''Swords Against Wizardry'' is a
fantasy
Fantasy is a genre of speculative fiction involving Magic (supernatural), magical elements, typically set in a fictional universe and sometimes inspired by mythology and folklore. Its roots are in oral traditions, which then became fantasy ...
short story collection, first published 1968, by
Fritz Leiber
Fritz Reuter Leiber Jr. ( ; December 24, 1910 – September 5, 1992) was an American writer of fantasy, horror, and science fiction. He was also a poet, actor in theater and films, playwright, and chess expert. With writers such as Robert ...
and
Harry Fischer, featuring their
sword and sorcery
Sword and sorcery (S&S) is a subgenre of fantasy characterized by sword-wielding heroes engaged in exciting and violent adventures. Elements of romance, magic, and the supernatural are also often present. Unlike works of high fantasy, the tale ...
heroes
Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser
Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser are two sword-and-sorcery heroes appearing in stories written by American author Fritz Leiber. They are the protagonists of what are probably Leiber's best-known stories. One of his motives in writing them was to have ...
. Fischer's contribution was limited to ten thousand words of ''The Lords of Quarmall''. The book is chronologically the fourth volume of the complete seven-volume edition of the collected stories devoted to the characters. It was first published in paperback format during 1968 by
Ace Books
Ace Books is a publisher of science fiction (SF) and fantasy books founded in New York City in 1952 by Aaron A. Wyn. It began as a genre publisher of mysteries and westerns, and soon branched out into other genres, publishing its first scienc ...
company, which reprinted the title numerous times up to October 1990; later paperback editions were issued by
ibooks iBooks may refer to:
* iBooks, the former name of Apple Books.
* ibooks Inc., a book and comics publishing company founded by Byron Preiss
Byron Preiss (April 11, 1953 – July 9, 2005)[Dark Horse
A dark horse is a previously lesser-known person or thing that emerges to prominence in a situation, especially in a competition involving multiple rivals, or a contestant that on paper should be unlikely to succeed but yet still might.
Origin
Th ...]
(2007). It has been published in the United Kingdom by
Grafton (1986). The first hardcover edition was issued by
Gregg Press
Gregg Press was founded about 1965 by Charles Gregg in Upper Saddle River, New Jersey to distribute in the United States the antiquarian reprints published in the UK by Gregg Press International.
Gregg decided he wanted to publish scholarly repri ...
during December 1977.
The book has been collected, along with others in the series, in various omnibus editions: ''
Swords' Masters'' (1990), ''
Lean Times in Lankhmar
''Lean Times in Lankhmar'' is a novel by Fritz Leiber published by White Wolf in 1996.
Plot summary
''Lean Times in Lankhmar'' is White Wolf's second volume of Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser stories.
Reception
Jonathan Palmer reviewed ''Lean Times i ...
'' (1996), ''
The First Book of Lankhmar'' (2001), and ''
Lankhmar
Lankhmar is a fictional city in the ''Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser'' stories by Fritz Leiber. It is situated on the world of Nehwon, just west of the Great Salt Marsh and east of the River Hlal, and serves as the home of Leiber's two antiheroes.
...
'' (2008).
The book collects four short stories, three of which were originally published in the magazines ''
Fantastic
The fantastic (french: le fantastique) is a subgenre of literary works characterized by the ambiguous presentation of seemingly supernatural forces.
Bulgarian-French structuralist literary critic Tzvetan Todorov originated the concept, characte ...
'' for November 1965 and August 1968 and ''
Fantastic Stories of Imagination
''Fantastic'' was an American digest size, digest-size fantasy fiction magazine, fantasy and science fiction magazine, published from 1952 to 1980. It was founded by the publishing company Ziff Davis as a fantasy companion to ''Amazing Stories' ...
'' for January and February 1964, and one of which first appeared in the book itself.
Contents
*"In the Witch's Tent" (1968)
*"Stardock" (1965)
*"The Two Best Thieves in Lankhmar" (1968)
*"The Lords of Quarmall" (1964)
Plot
The Fafhrd and Gray Mouser stories concern the lives of two larcenous but likable rogues as they adventure across the fantasy world of
Nehwon
Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser are two sword-and-sorcery heroes appearing in stories written by American author Fritz Leiber. They are the protagonists of what are probably Leiber's best-known stories. One of his motives in writing them was to have ...
. In ''Swords Against Wizardry'' the duo consult a witch regarding an upcoming adventure ("In the Witch's Tent"); ascend Stardock, the Nehwonian Everest, in search of treasure ("Stardock"); are revealed, as their gains are stolen from them, ''not'' to be the best thieves in Lankhmar, as they so smugly deem themselves ("The Two Best Thieves in Lankhmar"); and take service with two opposing claimants to the sorcerous throne of the ancient city of Quarmall ("The Lords of Quarmall").
Relation to other works
"The Two Best Thieves in Lankhmar" includes an appearance by
Joanna Russ
Joanna Russ (February 22, 1937 – April 29, 2011) was an American writer, academic and feminist. She is the author of a number of works of science fiction, fantasy and feminist literary criticism such as ''How to Suppress Women's Writing'', as w ...
's heroine
Alyx.
Awards
"Stardock" was nominated for the 1966
Hugo Award for Short Fiction.
References
External links
*
*
{{Fritz Leiber
1968 short story collections
Nehwon books
Fantasy short story collections
Short story collections by Fritz Leiber
Ace Books books