r/fritzleiber

What do you think? Can you pinpoint the reference?

First published and this Orbit edition 1976.

My copy was selling new for NZ$1.95, and no real idea how I got hold of it.

And this is likely the last cover for a while. I have another 200 or so possible posts, but I'm leaving town (and the books) for a while in a couple of days. More when I get back here, whenever that is. :-)

Boy, the reviews for this one were bad. Like, really bad.  So much so that it led me to subconsciously put off reading it.

The critical reception has also not improved with time.  There was no "critical reevaluation" in the same way as, say, Exile on Main Street.

Contrast the original reviews (which can be found on ISFBD - Internet Archive) with the current crop on Goodreads, and see what you think. 

Anyway.  Despite the reviews, I have now finally read The Mouser Goes Below. And I have to say... 

It's not as bad as people say!  There's plenty of the old magic weaved in through pages of tedium. 

That being said, it's not quite the same quality as most of the other F and GM books. The writing feels laboured in places.  Which is not surprising given the time in which it was written, i.e., when Leiber was in his seventies and probably near his creative exhaustion.

Exactly how Leiber managed to keep up the same furious quality for nearly his whole career is, in and of itself, damn near miraculous. 

SPOILERS AHEAD

the book starts off slowly.  We are introduced to "Fingers", a "cabin girl" who I didn't care for.

At some point during a night time ceremony with Fafhrd and the usual Rime Isle Cohort, the Mouser is literally dragged down through the earth vertically and buried alive. 

Conceptually, the Mouser's premature burial is very interesting. As are the eerie and sinister visions he is presented with during his burial, including Ississi, the sea monster from the earlier story "The Mer She".  These visions are my favourite part, and are just as effective as the disembodied heads in, say, Adept's Gambit. 

The actual sensations of being buried alive, immobile and struggling to breath, are painstakingly (and convincingly) described.

I do not agree with the criticism that this story lacks action, hack and slash etc.  Fafhrd and the Mouser are so much more than just pulp heroes. The best Leiber stories are, in my view, slow burns, and I include Lankhmar stories in that assessment. Try, say, "Horrible Imaginings" and see what you think...

However, I do agree with the critics that Chapter 19 (originally published, with a different intro paragraph, as "Slack Afternoon in Lankhmar Featuring Hisvet") is shoehorned in.  It is also much more explicit than I cared for - not because I can't do explicit - but because it isn't the usual clever Leiber satire, but rather simple farce.  Hisvet basically performs a full body cavity search in her hapless maid, who is accused of theft.  And that's before the whips come out. The reason for this lesbian softcore interlude, and it's relevance to the overall story, is a mystery. 

It's also followed by an (admittedly, vivid and effective) scene where the buried-alive Mouser is given a handjob by Pain, who I understand is basically the Grim Reaper. Yes, you read that right.  Despite the extreme oddity, I did think this scene worked - very creepy indeed. 

Unfortunately, the many above ground scenes with Fafhrd and the cohort digging holes to find the Mouser bored me to tears. 

I also didn't really care for Fafhrd's side story, beginning about halfway through the novel, where he ascends skyward to a cloud ship filled with titillating women. 

Overall, this one is worth a curiosity read, and Leiber completionists will still enjoy it despite the inconsistencies.  Not even close to the best Lankhmar stories, like Ill Met in Lankhmar, or even the earlier Sea Magic. 

I would also recommend Brian Murphy's review, found here: https://dmrbooks.com/test-blog/2020/8/4/the-later-leiber-a-review-of-the-second-book-of-lankhmar-part-2-of-2 

First off, just go and buy "Heroes and Horrors". It's funny in that it may be my favourite Fritz Leiber collection, even though it is missing his absolute best stories, such as America the Beautiful, Gonna Roll the Bones, and the lesser known Black Corridor.

Part of Heroes and Horror's strength is that many of its stories are from the 1970s, when FL was on a hot streak. The two Lankhmar stories are effective displays of his richly detailed yet effortless prose, while also being tautly plotted.

Well-researched Jungian mystique seeps through in both A Bit of the Dark World (which I've already reviewed) and Dark Wings, which was originally created for a Ramsey Campbell anthology.

Of the four shorter length horror stories, Midnight in the Mirror World is as good a sample as any of Leiber's easy genius with the scares. And Belsen Express needs no introduction. The latter also features one of the top tier FL opening lines:

"George Simister watched the blue flames writhe beautifully in the gate, like dancing girls drenched with alcohol and set afire, and congratulated himself on having survived well through the middle of the Twentieth Century without getting involved in military service, world-saving, or any activities that interfered with the earning and enjoyment of money".

The real MVP, though, is The Terror from the Depths, a rarely-discussed Lovecraft homage overflowing with references, and obviously done with feeling (Leiber had personal letter correspondence with Lovecraft, which can be found in Writers of the Dark). Refer my earlier review.

Anyway, onto The Mer She, which was was written especially for Heroes and Horrors - already a good indication that this isn't the common "barrel scrapings" style collection that various publishers tend to throw together.

When I first read it, it thought it not much more than a rehash of Sea Magic. On the re-read, it is still obviously a companion piece (in that the first features Fafhrd, second the Mouser, and both feature sea monsters of one sort or the other) but it's so much more than just a rehash.

It's got some great comedy to boot, based primarily on the Mousers repeated lies to his crewman - yeesh, the Mouser is an unabashed scoundrel, isn't he. Certainly nothing like the pure "can't-do-wrong" Tolkienesque types. I certainly prefer my "heroes" to verge toward anti-hero, and even cross the line, and I adore the fact that Lankhmar is full of smoke, black magic, cunning, and sleaze.

In his forward to Heroes and Horrors, John Jakes provides the following passage from The Mer She as an example of Leiber's unmatched prose:

"The Mouser turned his head and looked down into her large green eyes, across which golden gleams moved rhythmically with the lamp's measured swinging".

For me, Sea Magic takes the belt overall. I just think it reads more smoothly, and the monster encounter is slightly more vivid. Don't let that deter you from reading The Mer She, though. They are both amazing, to be read over and over. How the Mouser uses the expensive silks and cloths in his battle is particularly memorable.

The Mer She was also subject to some wonderful cover art, as shown in the Wiki article: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heroes_and_Horrors#

Born John Middleton Murry Jr. Also wrote novels under the name Colin Murry, "Colin" being an early nickname.

As far as I know, Mr Cowper kept a low profile in the science fiction circles. He attended an authors workshop with Christopher Priest among others, resulting in a sharp and witty article from Priest (Priest rated Mr Cowper highly!). https://christopher-priest.co.uk/essays/contemporaries-portrayed/a-meeting-with-richard-cowper

Mr Cowper is criminally underrated. I just finished reading (again) The Twilight of Briareus".

It's a smashing novel, as Priest says, a fresh take on the disaster trope.

Essentially, a distant star explodes, and the story concerns both the natural disasters and the mysterious worldwide infertility that follows. Extra terrestrial life is hinted at.

The protagonist, Calvin, is an typical Cowper character - an earnest yet quick witted academic. He is clearly modelled off Cowper himself, who read Anglo Saxon and taught at private schools. Both Cowper and Leiber put huge swaths of autobiographical elements into their fictions, to my delight.

People have commented that this book is overly ambitious, being a fusion of both diaster and first contact. I never understood this critique. The novel is deliberately and refreshingly patient with its revelations. The restraint shown by the author is nothing short of extraordinary. If you're looking for fast paced "Consider Phlebas" style writings, look elsewhere...

The prose is, as expected, wonderful. Particularly beautiful is the description of the exploded star (as visible from earth), the snow-filled future visions, and the scene involving the pond and the pair of dragonflies.

It's a real pity Mr Cowper is a relative unknown. I sometimes think he's almost embarrassed to be lumped with pulp authors like, say, Doc Smith.

The cover I posted is simply epic. It reminds of the cover for Led Zeppelin's album Houses of the Holy. However, there are also versions of this novel which have, quite frankly, ghastly cover art. These can be found on r/bad science fiction covers.

I don't think Cowper or Leiber ever met. Who knows if they would have got along. I do think that Twilight of Briareus has a lot of heart - just like Leiber's The Wanderer.

Equally good are Cowper's White Bird of Kinship Trilogy, and his final novel, the elegiac ghost story Shades of Darkness.