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I’ve been on a
pulp fantasy kick for the past month or so: I started with
Robert E. Howard, having finally secured (by way of the Science
Fiction Book Club) a hardcover copy of what promises to be the
first true edition of his Conan stories to be issued in the
States. From that familiar territory I spun off for a quick
foray through Henry Kuttner’s imaginative Prince Raynor
stories before returning to Howard for the outstanding – if
unfortunately few – Cormac Mac Art stories. I then took a
voyage of peril and pleasure across Clark Ashton Smith’s
forgotten continent of Zothique before turning my attention to
Fritz Leiber’s legendary duo: Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser.
From there I had
intended to set sail for the lands of either Moorcock’s Elric
or Wagner’s Kane, but – in truth – I find myself so
disheartened that I am instead turning my attention to wholly
different pastures for awhile.
But I fear that
I set my premise before my scene. Let me back up for a moment.
For those who
don’t know, Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser are famed heroes of the
sword and sorcery genre. First unleashed in the pages of the
pulps, their literary career spanned almost five decades, coming
to an end only with Leiber’s death in the early ‘90s. Their
tales are most commonly available in seven authoritative
collections: SWORDS AND DEVILTRY, SWORDS AGAINST DEATH, SWORDS
IN THE MIST, SWORDS AGAINST WIZARDRY, SWORDS OF LANKHMAR, SWORDS
AND ICE MAGIC, and THE KNIGHT AND KNAVE OF SWORDS.
I first read
their adventures in junior high, savoring the two omnibuses
which collected the first six of these volumes: THE THREE SWORDS
and SWORDS’ MASTERS. Coming back to them now, nearly fifteen
years later, I had only dim and disjointed memories of the two
dashing swashbucklers, their gritty city of
Lankhmar
, and the mystic-laden
land
of
Nehwon
.
On this return
trip, I found myself harboring a great deal of uneven
disappointment. In short, I found that the stories of Fafhrd and
the Gray Mouser could be roughly divided into two camps – the
outstanding and the painfully mediocre – with the latter far
outnumbering the former.
Nor can one
simply say, as one can in so many cases, that the earlier tales
are superior to the hack work of the later. “Ill Met in
Lankhmar”, THE SWORDS OF LANKHMAR, and even the somewhat mixed
“Rime Isle”, although among the later works, would make the
list of those stories I would recommend. Although, that being
said, I think it is clear that, as the series continued, a
certain dreary repetition and self-conscious cleverness began to
consistently diminish the stories.
Perhaps the best
way to approach this inconsistent and self-crippling series is
through a volume-by-volume summary of impressions.
SWORDS AND
DEVILTRY: Fortunately, the most consistent volume in the
series is also the first, although it contains only three tales.
“The Snow Women” and “The Unholy Grail” each tell a tale
of Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser before their fateful and legendary
meeting in Lankhmar. The former is a top-notch tale of youth and
magic in the frozen north, keenly demonstrating the fantastic
and unique vision which Leiber is capable of delivering. The
latter, although strongly crafted, is a somewhat weaker tale –
its plot more commonplace in its conception. The volume is
rounded out by “Ill Met in Lankhmar”, which is the tale of
the first true meeting of our destined heroes. It is also a
powerfully tragic story, and its strength is best described by
the fact that it represented my strongest memory of Fafhrd and
the Gray Mouser before returning to the series.
SWORDS
AGAINST DEATH: The second volume in the series begins to
show the inconsistency I’m talking about, particularly in the
short bridging stories which I believe Leiber wrote specifically
for these collections. “The Jewels in the
Forest
” and “Thieves’ House”, two of the oldest stories, are
the highlights here, and come highly recommended. Running close
behind are “The Howling Tower” and “Claws of the Night”
– the former being slight, but imaginative; while the latter
comes as close to being a prototypical tale of Fafhrd and the
Gray Mouser as you are likely to find (mixing thievery, gods,
and sly humor across the backdrop of Lankhmar).
Much of this
volume, however, is thoroughly pedestrian. To this category
belong “The Bleak Shore”, “The Sunken Land”, “The
Seven Black Priests”, and “Bazaar of the Bizarre”.
(Although, in their favor, I will note that these all have their
moments of fantastic vision. The last, however, is a very thin
pastiche.) Finally, it would be charitable to describe the last
two tales offered here – “The Circle Curse” and “The
Price of Pain-Ease” – as thoroughly mediocre. It would be
more accurate to simply describe them as bad.
SWORDS IN THE
MIST: The third volume is even more uneven than the second.
On the one hand, it arguably contains the two best stories in
the series: The first of these, “Lean Times in Lankhmar”, is
a masterfully crafted tale. Its characters keep you enthralled
while its fanciful premise is cleverly worked into an utterly
hilarious conclusion. It reminds me strongly of Terry Pratchett
at his finest. (Pratchett’s SMALL GODS, in particular, owes an
obvious debt to this story.) The second gem to be found here is
“Adept’s Gambit”, which is also the first tale of Fafhrd
and the Gray Mouser written by Leiber. Set in a mythically
tinged epoch of ancient history, the tale is faintly resonant
with the finest creations of Lovecraft, Howard, and Clark Ashton
Smith, but possesses a flair and unique sense of character which
makes it all Leiber’s own.
Unfortunately
the rest of this volume can’t compare with these two classics:
“The Cloud of Hate” and “When the Sea-King’s Away” are
forgettable clichés, while “Their Mistress, the Sea” and
“The Wrong Branch” are ham-fisted, half-baked afterthoughts
attempting to create an unnecessary bridge between one tale and
the next.
SWORDS
AGAINST WIZARDRY: The bulk of this volume is taken up by two
lengthy tales, “Stardock” and “The Lords of Quarmall”.
Both stories play out across a fantastic and vividly imagined
landscape populated with strange cultures and larger-than-life
characters. These two tales give SWORDS AGAINST WIZARDRY perhaps
the strongest base of any volume in the series. Unfortunately,
the collection is also padded out with a couple of bridging
stories – “The Witch’s Tent” and “The Two Best Thieves
of Lankhmar” – which have a bit more substance to them than
the other bridging stories, but are still mediocre offerings at
best.
THE SWORDS OF
LANKHMAR: This is, in fact, the only stand-alone novel in
the series. It tells the sprawling saga of an attempted invasion
(of a most unusual size and character) aimed against the great
city of
Lankhmar
. Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser, of course, almost single-handedly
turn back this invasion – although the path they take is
anything but simple or straight-forward.
THE SWORDS OF
LANKHMAR is not the best story told of Fafhrd and the Gray
Mouser, but it is perhaps the greatest. The expanded format
allows Leiber a chance to stretch his muscles, and he accepts
the challenge admirably by weaving a tapestry not only expansive
in its imaginings but detailed in its fancies.
Perhaps the most
intriguing thing to me about this novel is the clear inheritance
its narrative receives from fairy tales. Whereas most writers of
sword-and-sorcery trace their antecedents back to classical myth
and legend, Leiber’s heroes clearly inhabit a world inspired
as much as by Hans Christian Anderson as it is by BEOWULF. And
it is perhaps this, more than anything else, which gives these
stories a unique distinction in the field.
SWORDS AND
ICE MAGIC: Unfortunately, after THE SWORDS OF LANKHMAR the
series appears to have spent its creativity. SWORDS AND ICE
MAGIC, the sixth volume, is largely an unimaginative
regurgitation of the themes, plots, and characters found earlier
in the series. The first five stories in this collection (“The
Bait”, “Beauty and the Beasts”, “Trapped in Shadowland”,
“The Bait”, and “Under the Thumbs of the Gods”) are
simply dreadful wastes of time. In fact, they are all
essentially the same story: Distant powers or gods attempt to
kill Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser, who – for their part –
accept the improbable with stoic complacency while thoroughly
and effortlessly thwarting the attempts each time.
Unfortunately, this is also a story which was told twice before
in these collections.
Fortunately,
things then take a slight turn for the better. The sixth story,
“Trapped in the
Sea
of
Stars
”, is badly contrived and nearly plotless, but makes up for it
through the vivid description of its sense-of-wonder sea voyage.
There is, in fact, no particular story here at all – but the
visions conjured forth by Leiber’s prose are worth the price
of admission.
The last two
stories in the collection – “The Frost Monstreme” and
“Rime Isle” – are, in fact, two halves of a single story.
Although still flawed by an increasingly rambling style,
self-conscious commentary, and regurgitation of plot and
imagery, this story still has a lot to offer: Clever
interactions of character, epic sensibility, charming wit, and
wondrous feats are offered up with a melancholic flair.
THE KNIGHT
AND KNAVE OF SWORDS: Sadly, however, that is the end of it.
This last collection of stories offers nothing but an
imagination apparently spent.
“Sea Magic”, “The Mer She”, and “The Curse of
the Smalls and the Stars” each offer us regurgitated plots
while doing nothing more than shuffling around the characters
and magic items presented in “Rime Isle” to little sense of
purpose or accomplishment.
Finally, in
“The Mouser Goes Below”, Leiber pulls the same trick:
Shuffling around characters and devices already well-worn beyond
any effective use. The only difference to be found is that
Leiber pulls his reused material from a larger portion of the
series, rather than a single story.
I also found
another trend in this last volume particularly disconcerting: A
pointless coarseness which was previously absent from the
series. I’m not sure what Leiber was attempting to accomplish
by suddenly inundating the narrative with “long poniards”
piercing “cunts and arse holes”, but the effect was merely
distasteful.
In the end, I
think this was a series which long-outlived its creator’s
interest. Or, at the very least, his ability. The later
offerings become increasingly repetitive and unimaginative, as
if Leiber had simply run out of new ideas to share.
Unfortunately, in collected form, these lackluster efforts seem
to out-mass and actively detract from those stories which
legitimately earn Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser a place of high
honor in the pantheon of fantasy heroes.
Indeed, I found
myself unable to finish the series. SWORDS AND ICE MAGIC had
seriously fatigued my interest, and I pushed on with THE KNIGHT
AND KNAVE OF SWORDS only because (a) I had never read that final
volume and (b) I wanted to finish what I had started.
But, in the end,
I could manage no further than the mid-point of “The Mouser
Goes Below”. Leiber pinioned the Mouser – immobile,
invisible, and speechless – in order to have him bear witness
to a gratuitously graphic description of one of his former loves
having her maid stripped bare, fondled in the cunt and arse
hole, and then given instruction on “naked serving”. After
several pages of this pointlessly turgid prose I finally gave up
and closed the book.
If I ever return
to the adventures of Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser, it shall be a
markedly proscribed path I take through their tales. Such a
journey would look something like this:
-
“The Snow
Woman”
-
“The
Unholy Grail”
-
“
Ill
Met in Lankhmar”
-
“The
Jewels in the
Forest
”
-
“Thieves’
House”
-
“The
Bleak
Shore
”
-
“The
Howling Tower”
-
“The
Sunken Land”
-
“The Seven
Black Priests”
-
“Claws of
the Night”
-
“Lean
Times in Lankhmar”
-
“When the
Sea-King’s Away”
-
ADEPT’S
GAMBIT
-
“Stardock”
-
“The Lords
of Quarmall”
-
THE SWORDS
OF LANKHMAR
-
“The Frost
Monstreme”
-
“Rime
Isle”
I suspect this is less than half of the words written by Leiber
of the two greatest swordsmen to ever live in this or any other
universe, but it is decidedly the better half. And it, unlike
the balance of the series, comes with my highest recommendation.
GRADES:
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