S P A C E L I G H T
INDEX
Name: LEIBER, Fritz Reuter, Jr.
Aged: 81
Born: December 24, 1910
Where: Chicago, Illinois
Died: September 5, 1992
Where: San Francisco, CA
Interred: _ _ _
Married: Jonquil Stephens
When: 1936 (died 1969)
Married 2: Margo Skinner
When: 1992 (died Jan 13, 1993)
Awarded: Nebula for "Gonna Roll the Bones" (1967 Novelette). Hugos for The Big Time (1958 Novel); The Wanderer (1965 novel); and "Ship of Shadows" (1970 Novella). Hugos and Nebulas for "Ill Met in Lankhmar" (1971 Novella); and "Catch That Zeppelin!" (1976 Short Story). The 1975 Gandalf Award for
Grandmaster, The 1976 World Fantasy Award for Lifetime Achievement, 1976 World Fantasy Award for Short Fiction, "Belsen Express"; 1978 World Fantasy Award for Best Novel, Our Lady of Darkness; and the 1981 SFWA's award for Grand Master.
Fritz Leiber, Jr.
"I find the chief problem of full-time fictioneering is to avoid vegetating
and getting lost in minutiae, becoming too much of a spectator"
Fritz liked cats, and wrote about them, too. That might explain an early taste for Horror tales. But, in the end, Horror would place second to his overall accomplishments in Fantasy with Science Fiction finishing third.
A graduate of the University of Chicago in 1932 with majors in physiology and psychology, Fritz followed his father's calling instead...that of being an actor and toured as such for a couple of years. With marriage and something less than a love for the actor's life in depression years, Fritz turned to writing.
Leiber's writings take many a turn and twist across a very prolific career with ups and downs, but in the end, with many successes. Far too complicated to address here, but touching on the main points...there are 11 books of 'Sword and Sorcery' (a term credited to Leiber) dealing with the adventures of Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser. Fritz also wrote a Tarzan novel. Horror stories abounded with Conjure Wife, a novel that evolved across years, The Black Gondolier,and Our Lady of Darkness among them.
Science Fiction themes appeared in Gather Darkness, The Green Millennium, The Wanderer, and The Big Time.
Leiber's work, because a great deal of it was short in form, was often anthologized and continues to be. Notable collections are DAW's 1974 The Book of Fritz Leiber, which staggered stories and essays, followed in 1975 by The Second Book of Fritz Leiber, using the same format. 1974 also saw the publication of The Best of Fritz Leiber and, in 1976, from Ace, The Worlds of Fritz Leiber.
Leiber's work in all three of the fields above is usually original, often satirical, always psychological, and studied by his peers on whom the work has had great influence, collectively. Fritz Leiber was a major, popular writer and his work will be available for years to come.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: Mine here.
BIOGRAPHY: Who Was Who in America, Vol X, p209
and Science Fiction Writers, Scribners 1982
OBITUARY: The Daily Telegraph London and San Diego Union-Tribune here.
