Search Worlds Without End

Hugo and Nebula Award winning novella.

Back to back, eyeing their foes over the gleam of sharpened steel, stand the two greatest heroes ever to walk the world of Newhon: Fafhrd, the giant barbarian warrior from the Cold Waste; and the Gray Mouser, novice wizard, master thief and unparalleled swordsman. This is their story.

The story originally appeared in The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction, April 1970. The story can also be found in the anthologies Nebula Award Stories Six (1971), edited by Clifford D. Simak, The Hugo Winners, Volume 3: (1970-75) (1977), edited by Isaac Asimov, Baker's Dozen: 13 Short Fantasy Novels (1984), edited by Charles G. Waugh, Martin H. Greenberg and Isaac Asimov, The Science Fiction Hall of Fame, Volume IV (1986), edited by Terry Carr, and Swords Against Darkness (2017), edited by Paula Guran. It is half of Tor Double #19: Ill Met In Lankhmar/The Fair in Emain Macha (1990, with Charles de Lint) and is included in the collections Swords and Deviltry (1970), The Leiber Chronicles: Fifty Years of Fritz Leiber (1990), The First Book of Lankhmar (2001) and Fritz Leiber: Selected Stories (2010).

Hugo Award nominated story. The story originally appeared in Fantastic Stories of Imagination, May 1961. It can also be found in the anthology Modern Classics of Fantasy (1997), edited by Gardner Dozois. It was later expanded to the full novel The Swords of Lankhmar (1968).

Hugo Award nominated short story. It originally appeared in Fantastic, September 1965. The story is included in the collections Swords Against Wizardry (1968), Lean Times in Lankhmar (1996) and The First Book of Lankhmar (2001).

Hugo Award nominated story. It originally appeared in Fantastic Stories of Imagination, October 1962. The story can also be found in the anthology The Sword & Sorcery Anthology (2012) edited bt Jacob Weisman and David G. Hartwell. It is included in the collections Swords and Deviltry (1970) and The First Book of Lankhmar (2001).

Note: This collection was subsumed by the 1970 expanded edition "Swords Against Death" and no longer belongs in the canonical sequence of the Fafhrd and Gray Mouser series.

Contents:

• 5 - Induction - [Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser] - short story
• 9 - The Jewels in the Forest - [Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser] - (1939) - novelette
• 49 - Thieves' House - [Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser] - (1943) - novelette
• 83 - The Bleak Shore - [Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser] - (1940) - short story
• 95 - The Howling Tower - [Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser] - (1941) - short story
• 111 - The Sunken Land - [Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser] - (1942) - short story
• 131 - The Seven Black Priests - [Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser] - (1953) - novelette
• 159 - Claws from the Night - [Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser] - (1951) - novelette

One of the most influential and critically acclaimed fantasy writers of all time, Fritz Leiber pioneered the sword-and-sorcery genre!

In the ancient city of Lankhmar, two men forge a friendship in battle. The red-haired barbarian Fafhrd left the snowy reaches of Nehwon looking for a new life while the Gray Mouser, apprentice magician, fled after finding his master dead. These bawdy brothers-in-arms cement a friendship that leads them through the wilds of Nehwon facing thieves, wizards, princesses and the depths of their desires and fears. Superb writing and brilliant, believable characterizations highlight the first entry in Leiber's seminal series.

Table of Contents:

• Induction - (1957)
• The Snow Women - (1970)
• The Unholy Grail - (1962)
• Ill Met in Lankhmar - (1970)

In the second installment of this rousing series, Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser journey from the ancient city of Lankhmar, searching for a little adventure and debauchery to ease their broken hearts. When a stranger challenges them to find and fight Death on the Bleak Shore, they battle demonic birds, living mountains, and evil monks on the way to their heroic fate. Fritz Leiber's witty prose, lively plots and superb characterizations stand the test of time.

Table of Contents:

• Author's Foreword - essay by Fritz Leiber
• The Circle Curse - (1970)
• The Jewels in the Forest - (1970)
• Thieves' House - (1943)
• The Bleak Shore - (1940)
• The Howling Tower - (1941)
• The Sunken Land - (1942)
• The Seven Black Priests - (1953)
• Claws from the Night - (1951)
• The Price of Pain-Ease - (1970)
• Bazaar of the Bizarre - (1963)

Lean times in Lankhmar force brothers-in-arms Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser to part ways. Only after a joust of wits and swords do the friends join together again, stealing the ship the Black Treasurer and sailing round and through The Claws. Fighting sea kings, curses and seven-eyed wizards, the pair set out on their heroic wanderings through the wilds of Nehwon.

Table of Contents:

• Times in Lankhmar - (1959)
• Their Mistress, the Sea - (1968)
• When the Sea-King's Away - (1960)
• The Wrong Branch - (1968)
• Adept's Gambit - (1947)

Sent by a witch on a foolhardy journey, Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser return to the icy reaches of the north in search of dubious treasure. There, they are seduced by the glittering attractions of an ice woman, who brings them with her to her shadowy lair. Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser-brothers in arms-are overwhelmed by intimations of power and rise to become the overlords of Quarmall, a dangerous region of lies, magic, and swords.

Table of Contents:

• In the Witch's Tent - (1968)
• Stardock - (1965)
• The Two Best Thieves in Lankhmar - (1968)
• The Lords of Quarmall - (1964) - novella by Fritz Leiber and Harry Fischer

A plague of rats overrun Lankhmar, the capitol city and glittering gem of the land of Nehwon. Commissioned to guard a ship of grain from the cursed rodents, brother-in-arms Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser soon discover the plague has progressed to a fatal point. Mustering the strength of sorcery, they descend into the depths of Lankhmar and rise to battle in order to save the soul of the ill-fated city.

Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser have traveled the width and breadth of the land of Nehwon in search of adventure and fortune. Now lost at sea, their ship drawn out on the Great Equatorial Current, their journey brings them to Rime Isle, a tragic island populated by vagabonds and wanderers. The island is also home to a race of gods, schemers, and manipulators that plague the humans for their amusement. Will Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser be able to escape the island, or be trapped forever as pawns of the gods?

Table of Contents:

• The Sadness of the Executioner - (1973)
• Beauty and the Beasts - (1974)
• Trapped in the Shadowland - (1973)
• The Bait - (1973)
• Under the Thumbs of the Gods - (1975)
• Trapped in the Sea of Stars - (1975)
• The Frost Monstreme - (1976)
• Rime Isle - (1977)

Dark Horse's republication of Fritz Leiber's immortal tales of Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser reach a turning point with this new edition of Leiber's final stories of the two intrepid adventurers. Their journeys have taken them from one side of Nehwon to the other, facing life-risking peril at every turn.

Now, in a set of stories that show us Fafhrd and the Mouser both on their own and together, they will face some of their most challenging obstacles, and - against assassins, angry gods, and even Death himself - the duo must battle for their very lives.

With a mixture of high adventure, moving drama, and broad comedy, The Knight and Knave of Swords is a perfect endpiece to Leiber's stories of the stalwart comrades, and sets the stage for all-new adventures in the next volume, by renowned fantasy author Robin Wayne Bailey.

Table of Contents:

• Sea Magic - (1977)
• The Mer She - (1978)
• The Curse of the Smalls and the Stars - (1983)
• The Mouser Goes Below - (1988)

Years ago, Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser turned their backs on the city of Lankhmar and the painful memories it held. But now, a deadly plague, spawned from a sorcerer's curse, sweeps through the streets of Lankhmar, eating its victims from the inside and laying waste to the once-vibrant city. The two reluctant heroes are called forth once again to face Lankhmar's winding alleys - and the old ghosts who lurk in them!