Books
Alting, Mark Capemtier. Informatie over Fritz Leiber. Amsterdam: Meulenhoff, 1987.
Byfield, Bruce. Witches of the Mind: A Critical Study of Fritz Leiber. West Warwick, RI: Necronomicon Press, 1991.
A full biographical and critical study discussing the influence of the psychological works of C.G. Jung on his early and later period. Emphasizes the influence of Lovecraft on the horror tales and especially on the novels Conjure Wife and Our Lady of Darkness. Draws much material from Byfield's M.A.thesis on Leiber.
Frane, Jeff. Fritz Leiber. Mercer Island, WA: Starmont House, 1980.
An overview of Leiber's life and works, noting that, unlike other science fiction, fantasy, and horror, Leiber stresses the humanity of his characters. A chronology of Leiber's life, a biographical chapter, and a primary and secondary bibliography round out the book.
Leiber, Justin, and others. Fritz Leiber Tribute. Special chapter written and added to the deluxe edition of Leiber's last book, Gummitch and Friends.
Staicar, Tom. Fritz Leiber. New York: Frederick Ungar, 1983. (Favorable Review by Katherine Thorpe). Library Journal 108.9 (1 May 1983): 908.
A very thorough biographical and critical study of Leiber, noting how his work was ground-breaking and had influence on later writers. Chapters on the sword and sorcery fantasies, the supernatural horror novels and tales, the science fiction novels, with a full bibliography make this an indispensable study.
Szumskyj, Benjamin, ed. Fritz Leiber: Critical Essays. Jefferson, NC: McFarland, 2007.
Essays:
"The Word and the Wild: The Problem of Civilization in the Works of Fritz Leiber," by Robert H. Waugh.
A thorough and detailed reading of the heroic fantasies, the science fiction, and the supernatural horror. Argues that the Word, the rational mind, is always at odds with the Wild, or the irrational. Shows how this theme spans all genres of fantasy, science fiction, and supernatural horror.
"'Story-Telling Wonder-Questing, Mortal Me': Some Thoughts on the Transformations of 'The Pale Brown Thing' into Our Lady of Darkness," by John Howard.
An excellent and detailed work of textual criticism that shows the transformation of the short story "The Pale Brown Thing" into Our Lady of Darkness. Argues that both works should be given equal importance and complement each other.
"But Time and Chance Happeneth to Them All: The Genesis and Applications of Fritz Leiber's Theory of Time," by Justin Leiber.
Fritz Leiber's son, the philosophy professor Justin, writes in somewhat fanciful and biographical-factual terms of his father's fascination with Time. Studies Conjure Wife, You're All Alone, and Gather, Darkness in terms of Leiber's views about time.
"Death, Rebirth, and Existentialism in Fritz Leiber," by Gary William Crawford.
Studies the impact of Jungian psychology and the existentialism of Sartre on Leiber's fantasy and horror novels, and shows how Death is personified in such works as Our Lady of Darkness, "Smoke Ghost," and some of the Fafhrd and Grey Mouser heroic fantasies. Shows that in Leiber, one finds man poised between life and death--an existential moment between dark and light, and the light banishes Leiber's demons, and the loss he felt over the untimely death of his wife.
"Thank God They're on Our Side (I Think): The Cat as Alien in Fritz Leiber's Fiction," by Davide Mana.
As Leiber was a great cat lover, cats figure in a number of his novels and stories. Notes the paradoxical nature of cats: they seem cold and independent but can be loving and needy.
"'Feed Me, Baby, Feed Me': Beyond the Pleasure Principle in Fritz Leiber's 'The Girl with the Hungry Eyes," by John Langan.
Brings into the discussion Marshall McLuhan's 1951 study The Mechanical Bride and Freud's essay, "Beyond the Pleasure Principle," to show that the love-sex-capitalism themes one finds in Leiber are first crystalized in Leiber's vampire-like female character.
"Science and Superstition: Fritz Leiber's Modernization of Gothic," by S.T. Joshi.
In Leiber's early work, he "emphatically showed how the horror tale could be used to highlight central issues in contemporary social life, from rapid and perhaps uncontrolled urbanization to the growth of religious skepticism, and from the psychological tensions of modern life to the devastation of a world war."
"The Allure of the Eccentric in the Poetry and Fiction of Fritz Leiber," by Bruce Byfield.
Leiber's poems "express in concentrated form many of the concerns and attitudes that inform the fest of his work, including the Jungian with the Anima and the Shadow that underpins much of his best-known work."
"Power Plays: Explorations of Social Power in Fritz Leiber's Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser Adventures," by S. C. Bryce.
An interesting medication of the themes of power in Leiber. "Leiber wrote about themes of social power and control in several different forms: family, politics, and religion. Throughout, he drew on his personal experiences and thought."
"A Spectre is Haunting Chicago: The Lovecraft-Leiberian Connection,"by Henrik Harksen.
An essay that reviews and responds to the debate over Lovecraft's influence on Leiber, and points out that it is very strong, unlike most previous critics have written. Contends that Leiber's novel A Specter is Haunting Texas is a veiled tribute to Lovecraft.
"He Wrote in the Valley of the Shadow of Death: Deconstructing Gather, Darkness!" by Benjamin Szumskyj.
Argues that the year Leiber spent at the theological seminary had a profound impact on the children's stories that make up In the Beginning and especially the 1950 novel, Gather, Darkness! Discusses Leiber's personal views about religion and Christianity that he felt was an aspect of Western civilization that could not be ignored.
Tucker, James, and Erin McKee, eds. Touchstone: A Tribute to Fritz Leiber and Ray Bradbury. Salt Lake City, UT: Mysterious Stranger Press, 1978.
A collection of essays on Leiber and Bradbury. The essays on Leiber are a biographical reminiscence by Marion Zimmer Bradley, "My Love Affair with Fritz Leiber: Respectful Reminiscences," an essay on his lifelong friendship with Leiber by Harry Otto Fischer, "Recollections of Fritz Leiber," and Ray Ramsay's appreciation, "An Inadequate Attempt to Write About Fritz Leiber." A brief selective bibliography of Leiber is included.