General Studies

Aldiss, Brian.  The Trillion Year Spree:  The History of Science Fiction.  New York:  Atheneum, 1966.

Discusses Philip Jose Farmer and Leiber as established authors breaking through the new wave science fiction of the sixties with something their own.  Touches on The Big Time and The Wanderer in this respect.

Andriano, Joseph.  Our Ladies of Darkness:  Feminine Daemonology in Male Gothic Fiction. University Park, PA: Pennsylvania State University Press, 1993.

Discusses Leiber's Our Ladies of Darkness and argues that Leiber "is consciously deriving his plot from archetypal patterns . . . the result is a mere expository, almost a mechanical device rather than a spontaneous mythos."

Ashley, Mike.  The Time Machines: The Story of the Science-Fiction Pulp Magazines from the beginning to 1950.  Liverpool: Liverpool University Press, 2000.

Leiber is mentioned in several places in this history of the science fiction magazines; and Gather, Darkness! is discussed for a page.

Ashley, Mike.  Transformations:  The Story of the Science Fiction Magazines from 1950 to 1970.  Liverpool:  Liverpool University Press, 2005.

Leiber is mentioned briefly in dozens of places in the book, showing that Leiber continued as a major writer over many years.

Attebery, Brian.  The Fantasy Tradition in American Literature: From Irving to Le Guin.  Bloomington:  Indiana University Press, 1980.

Leiber is mentioned briefly but is noted as a major figure in fantasy literature.

Auerbach, Nina.  Our Vampires, Ourselves. Chicago and London:  University of Chicago Press, 1995.

Leiber's female vampire drains the spirit of her victims. She is a psychic vampire.  This psychic vampire is "the essence of cherished social images and beliefs."

Bartter, Martha A.  The Way to Ground Zero: The Atomic Bomb in American Science Fiction.  Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 1988.

Leiber is discussed throughout this study.  Leiber explores the horrors of the aftermath of nuclear war in such novels as Gather, Darkness and The Big Time.  Brings into play the short story, "The Last Love Letter" as well.  Throughout these works, Leiber poses the question, how can man do this to himself when he regards himself as basically good?

Carter, Lin.  Imaginary Worlds.  New York:  Ballantine, 1973.

Good commentary on the Fafhrd and Gray Mouser tales, noting that Leiber was more influenced by Dunsany than Robert E. Howard.  The stories are mentioned at several places in the book, showing how important Leiber was to sword and sorcery fantasy.

Clareson, Thomas D.  Understanding Contemporary American Science Fiction: The Formative Period, 1926-70. University of South Carolina Press, 1992.

Observes that Leiber's The Big Time "may be read as a morality play condemning militarism."  This theme is also that of Leiber's The Change War.  Leiber's The Wanderer "parodies both science fiction itself and some of its most devoted adherents."

Colavito, Jason.  Knowing Fear: Science, Knowledge and the Development of the Horror Genre.  Jefferson, NC: McFarland, 2008.

Selects a minor science fiction story, "Mr. Bauer and the Atoms" and relates it to the horrors of nuclear war.

De Camp, L. Sprague.  Literary Swordsmen and Sorcerors:  The Makers of Heroic Fantasy.  Sauk City, WI:  Arkham House, 1976.

A telling of the oft-told story of how Leiber and Harry O. Fischer began the Fafhrd and Gray Mouser tales. De Camp writes, "These witty, ironic, light-hearted, action-packed tales are, I should say, as enjoyable as any stories in the genre being written today."

Derleth, August, ed.  H. P. Lovecraft: A Symposium. Folcroft, PA: Folcroft Library Editions, 1972.

Franson, Donald, and Howard DeVore.  A History of the Hugo, Nebula, and International Fantasy Awards.  Misfit Press, 1981.

Lists Leiber's several awards.

Gaiman, Neil, et al.  Adventures in the Dream Trade.  Framingham, MA: NESFA Press, 2002.

Grant, Donald M.  Talbot Mundy, Messenger of Destiny. West Kingston, RI: Donald M. Grant, 1983.

Harris-Fain, Darren. Understanding Contemporary American Science Fiction:  The Age of Maturity, 1970-2000.   Columbia:  University of South Carolina Press, 2005.

Discusses Leiber's sword and sorcery fiction in relation to the larger science fiction genre and points out that Leiber's success (and awards)  occur at a time when the genres of science fiction and fantasy were becoming less different, and the popularity of Tolkien was gaining momentum.

Hassler, Donald, and Clyde Wilcox.  New Boundaries in Political Science Fiction.  Columbia: University of South Carolina Press, 2008.

Henderson, Jeanne J. and Brenda G. Piggins.  Literary and Library Prizes.  New York:  Bowker, 1973.

Lists Leiber's several awards.

Huntington, John.  Rationalizing Genius: Ideological Strategies in the Classic American Science Fiction Short Story.  New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press, 1989.

Comments on the "essential moral displacement" of Leiber's "Coming Attraction" and says that the "interpretive problem posed by the story is whether we are to read the kinky future as an emancipation from our own inhibitions or as a degeneration from the 'wholesomeness' of our own, however limited, system of gender roles."

Joshi, S.T.  Classics and Commercials:  Some Notes on Horror Fiction.  New York:  Hippocampus Press, 2009.

In this collection of short pieces of commentary by Joshi, Leiber is mentioned at many places throughout.

Joshi, S. T.  A Dreamer and a Visionary:  H.P. Lovecraft in His Time.  Liverpool:  Liverpool University Press, 2001.

Discusses Leiber and Philip Jose Farmer as very aware of the New Wave science fiction of the fifties.  Discusses Leiber's The Big Time and The Wanderer as breaking through the science fiction of the fifties and sixties with something very new. Discusses Leiber's long distance relationship with Lovecraft and Lovecraft's influence on Leiber.

Joshi, S.T. The Evolution of the Weird Tale.  New York: Hippocampus Press, 2004.

Reprints Joshi's essay in Fantasy Commentator below.

Joshi, S.T., ed.  Icons of Horror and the Supernatural:  An Encyclopedia of Our Worst Nightmares.  2 vols. Westport, CT:  Greenwood Press, 2007.

A fine collection of essays on common horror motifs, such as the ghost and vampire, in literature and the other arts  Leiber's horror novels and short stories are discussed or mentioned throughout.

Joshi, S.T.  The Rise and the Fall of the Cthulhu Mythos.  Poplar Bluff, MO:  Mythos Books, 2008.

Mainly discusses Leiber's "The Terror from the Depths" and describes it as "an extraordinarily rich and complex novellette that, as Bruce Byfield has shown, is a model for Leiber's incorporation of the mythic theories of Jung and Joseph Campbell in his later work."

Kies, Cosette.  Presenting Young Adult Horror Fiction.  New York: Twayne, 1992.

A brief paragraph about Leiber's Conjure Wife.  Notes the dichotomy between good and evil and the conflict of belief and unbelief of the supernatural.  Says "A more disturbing element in this book, at least for feminists, is the theme that in one way or another, all women practice witchcraft."

King, Stephen.  Danse Macabre.  New York:  Berkeley, 2001.

Notes that Leiber is the pioneer of "urban horror" in such works as "Smoke Ghost" and Our Lady of Darkness.  Relates this outlook to that of Ramsey Campbell.

Knight, Damon.  In Search of Wonder.  Chicago: Advent, 1956.

Contends that Leiber's Conjure Wife is one of the most convincing and terrifying horror novels.

McCaffery, Larry, ed.  Storming the Reality Studio:  A Casebook of Cyberpunk and Postmodern Science Fiction.  Duke University Press, 1991.

Notes that Leiber's story "Coming Attraction" is "Virtually without precedent in 1950's SF, this grim short story of the future was told in sharp, surreal images, highlighted by an unflinching noir viciousness and terse prose."

McLuhan, Marshall.  The Mechanical Bride: Folklore of Industrial Man.  Boston:  Beacon Press, 1951.

A brief discussion of Leiber's "The Girl with the Hungry Eyes" that discusses this female vampire as a monster of the spirit.  Leiber's girl is a metaphor for the excesses of twentieth-century capitalism.

Martin, Philip.  A Guide to Fantasy Literature:  Thoughts on Stories of Wonder and Enchantment.  Milwaukee:  Crickhollow Books, 2009.

Discusses Leiber's Fafhrd and Gray Mouser stories emphasizing how free and fun-loving are his heroes.  Discusses the profound evil of Leiber's horror novel Our Lady of Darkness.

Mendelson, Farah, and Edward James.  A Short History of Fantasy.  London: Middlesex University Press, 2009.

Mentions Leiber's sword and sorcery tales and the novel Conjure Wife.

Phillips, Michael. Philosophy and Science Fiction.  Buffalo, NY: Prometheus Books, 1984.

An anthology with indepth introductions that relate selected science fiction stories to their philosophical ideas.  Leiber's "Catch that Zeppelin!" is discussed in terms of the philosophy of true or real self.  Discusses this notion in philososophical terms related Leiber's story about Adolph Hitler.

Pierce, John J.  Odd Genre: A Study of Imagination and Evolution.  Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 1994.

Schweitzer, Darrell, ed.  Discovering Classic Fantasy Fiction.  Gillete, NJ: Wildside Press, 1996.

In essays on Henry Kuttner and H. Warner Munn, Leiber is mentioned as a prominent modern fantasist.

Schweitzer, Darrell.  Discovering H.P. Lovecraft.  Borgo Press, 1987.

Discusses Leiber's essay on Lovecraft, "A Literary Copernicus."

Schweitzer, Darrell. Exploring Fantasy Worlds:  Essays on Fantasy Literature.  San Bernardino, CA: Borgo Press, 1985.