Swords Against Wizardry

FANTASY THE FOURTH VOLUME IN IBOOKS' REISSUES OF CLASSIC FANTASIES BY SCIENCE FICTION WRITERS OF AMERICA GRAND MASTER FRITZ LEIBER! With Swords Against Wizardry, the fourth installment of the Lankhmar series, the story unveils behind the curtain in the Witch's Tent. Fafhrd and Gray Mouser are there to consult a sorceress who holds the secret to their escape but when would they ever need to escape? Would they need this knowledge when they journey to Stardock? Where is there to escape up there? No doubt the icy seduction of "the cruel one, " with her greed for both gore and graciousness, could offer them several ways out. Their luck has been good so far; one way out should work. Their luck continues as thieves. They are the best thieves in Lankhmar until better positions arise: The Lords of Quarmall. Gray Mouser and Fafhrd steal a kingdom within a hill and declare themselves Lords.

Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser search for treasure in book four of the genre-defining Sword and Sorcery series from the Grand Master of Science Fiction. Fafhrd and Mouse are not innocents; their world is no land of honor and righteousness. It is a world of human complexities and violent action, of discovery and mystery, of swords and sorcery. With Swords Against Wizardry, ,the story unfolds behind the curtain in the Witch’s Tent. Fafhrd and Gray Mouser are there to consult a sorceress who holds the secret to their escape, but when would they ever need to escape? Would they need this knowledge when they journey to Stardock? Where is there to escape up there? No doubt the icy seduction of “the cruel one,” with her greed for both gore and graciousness, could offer them several ways out. Their luck has been good so far; one way out should work. Their luck continues as thieves. They are the best thieves in Lankhmar until better positions arise: the Lords of Quarmall. Gray Mouser and Fafhrd steal a kingdom within a hill and declare themselves lords. Before The Lord of the Rings took the world by storm, Leiber’s fantastic but thoroughly flawed antiheroes, Fafhrd and Gray Mouser, adventured deep within the caves of Inner Earth, albeit a different one. They wondered and wandered to the edges of the Outer Sea, across the Land of Nehwon and throughout every nook and cranny of gothic Lankhmar, Nehwon’s grandest and most mystically corrupt city. Lankhmar is Leiber’s fully realized, vivid incarnation of urban decay and civilization’s corroding effect on the human psyche. Drawing on themes from Shakespeare, Edgar Allan Poe, and H. P. Lovecraft, master manipulator Fritz Leiber is a worldwide legend within the fantasy genre and actually coined the term Sword and Sorcery that describes the subgenre he helped create.

The award-winning sword and sorcery classic that introduced Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser, from a Grand Master of Science Fiction and Fantasy. First in the influential fan-favorite series, Swords and Deviltry collects four fantastical adventure stories from Fritz Leiber, the author who coined the phrase “sword and sorcery” and helped birth an entire genre. In “Induction,” in the realm of Nehwon, fate brings young prince Fafhrd and apprentice magician the Gray Mouser together to mark the beginning of a loyal and lifelong friendship. Consumed by his wicked mother’s enchantments, Fafhrd finds freedom by pursuing the love of a beautiful actress in the Nebula and Hugo Award–nominated “The Snow Women.” Studying sorcery under a great wizard in a land where it is forbidden, Mouse crosses the thin line between white and black magic to avenge a great wrong in “The Unholy Grail.” And in the Nebula and Hugo Award–winning novella “Ill Met in Lankhmar,” Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser disguise themselves as beggars to infiltrate the Thieves’ Guild—only to pay a horrible price for their greed when they come face-to-face with a monstrous evil.

The Hugo and Nebula Award–winning series of sword and sorcery—featuring two unorthodox heroes—from a Grand Master of Science Fiction and Fantasy. Long before George R. R. Martin’s Game of Thrones became a worldwide phenomenon, Fritz Leiber ruled the literary universe of sword and sorcery. This novel and two short story collections chronicle the adventures of Leiber’s endearing and groundbreaking antiheroes: the barbarian Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser, a former wizard’s apprentice—in the series hailed as “one of the great works of fantasy in this century” (Publishers Weekly). This is a must-read collection of Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser short stories, featuring the Hugo Award–nominated novellas “Scylla’s Daughter” and “Stardock.” Swords Against Wizardry: Bold Fafhrd and the sly Gray Mouser find adventure wherever they tread quick and lightly, whether it be in consulting a witch for advice, climbing Nehwon’s highest peak in search of riches, discovering that they may not actually be the greatest thieves in Lankhmar, or working both sides of a royal battle for the throne of Quarmall. The Swords of Lankhmar: With a plague of rats teeming in Lankhmar, Fafhrd and the Mouser are hired by the city to guard a shipment of grain overseas. But when the duo returns, they discover the sentient vermin have taken over Lankhmar for themselves! And now it’s up to the barbarian and the thief to build a better rat trap. Swords and Ice Magic: Fafhrd and Gray Mouser make their way by sword and stealth as they face death in many forms, earn the ire of gods whose names they rarely even speak in vain anymore, lazily drift on the Great Equatorial Current, and venture far into the icy wastes of the Rime Isle to confront a pair of deities and a pillaging fleet in this World Fantasy Award nominee.

The Hugo and Nebula Award–winning series of swords and sorcery, featuring two unorthodox heroes, from a Grand Master of Science Fiction and Fantasy. Many decades before George R. R. Martin’s Game of Thrones, Grand Master Fritz Leiber ruled the sword-and-sorcery universe. These three short story collections chronicle the unconventional adventures of Leiber’s endearing antiheroes: barbarian Fafhrd and former wizard’s apprentice, the Gray Mouser. Swords and Deviltry: Fafhrd, a handsome barbarian of the Steppes, is seduced by a beautiful prostitute and her equally intoxicating city, while the Gray Mouser, a slum rat wizard-in-training, is tempted by the dark arts. The two men meet on a night of multiple thieveries and an enduring partnership is born. Swords Against Death: Rogue swordsmen and devoted companions Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser pursue ill-gotten fortunes within the confines of Lankhmar. They cross paths with two wizards, Sheelba of the Eyeless Face and Ningauble of the Seven Eyes, and a most violent clash ensues. Eventually, following further adventures, the two antiheroes end up as indentured swordsman servants to their former foes. Swords in the Mist: A cloud of concentrated hatred and lean times in Lankhmar compels Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser to temporarily depart the most corrupt metropolis in all of Nehwon as they seek adventure in the realm of the Sea-King—and on a different world entirely. This must-read collection of Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser short stories features multiple Hugo and Nebula Award–nominated tales, and includes the acclaimed novella Ill Met in Lankhmar.

FANTASTIC Editorial, January 1964: Old friends of Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser may be surprised to see a byline on their story in this issue that reads-"By Fritz Leiber and Harry Fischer." "Who," you are saying, "is Harry Fischer? Some Johnny-come-lately trying to horn in on Leiber's master-characters?" Well, hardly. According to Fritz himself, Harry Fischer is the inventor of Fafhrd and the Mouser. And this is indeed a tale in itself, and one with which we shall acquaint you here and now, in the words of Leiber himself: "Harry and I met in 1930 at the University of Chicago, became fast friends, and have been friends ever since. We had in common enthusiasms for fencing, chess, bridge, drama, and fantasy literature. In our correspondence we often extemporized fragments of fantasy. One day I got a letter from Harry inventing two characters. He wrote: 'All do fear the one known as the Gray Mouser. He walks with swag-ger 'mongst the bravos, though he's but the stature of a child. His costume is all of grey. His weapons [are called] Cat's Claw and Scalpel . . . Fafhrd was full seven feet of height. His wrist . . . was thick as a hero's ankle . . . . His mouth smiled as he fingered the ponderous hilt of a huge longsword.' " From this beginnning, Fischer and Leiber utilized Fafhrd and the Mouser in their dreams and fantasy fragments. In 1937 Fischer wrote about 10,000 words of a novel to be called The Lords of Quarmall, a subterranean kingdom Leiber had invented as part of the land of Nehwon. But the fragment languished for 25 years. During this time Leiber wrote other sagas of Lankhmar, and Fischer put aside the fantasy world to become a successful businessman. A year ago, however, Leiber visited Fischer and suggested that he (Leiber) finish Quarmall. So Fritz took the original 10,000 words, plotted and wrote over twice as many more, and-lo! the result begins on page [1].