The best of Fritz Leiber Book

This is a great collection of Leiber short stories spanning from the 1940s to the 1970s. What sets it apart from the other three or four such anthologies I have is that Leiber chose the stories himself, and at the end of the book he places an Afterword where he writes a paragraph or two about each one. leiber is one of my favourite writers, but I don't have a lot of insight into the man himself and his thoughts. I find this to be good, actually; plenty of times have I been a little put off by a writer whose work I normally enjoy but whose personal musings just kind of deflate the whole experience for me. However I must say it was pleasurable to read Leiber's thoughts on particular tales and I appreciate him putting this material at the very back of the book, too.

I'm going to do what Leiber himself did then and write a bit about my impressions of some of the stories. It's been a long time since I read some of them but there are a few that are so good I've read them again and again.

"Gonna Roll the Bones"--
A great story that benefits from a second reading once you figure out what's going on. It's told in a subtle, almost laid back style that belies the heavy occult content of the story. It's like horror without the horror, basically, and so comes down as a kind of fantasy. Someone else here said "magical realism". I'm not 100% confident using that term in general but I suppose it sort of fits here. I was reminded a little of some of Stephen King's better work and I am not at all surprised to learn that he is a big fan of leiber.

"Wanted--An Enemy"--
Reminds me of a 1980s episode of The Twilight Zone (one of the better ones). Certainly very informed by the Cold War. Hit'sa bit playful and has a sucker-punch ending. Very cool.

"The Man who Never Grew Young"--
Well, they can't all be winners; not too into this one. Reminds of Lray Bradbury, whom I have to confess I'm not the biggest fan of either, although he does have a few strong stories.

"Coming Attraction" --
This story was often anthologised, and I'm pretty sure I read it before I had a clue about Leiber's work. It's awesome and I can see why it won awards. It's kind of "future noire", written from a 1950 perspective. Fritz was obviously very cynical about what was happening in American society at the time. The ending makes you feel like shit, and I mean that in a good way.

"Poor Superman" --
Another kind of grim future story, possibly meant to be set in the same millieu as "Coming Attrraction", although this one is more "fun". I didn't predict the direction this story went in and the curveball was really appreciated. This is one of many stories where leiber's love of Poe comes to the surface, and as this is a science fiction and not a horror tale, its manifestation is a pleasant surprise here, although of course Poe had some stories that bordered on SF, too.

"A Pale of Air" --
One thing I really appreciate about Leiber is his ability to see many different perspectives and to adjust his writing style according to the sort of tale he is telling. here the main character is a little girl living in a future setting where the Earth has been knocked out of orbit, and its atmosphere has liquified and fallen to the surface. there are only a few survivors, but they have learned to adjust to this strange environment. This story talks about what happens when the girl goes outside in a spacesuit to get a pale of air for her and her father...

"The Night he Cried" --
Oooh, this is so funny! In his afterword Fritz says he wrote this as a response to Mickey Spilane, because he found his attitude toward women to be regressive and stupid. this is slightly ironic I guess because Leiber himself has been criticised by people like neil Gaiman (who loves him too, by the way) for some of his attitudes toward sex and women. I personally have always found that criticism a little unfair, though I guess that could be because I'm a man, but I feel like he was really trying and there's no doubt that for someone writing in the 40s/50s he had a very open mind. Anyway, "The Night he Cried" is mocking the kind of macho Mike hammer stuff. Let's just say the beautiful bucksome blonde turns out to be a many-tentacled alien and our "hard-bitten" protagonist is not having a great day. This one's a hoot.

"Space-Time for Springers" --
Do you love cats? Fritz leiber sure did. they feature prominently in so many of his stories, and this is maybe the ultimate cat story of all. It's short, starts off utterly adorable, and then in the end ... turns heart-breakingly sad. Seriously, if you are a sensitive person you should have the tissues ready for this one. The protagonist is a spry and lively kitten named gummitch with intellectual aspirations, who lives in a house with his human "parents", two children and two grown cats, and and we spend the entire story inside Gummitch's head. it's anthropomorphic, in a very literal way (this will make sense when you read it), but Fritz obviously spent a lot of time observing cats and their behaviour. As a cat fan myself, this one really twisted my heart. it will also teach you to be a bit more sympathetic the next time your cat seems disturbed by its reflection in a big piece of glass.

"Try and Change the past" --
A short piece set in the same "time War" as Leiber's excellent novel The BigTime. You don't have to read that to understand this though. it basically takes an interesting time travel concept and brings it to its logical extreme. Might seem a bit old hat now considering how many stories have been written dealing with a similar concept since, but Leiber was one of the first, and this little piece is pretty damn cool.

"A Deskful of Girls" --
Walks the line between being humorous and horrific with remarkable aplomb. I think some of the psychological theories described here might be a little academically unsound, but that's really ok to me. Very nice vengeance sort of ending that reads like something from Tales from the Crypt or somesuch..

"Rump-Titty-Titty-Tum-Tah-Tee " --
Another slightly disturbing and simultaneously fun story. With a name like that you know there has to be a vein of lightheartedness running throughout, and there is. leiber is good at telling these sorts of personal, low key stories with heavier, more unsettling implications.

"The Man who made Friends with Electricity" --
I loved this. the narrator goes to interview this seemingly harmless old coot who believes that electricity talks to him. What's neat is that this old guy is a bit difficult, prejudiced, rants about commies and stuff, yet still ends up being strangely charming. He meets a bad end though, thanks to his less likable qualities, and instead of thinking to myself, "well the dick kind of deserved it", Leiber manages to make it a bit sad and poignant.

"The Good new Days" --
This one's really strange, and there's a lot going on. it starts off as a kind of domestic setting of the future and then goes into territory I'm used to associating with Philip K. Dick. Kind of indescribable; you just have to read it.

There are other great stories in here too, like "Little Old Miss macbeth", which I plan to reread soon. No fafhrd and grey mouser stories, and I really do think some of those are among the best stuff leiber has written, but perhaps it was thought that sword and sorcery wouldn't really fit in with this book, which seems to concentrate mostly on Leiber's particular kind of softer SF or "urban" fantasy writing. No "Catch that Zeppelin!" either, but I think that one was written later than most of the stories here. This is a fine introduction to one of the best and most versatile genre writers who ever lived. Not only are the stories of a high quality, but, and this is important, Leiber can really write. I've mentioned several other authors for comparison's sake in my review, but to be honest I think Leiber is a better writer than most of them. His prose has this relaxed, smooth air aboutit that comes across as both affable and attention-grabbing. I think the friendly tone sort of makes the existential qualities of some of his stories hit harder, but maybe that's just me. He'll make you laugh and get angry and feel horrified at the same time, and he's self-aware without being smug or superior or making you feel that he doesn't take anything seriously. When Leiber wants to talk about Shakespeare in his writing (which he often does), it's not to impress you but to make you feel that the Bard's work is amazing like he does. Although quite a few of the stories address Cold War-era concerns, there is a universal quality to them that means generations from now people should still enjoy reading them. Highly recommended to everyone.