''Swords and Deviltry'' is a
fantasy
Fantasy is a genre of speculative fiction involving 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 literature and drama ...
short story collection, first published 1970, 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 ...
, featuring his
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 ...
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 ...
. It is chronologically the first volume of the complete seven volume edition of the collected stories devoted to the characters. The book was first published in paperback form during 1970 by
Ace Books
Ace Books is a publisher of science fiction (SF) and fantasy books founded in New York City in 1952 by A. A. Wyn, Aaron A. Wyn. It began as a genre publisher of mystery fiction, mysteries and western (genre), westerns, and soon branched out int ...
company, which reprinted the title numerous times through November 1985; later paperback editions were issued by
ibooks (2003) and
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 ...
(2006). It has been published in the United Kingdom by
New English Library
The New English Library was a United Kingdom book publishing company, which became an imprint of Hodder Headline.
History
New English Library (NEL) was created in 1961 by the Times Mirror Company of Los Angeles, with the takeover of two small B ...
(1971),
Mayflower Books
''Mayflower'' was an English ship that transported a group of English families, known today as the Pilgrims, from England to the New World in 1620. After a grueling 10 weeks at sea, ''Mayflower'', with 102 passengers and a crew of about 30, r ...
(1979) and
Grafton Grafton may refer to:
Places
Australia
* Grafton, New South Wales
Canada
* Grafton, New Brunswick
* Grafton, Nova Scotia
* Grafton, Ontario
England
* Grafton, Cheshire
* Grafton, Herefordshire
*Grafton, North Yorkshire
* Grafton, Oxfordshi ...
(1986, 1988). 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 repr ...
during December 1977. The book has also been gathered together with others in the series into various omnibus editions; ''The Three of Swords'' (1989), ''Ill Met in Lankhmar'' (1995), ''The First Book of Lankhmar'' (2001), and ''Lankhmar'' (2008).
The book collects three short stories 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 April 1970, ''
Fantastic Stories of Imagination'' for October 1962, and ''
The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction
''The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction'' (usually referred to as ''F&SF'') is a U.S. fantasy fiction magazine, fantasy and science fiction magazine first published in 1949 by Mystery House, a subsidiary of Lawrence E. Spivak, Lawrence Spiva ...
'' for April 1970, together with an "Induction" that originally appeared in the 1957 Fafhrd and Gray Mouser collection ''
Two Sought Adventure
''Two Sought Adventure'' is a 1957 collection of fantasy short stories by American writer Fritz Leiber. It was first published by Gnome Press in 1957 in an edition of 4,000 copies. The collections contains all of Leiber's Fafhrd and the Gray Mou ...
'' (later expanded, minus the induction, as ''
Swords Against Death
''Swords Against Death'' is a fantasy short story collection by American writer Fritz Leiber, first published in 1970 and featuring his sword and sorcery heroes Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser. It is chronologically the second volume of the complete s ...
'' (1970).
Contents
*"Induction" (1957)
*"
The Snow Women" (1970)
*"
The Unholy Grail
''The Unholy Grail'' is a sword and sorcery novella by Fritz Leiber, recounting the earliest adventure of the Gray Mouser.
First published in 1962, it is the nature of a prequel, as Leiber had by that time been chronicling the pair's adventures fo ...
" (1962)
*"
Ill Met in Lankhmar" (1970)
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 hav ...
. The stories in ''Swords and Deviltry'' introduce the duo and their relationship ("Induction"), present incidents from their early lives in which they meet their first lady-loves (Fafhrd in "The Snow Women", the Gray Mouser in "The Unholy Grail"), and relate how afterwards in the city of
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 ...
the two met and allied themselves with each other, and lost their first loves through their defiance of the local Thieves' Guild ("Ill Met in Lankhmar").
Awards
"Ill Met in Lankhmar" won the 1970
Nebula Award
The Nebula Awards annually recognize the best works of science fiction or fantasy published in the United States. The awards are organized and awarded by the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America (SFWA), a nonprofit association of prof ...
and the 1971
Hugo Award
The Hugo Award is an annual literary award for the best science fiction or fantasy works and achievements of the previous year, given at the World Science Fiction Convention and chosen by its members. The Hugo is widely considered the premier ...
for best novella. "The Unholy Grail" was nominated for the 1963
Hugo Award for Short Fiction.
Sequel
Robin Wayne Bailey
Robin Wayne Bailey (born 1952) is an American writer of speculative fiction, both fantasy and science fiction. He is a founder of the Science Fiction Hall of Fame (1996) and a past president of the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of Americ ...
later wrote an authorized sequel to this book, ''
Swords Against the Shadowland'' (1998).
References
External links
*
Fantastic Fiction entry*
{{Fritz Leiber
1970 short story collections
Fantasy short story collections
Nehwon books
Short story collections by Fritz Leiber
Ace Books books