Strange Wonders: A Collection of Rare Fritz Leiber Works

Edited by Benjamin Szumskyj.

In regards to Fritz Leiber, I believe that publication of such unpublished and uncollected works only strengthens his literary greatness. Through fragments, drafts and practice writings, we can clearly see the evolution from Leiber, the amateur, to Leiber, the professional. We are exposed to the clear way in which he dedicated his life to the written word and trained his abilities to produce the award-winning masterpieces that we read even today. While some may object to such a volume, I ask them this — is not the dream just as important as the empire that had been built from it? Are not the blueprints and sketches as impressive as the buildings and the artwork? We must place all this into perspective, and see that publishing such works is not a smear upon Leiber’s legacy. Rather, it completes a full circle. If we are asked to be thorough in the biography of an individual, then we must also do so for their bibliography.

— Benjamin Szumskyj, from his Introduction

Contents:

• Introduction — The Cream of the Damned by Benjamin Szumskyj

Fragments, Drafts and Miscellanea

• Tale of the Grain Ship — A Fafhrd and Gray Mouser Fragment
• Insanity
• Opaque Corridor
• Preadator Universe
• Social Inventor
• The Adventurer
• The Communicants
• The Feeler
• The Wrong Track
• Trap
• Boom, Boom, Boom!
• Concerning Tribalism and Loving the World
• Final Commentary
• Insanity [2]
• Night Ramble
• Privacy
• Semicentennial
• The Unhuman
• To Jonquil
• Let’s Pursue Happiness
• Notes for Study of Mac
• Practice Writing
• The Lust of the Alien
• Over Twenty Titled and Untitled Fragments

In the Beginning

• Introduction by Fritz Leiber
• Adventures of a Balloon
• Further Adventures of a Balloon
• Riches and Power
• Children of Jerusalem
• The Road to Jordan
• After the Darkness

Poetry

• Demons of the Upper Air
• Ghosts
• The Recognition of Death
• Challenge
• Night of Death
• The Gray Mouser: I
• The Gray Mouser: II
• The Midnight Wall
• 5447 Ridgewood Court
• The Other Side
• Past Druid Guards
• The Voice of Man
• Poor Little Ape
• Santa Monica Beach at Sunset
• 1959: the Beach at Santa Monica

Other Works

• The Mystery of the Japanese Clock
• Quicks around the Zodiac — A Farce