dungeons and Dragons kick recently, so as part of that I’ve been delving into Appendix N, E. Gary Gygax’s list of authors and works from the Advanced Dungeons and Dragons first edition Dungeon Master Guide. The influence of authors such as Leiber on D&D is pretty obvious when you read the stories listed in the DMG.

This interacts with my interest in pulp and adventure fiction as I gain more appreciation for why I like what I like. At least so far, it turns out my taste overlaps a lot with Gygax. I appreciate Appendix N because it covers a surprising range of styles and eras. At least half a century of imaginative literature is covered there.

Frtiz Leiber was an author I had heard of, but never read, so I picked up the first Leiber volume I found at the library about Fafhrd and the Grey Mouser. That turned out to be Ill Met in Lankhmar, which is a fantastic piece of writing, and also a brutal gut-punch of a story. The City of Sevenscore Thousand Smokes is harsh and unrelenting place that has no place for the weak, or the unlucky.

Ill Met appears to an origin-style story written much later than the initial entries in the series, of when the two protagonists first met. If one wanted to be unkind, you could say the gist of the story is: play stupid games, win stupid prizes. But, like The Moon Pool, there is unexpected complexity here, as when Fafhrd and the Grey Mouser’s drunken jesting about whether it is murder to kill a man in the course of a fight returns in haunting fashion during the climactic battle.

A feature I appreciate about F&GM [a nice abbreviation for an iconic duo] is that while they are both deft with a sword, their combat scenes are very much about using their wits to defeat their enemies. They are above all crafty, always aiming to get the loot and scoot. Or at least, they are when not blinded by thoughts of revenge.

since this is my introduction to Leiber, i don’t know whether it is an ideal starting point, but I do look forward to the roguish adventures of F&GM, of which there are many. ( )

“Ill Met” I’ve read before, and is an excellent bit of sword & sorcery. “Ship of Shadows” I have not. Trippy. ( )

Open Road Media has collected two unrelated novellas by Leiber for re-release in this package.

Ill Met in Lankhmar is one of Leiber's most famous pieces of writing, and I was quite certain that I'd read it before. However, I think I was wrong - it didn't seem familiar at all!
This story relates how Leiber's notorious duo, the barbarian Fafhrd and the thief known as The Gray Mouser, first met.
Although far from being first in publication order (Leiber started writing about these two in 1939; this story came out in 1970), it's a good introduction to both characters. This story won both a Nebula award and a Hugo award. Honestly, I feel that the award may have been partly in recognition of the body of work rather than solely in consideration of the story's indvidual merits. The Fafhrd & the Gray Mouser stories are widely acknowledged to have been the origin of many of the commonly-accepted tropes of a certain brand of sword-and-sorcery fantasy that persist to this day, just as Tolkien's ideas spread throughout high fantasy.
In this tale, Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser, working separately, mug a couple of members of the Thieves' Guild, and make off with their ill-gotten loot. Partying with their girlfriends, their success spurs them to essay a drunken and ill-advised assault on the Guild's stronghold. The tragedy that ensues binds the two together in shared grief.

Ship of Shadows came out in 1969, and it's got a slightly trippy feel that might be associated with that era. On a decaying, aimless generation ship, the inhabitants are focused on booze and drugs... when they're not worried about being attacked by "witches" or "vampires." Our protagonist, Spar, is the janitor at a 'moonmist' bar frequented by addicts, whores and low-lives. He's toothless, half-blind, and seems generally confused and possibly mentally disabled. He's got a goal to get a doctor to help him, but along the way ends up getting caught up in a bizarre criminal conspiracy, and discovering that not all is as it might seem.
It's a weird one - interesting, but I didn't love it.

Many thanks to NetGalley for the opportunity to read. As always, my opinions are solely my own. ( )