Conjure Wife
Conjure Wife was originally published in Unknown Worlds in April 1943.
What if half the world's population (the female half) practiced witchcraft and kept it a secret from men?
Norman Saylor, a professor of ethnology, discovers his wife Tansy has put his
research in the field of "Negro Conjure Magic" into practice for the
sake of protecting him from other spell-casting faculty wives who wish
to further their own husbands careers. A man of science, Norman has only an academic interest in the subject of magic and superstition and
forces Tansy to cease all her workings and to burn all her charms. As
soon as Norman burns the last charm, things start to fall apart. He has a run-in with a former student, his student-secretary accuses him of
having seduced her, and he is passed over for a promotion that had
seemed certain.
Norman begins to have more than his fair share of small accidents: cutting himself while shaving, stepping on carpet
tacks, cutting his hand with a letter opener, and more. He begins to
imagine that there is a dark presence exploiting his fear of trucks.
Tansy takes his curse upon herself forcing him to overcome his disbelief and use witchcraft to save his wife’s body — and her soul.
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Fritz Leiber
Fritz Reuter Leiber, Jr. (1910–1992) was an American author of fantasy, horror, and science fiction. The son of a pair of Shakespearian actors, Leiber was also an actor, expert chess player, and champion fencer. Born in Chicago in 1910, Leiber spent his youth touring with his parents' theater company. He graduated with honors in philosophy from the University of Chicago in 1932. Leiber married Jonquil Stephens in 1936. In 1938, their son Justin was born. After Jonquil's death in 1969, Fritz Leiber moved to San Francisco, where he died on September 5, 1992.
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