The Best of Fritz Leiber

Locus Award 1975.

22 masterful tales by the sorcerer of science fiction! With an introduction by Poul Anderson.

Fritz Leiber has been spinning dark and delicate webs of fantasy since 1939, when his first tales began appearing in the now defunct publication, Unknown. Described as an actor, author, and world traveler, Fritz Leiber is acknowledged as one of the all-time titans of the fantasy genre. Creator of the long-running Fafhrd and Grey Mouser swordsman series and such classic novels as Gather, Darkness and Conjure Wife, Mr. Leiber makes the world of science and the supernatural come alive in this mammoth volume. Some of the stories included are:

Wanted - An Enemy

What better way to unite the bickering peoples of Earth than to pit them against a common enemy! That was Mr. Whitlow's ingenious idea when he contacted the Martians. Looking like giant beetles, the hideous creatures of the red planet would certainly terrify the world when they arrived on their mock invasion. But something went wrong! The aliens decided to make their "play-war" a real confrontation - to completely annihilate mankind. Mr. Whitlow's predicament grows when he locates another, even more deadly enemy to confront the Martians.

The Night He Cried

In this marvelous SF parody of the hard-boiled detective story, we encounter master sleuth Slickie Millane. His latest case begins when a heptapus visits him from Galactic Center in the guise of a shapely, blonde human female - although she occasionally gets confused as to which tentacle should become what. Her unexpected arrival plunges Slickie into one of his toughest and most baffling capers.

The Big Trek

Come... join one of the strangest walking tours in the galaxy. Traverse a land unlike any other in the universe, where strange creatures live among the ruins of their once advanced civilization, where you can see the last traces of a race gone mad with greed and power. Everyone in the Milky Way is going to be there... why not you?

The Enchanted Forest

Elven was the last of the Wild Ones, people who refused to obey the confining rules of civilization. Carrying the genetic materials to recreate his companions through cloning, Elven landed his spaceship on an unknown jungle planet. There, exploring the strange world for a suitable place to rebuild his society, Elven discovered that even his broad standards of normality were taxed to the limit by the asteroid's remarkable inhabitants.

These and 18 other famous works such as the Award-winning Gonna Roll the Bones will send you soaring into the fabulous realms of "Leiber" imagination - a world where you can shoot craps with the devil, make friends with electricity, fall in love with a beautiful alien, or visit a planet-wide madhouse. It's all here and much, much more in The Best of Fritz Leiber.