Essays in Books

Bloom, Harold, ed.  "Fritz Leiber."  Modern Fantasy Writers. New York:  Chelsea House, 1995.

A biographical and critical essay with excerpts form important works of criticism by Robert Bloch, Marshall McLuhan, Damon Knight, Francis Lathrop, Tom Shippey, John Clute, Justin Leiber, Jeff Frane, Tom Staicar, and Bruce Byfield.  Also provides a selective bibliography.

Bloom, Harold. "Fritz Leiber."  Science Fiction Writers of the Golden Age.  New York:  Chelsea House, 1995.

A biographical and critical essay with excerpts from important works of criticism by August Derleth, Marshall McLuhan, Damon Knight, Judith Merril, Jeff Frane, Justin Leiber, Tom Staicar, John Huntington, and Bruce Byfield. Also provides a selective bibliography.

Eisfeld, Rainer.  "Der reale Horror unseres Jahrhunderts:  Einleitung zu Fritz Leibers Expresszug nach Belsen."  Das Science Fiction Jahr No. 8.  Ed. Wolfgang Jeschke. Munchen:  Heyne. 1993.

Frisch, Adam J., and Joseph Martos.  "Religious Imagination and Imagined Religion."  The Transcendent Adventure:  Studies in Religion in Science Fiction and Fantasy.  Ed. Robert Reilly.  Westport, CT:  Greenwood Press, 1985.

Discusses the imagined, game of chance religion on Leiber's "Gonna Roll the Bones."

Heideman, Eric M., Rodger Gerberding, and Terry A. Geary. "An Interview with Fritz Leiber." Tales of the Unanticipated (Fall/Winter 1989/1990): 22-29.

Kadry, Richard, and Larry McCaffery.  "Cyberpunk 101:  A Schematic Guide to Storming the Reality Studio."  Storming the Reality Studio:  A Casebook of Cyberpunk and Postmodern Science Fiction.  Ed. Larry McCaffery.  Durham, NC: Duke University Press, 1991.

A brief discussion of the wicked and sinister story "Coming Attraction."

Laidlaw, Mark.  "Our Lady of Darkness, by Fritz Leiber." Horror: Another 100 Best Books. Ed. Stephen Jones and Kim Newman.  New York:  Carroll and Graf, 2005.

A reminiscence of Laidlaw's visit to see Fritz Leiber with commentary on the novel Our Lady of Darkness.  Notes how Leiber transformed the ghost story into contemporary settings.

Leiber, Justin.  "Fritz Leiber and Eyes." Philosophers Look at Science Fiction.  Ed. Nicholas D. Smith. Chicago: Nelson-Hall, 1982.

An interesting biographical and critical study of Leiber by his son Justin.  Fritz's work is shown to be very autobiographical.  In his stories, his protagonists are continually in search of themselves.  An expanded version of the essay in the magazine Starship above.

Moorcock, Michael.  "Aspects of Fantasy."  Exploring Fantasy Worlds:  Essays on Fantastic Literature.  Ed.  Ed. Darrell Schweitzer.  San Bernardino, CA:  Borgo Press, 1985.

An excellent overview of different types of fantasy literature beginning with Horace Walpole's The Castle of Otranto.  Moves into a discussion of Sword and Sorcery and regards Leiber's stories in this vein more palatable than Dunsany and Robert E. Howard.

Moskowitz, Sam.  "Fritz Leiber."  Seekers of Tomorrow: Masters of Modern Science Fiction..  By Sam Moskowitz.  New York: Ballantine, 1967.

One of the first and finest biographical and critical essays on Leiber.  Touches on all of the facets of Leiber's fiction and shows from his life how varied and rich his experience and art becomes.

O'Donohoe, Nick.  "Condemned to Life:  'The Mortal Immortal' and 'The Man Who Never Grew Young."  Death and the Serpent:  Immortality in Science Fiction and Fantasy.  Ed. Carl B. Yoke and Donald M.. Hassler.  Westport, CT:  Greenwood Press, 1985.

Compares and contrasts Mary Shelley's story "The Mortal Immortal" with Leiber's "The Man Who Never Grew Young.  The themes are similar, but the differences lie in the audiences for which they were intended.  In Mary Shelley's case, with readers familiar with Romanticism, and Leiber, with readers aware of the atomic age.

Page, Gerald W. "Fritz Leiber:  Conjure Wife (1943)."  Horror: 100 Best Books.  Ed. Stephen Jones and Kim Newman.  New York: Carroll and Graf, 1988.

Page asserts, as many critics have, that Leiber takes many timeworn motifs of horror fiction and endows them with his own unique, modern vision.

Platt, Charles.  "Fritz Leiber."  Dream Makers:  Volume II. By Charles Platt. New York:  Berkley, 1983.

An essay interview with Leiber conducted at the annual Conference on the Fantastic in the Arts in Boca Raton, Florida.  Touches on all the facets of his career that reveals his innate humility and humanity.  He discusses his periods of alcoholism and the difficulty he had in earning a living from writing.  Essential reading for the Leiber student.

Reginald, Robert. "One is One and All Alone:  Fritz Leiber's Solipsistic Fantasy (1983)."  Xenograffiti: Essays in Fantastic Literature.  By Robert Reginald.  San Bernardino, CA Borgo Press, 1996.

A discussion of the publishing history and the themes of the novel, with remarks about the "interwoven questions of delusion, solipsism, behaviorism, insanity/sanity, responsibility toward others, and the machinelike nature of modern society make this a particularly enjoyable book."  He goes on to say that "one could interpret this novel as the epitome of paranoia or as a fictional treatise on mass self-delusion, as a parable on the temptations of power or as a thinly disguised tract on elitism, pro or con."

Schweitzer, Darrell.  "Fritz Leiber."  Science Fiction Voices #1.  Ed. Darrell Schweitzer.  San Bernardino, CA: Borgo Press, 1979.

Schweitzer, Darrell.  "Fritz Leiber." Speaking of the Fantastic. Holicong, PA:  Wildside Press, 2002.

A good interview from various points of view: science fiction, fantasy, and horror.

Stamm, Michael E.  "Poetry of Darkness:  The Horror Fiction of Fritz Leiber." Discovering Modern Horror Fiction II.  Ed. Darrell Schweitzer.  Mercer Island, WA:  Starmont House, 1988.

A general introductory essay about Leiber's horror fiction, noting, as many readers have, the intrinsic humanity of Leiber's vision.  Evaluates the stories and the novels with broad, yet precise, comments.

Walker, Paul.  "Fritz Leiber."  Speaking of Science Fiction. By Paul Walker.  Oradell, NJ: Luna Publications, 1978.