In this bi-weekly series reviewing classic science fiction and fantasy books, Alan Brown looks at the front lines and frontiers of the field; books about soldiers and spacers, scientists and engineers, explorers and adventurers. Stories full of what Shakespeare used to refer to as “alarums and excursions”: battles, chases, clashes, and the stuff of excitement.
Two of the greatest characters in fantasy fiction are Fritz Leiber’s Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser, a pair of adventurers who are a study in contrasts, but still the best of friends and a remarkably effective team. Leiber’s tales about the duo appeared across an impressive four decades, with the later tales every bit as good as the early ones. The first of these stories was purchased back in 1939 by famed science fiction editor John Campbell—something that might surprise people who don’t realize Campbell also edited the short-lived fantasy magazine Unknown.
It’s no wonder that Fafhrd and the Grey Mouser are such popular characters. The world of fiction has always been enriched by tales of partnerships: two or more people working together can often be much more interesting than a solo hero. They have someone with whom they can talk, argue, collaborate, and fight with. Sometimes these partnerships are equal, while other relationships are between leader and sidekick. And the interactions between characters can be much more interesting, and revealing, than any internal monologue—think of Holmes and Watson; Kirk, Spock and McCoy; the Three Musketeers; Batman and Robin; Captain America and Bucky; Don Quixote and Sancho Panza. Differences in personalities can add a lot of energy to a narrative, and Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser are as different as two people can be, with Fafhrd large but sensitive, and the Mouser skeptical and clever. The two adventurers also have weapons that mirror their respective personalities. Fafhrd’s sword is a massive two-handed claymore he dubs Graywand, and he is also skilled with other weapons. The Gray Mouser fights with a saber he calls Scalpel and a dagger called Cat’s Claw, and dabbles in a variety of magics, both light and dark.
The duo’s popularity has led to their appearances in comics, in games, and in the works of other authors, sometimes as themselves, and sometimes as inspirations for similar characters. To the regret of fans, however, their adventures have never made it to the silver screen, or even to television.
The adventures of Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser have been covered before here at Tor.com, by Tim Callahan and Mordicai Knode in their always-excellent “Advanced Readings in D&D” column.
About the Author
Fritz Leiber (1910-1992) ranks among the greatest American writers of horror, fantasy, and science fiction, whose long career that started in the 1930s and continued at a high level into the 1970s. He was the son of actors, and studied theology, philosophy and psychology, with those intellectual pursuits giving his work an added depth that many of his contemporaries lacked. He was encouraged to become a writer through his correspondence with H. P. Lovecraft, and some of his early stories were inspired by Lovecraft’s Cthulhu Mythos. Leiber’s writing career was also influenced by his long correspondence with his friend Harry Otto Fischer, to whom Lieber gives credit for creating the characters of Fafhrd and the Grey Mouser, although it was Leiber who wrote nearly all of their adventures (reportedly, Leiber’s tallness and the small stature of Fischer also inspired the look of the two characters).
Leiber was a prolific author who produced a diverse body of work. While he alternated throughout his career between tales of horror, science fiction, and fantasy, he always seemed most comfortable with fantasy. His work was infused with a keen sense of fun and wit. He was liberal in his politics, and his work was often satirical, sometimes featuring biting satire. His writing was also dark and often complex, and Leiber was open about his struggles with alcoholism, which informed some of his works. His writing included topics like time travel, alternate history, witchcraft, and cats, and he was more open in portraying sex than many of his contemporaries. One of his works that’s stuck in my memory over the years is the sardonic A Specter is Haunting Texas, which I read in Galaxy magazines borrowed from my dad in the late 1960s.
Leiber’s work garnered many awards, including six Hugos and three Nebulas. His fantasy awards included the Grand Master of Fantasy Award and the Life Achievement Lovecraft Award. He was the fifth writer selected as a SFWA Grand Master, and was inducted into the Science Fiction Hall of Fame in 2001.
As with many authors who were writing in the early 20th Century, a number of works by Leiber can be found on Project Gutenberg, including a personal favorite of mine, “A Pail of Air,” a story I read in my youth that haunted me for years.
Of Swords and Sorcery
The subgenre that came to be known as Sword and Sorcery (a designation reportedly coined by Fritz Leiber himself) has its roots in the adventure tales that filled pulp magazines in the early decades of the twentieth century. Many of those periodicals included tales of sword-wielding warriors in the Middle Ages, or in the far-off lands of the Orient. Then, in magazines like Weird Tales, authors like Robert E. Howard began to infuse elements of magic, horror, and fantasy into these tales (you can read my previous column on Robert E. Howard’s character Conan here). Fritz Leiber’s tales of Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser were another iteration of this new brand of adventure tales. Another close cousin of Sword and Sorcery tales were the Planetary Romances, where characters like Edgar Rice Burroughs’ John Carter and Leigh Brackett’s Eric John Stark fought magicians on Mars or elsewhere with plenty of swordplay (you can see a review of Brackett’s work here).
These stories, however, were long confined to the relatively narrow audience of the pulp magazines. As I recounted here, however, the paperback publication of The Lord of the Rings in the 1960s marked a turning point, generating wide interest in quasi-medieval adventures. This created a demand that publishers rushed to satisfy, looking for similar stories. One source was the work of Robert E. Howard, which gained even greater popularity than he had enjoyed during his lifetime. And of course there were new authors, including Michael Moorcock with his dark tales of Elric of Melniboné. While Fritz Leiber had been an early writer of these tales, his career was still going strong during this period, and he was happy to continue writing the adventures of Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser.
Fantasy adventures have become an established and highly popular part of the field these days, with the grittier of the tales still referred to as Sword and Sorcery stories, and those that follow in the footsteps of Tolkien being referred to alternatively as High, Heroic, or Epic Fantasy. An article on the theme of sword and sorcery can be found online at the Encyclopedia of Science Fiction, for those interested in further reading.
Swords and Deviltry
This book is not a novel, but instead consists of a pair of introductions and three closely linked tales, collected in 1970. It is first introduced by the author, who without any trace of modesty, false or otherwise, states:
This is Book One of the Saga of Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser, the two greatest swordsmen ever to be in this or any other universe of fact or fiction, more skillful masters of the blade even than Cyrano de Bergerac, Scar Gordon, Conan, John Carter, D’Artagnan, Brandoch Daha, and Anra Devadoris (Footnote: Brandoch Daha is a character from E.R. Eddison’s The Worm Ouroboros, while the last, Anra Devadoris, is another of Leiber’s own characters). Two comrades to the death and black comedians for all eternity, lusty, brawling, wine-bibbing, imaginative, romantic, earthy, thievish, sardonic, humorous, forever seeking adventure across the wide world, fated forever to encounter the most deadly of enemies, the most fell of foes, the most delectable of girls, and the most dire of sorcerers and supernatural bests and other personages.
…which is a much better capsule description of those characters than I could ever write.
The next introduction is a short vignette written in 1957 that introduces the reader to the mysterious world of Nehwon, a quasi-medieval land that sits apart from ours in both space and time, a land of decaying cities, mysterious monsters, magicians and sorcerers.
The first tale, “The Snow Women,” is a novella that first appeared in Fantastic magazine in 1970. In it, we meet Fafhrd, who is not yet the brawny hero of the later tales, but instead a slender and callow youth, who still lives with his mother at age 18 As his mother wishes, he wears the white clothing normally worn by women of their Snow Clan, is trained as a bard, and is expected to speak in a high tenor voice. His mother is the leader of the snow women of the title, and a powerful witch. Fafhrd’s father died after climbing a mountain against his wife’s wishes, and there are some who say her witchcraft led to his death. In fact, throughout the story, Leiber never makes it clear whether the weather, falling trees, and other occurrences are the result of magic, or simply coincidences, which heightens the narrative tension. And Fafhrd’s mother is not only overly controlling, but also insists that they pitch their tent on top of his father’s grave (Leiber is not above using his knowledge of psychology to bring an element of horror to a tale). Fafhrd, despite his appearance of obedience, chafes at the constraints placed on him. He has been on a raiding expedition to the south, and is fascinated by the lures of civilization. He also has gotten a girlfriend pregnant, although later finds that his mother is willing to accept this development as long as the young couple moves in with her.
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Warrior of the Altaii
The plot of the story kicks into action when an acting troupe visits the clan—something the men welcome, and the women only tolerate. Fafhrd is attracted to, and sleeps with, one of the women in the troupe, the worldly Vlana. While he is fascinated by her civilized charms, she is also amoral, and in her own way as demanding as his mother. Fafhrd has a choice, either to abide by his mother’s wishes and stay with his clan and girlfriend, or to succumb to the lures of Vlana and the civilizations of the south. And in order to pursue his dreams, he has to contend with rivals in his clan, his mother’s spells, his girlfriend’s wishes, and other men who are pursuing Vlana. Since he has to travel south to meet the Gray Mouser, we know where the story will be going, but getting there provides a fun and gripping tale.
“The Unholy Grail” is a novelette that also appeared in Fantastic magazine in 1962, which introduces us to the youngster who will become the Gray Mouser, but at this point in his life is simply known as the Mouse. He returns to the house of his sorcerer master, Glavas Rho, only to find that he has been murdered by the cruel and evil local Duke. The Mouse decides to pursue revenge, using all the skills the sorcerer had taught him…and some that he had warned him to avoid. His pursuit is complicated by the fact that Mouse is in love with the Duke’s sweet and sensitive daughter, Ivrian. This does not deter the Mouse, and even the fact that he uses Ivrian as a channel for revenge against her father does not extinguish her love for him. Thus, with his true love in tow, the Mouse heads off for the big city and a fateful meeting with Fafhrd.
The third tale, “Ill Met in Lankhmar,” is the jewel of this collection: not only one of the best of Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser’s adventures, but a story I’ve come to appreciate as one of the best fantasy stories I’ve ever read. The novella first appeared in 1970 in Fantasy and Science Fiction magazine and won both the Nebula and Hugo awards. In the seamy city of Lankhmar, Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser meet while attacking two members of the Thieves’ Guild who have just stolen a priceless cache of jewels. The two of them immediately hit it off, and decide not only to split the proceeds, but to celebrate with mass quantities of alcohol. Fafhrd takes the Mouser to meet his beloved Vlana, who has been pushing him to carry out a vendetta she has against the Thieves’ Guild; Fafhrd wants to pursue vengeance by stealing from them rather than killing them. The three then go to the Mouser’s apartment to meet Ivrian, who takes Vlana’s side, and encourages the Mouser to join the vendetta. Fueled by alcoholic courage, Fafhrd and Mouser decide to assault the Thieves’ Guild headquarters, promising to kill the King of Thieves. They return unsuccessful but unscathed, only to find that a Thieves’ Guild sorcerer has murdered their true loves. What was a drunken lark becomes deadly serious, and out of their shared loss, a lifelong partnership is born. The story is every bit as action-packed and darkly humorous as I remembered, and gallops along from start to finish. My only criticism upon revisiting it is that the story is built around “fridging” the female characters; their role in the narrative is primarily to die, thus causing the intense pain that fuels the actions of the male characters.
One shortcoming of this volume is that we don’t get a chance to meet the sorcerers who appear in so many of the duo’s adventures, Fafhrd’s patron warlock Ningauble of the Seven Eyes, and the Gray Mouser’s patron warlock Sheelba of the Eyeless Face. These two characters are a fascinating part of the saga, and I had been looking forward to encountering them again.
Final Thoughts
The adventures of Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser remain as fun and exciting as I remembered, and reading these early exploits left me wanting more. When I was younger, I didn’t always appreciate their adventures as much as those of Conan or Kull, but as a more mature (well, actually, elderly) reader, I found subtleties and nuances in these stories that I didn’t fully understand in my youth.
And now, I’m eager to hear your thoughts: Have you read Swords and Deviltry, or the other adventures of Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser? What are your other favorites from Leiber’s work? And what other sword and sorcery stories have you read and enjoyed?
Alan Brown has been a science fiction fan for over five decades, especially fiction that deals with science, military matters, exploration and adventure.
Thank you! Noted!
I still want to suggest splitting everything sixty-sixty when an equal division is necessary. Although I’ve never been sure if that implied that Lankhmar’s numbering system made use of 120, or if Fafhrd’s math was weak.
Great overview! This series is my personal favorite. Leiber is a constantly surprising and inventive author, and the Fafhrd and the Grey Mouser series is his opus. A TRUE fantasy masterpiece. Centipede Press is re-releasing the series in illustrated, archival hardcover editions, and I’ve been re-reading them as they are issued. For my money, they are even BETTER than when I read them 25 years ago, and I absolutely adored them then. Thanks for re-surfacing them for the community here!
I’ve enjoyed some of the early F&GM stories, but the later ones kind of ruin them for me. Especially in the last few Lieber wrote, there’s a weird and gross sexual aspect to it, particularly with the Mouser lusting after teenage girls.
Even still, Lieber’s influence on the Fantasy genre is huge, as every time you roll up a rogue in D&D, you’re building on his foundations.
I’ve read a lot of Conan but have honestly never read these. I guess I’ll be opening my wallet now.
They’re recognizably the source of a lot of fantasy cliches — like, if you’re a heavy fantasy reader, they may strike you as very familiar because so much followed them.
I haven’t read these stories in ages, but the thought of them still brings a smile to my face. And I find myself recalling a few choice bits from time to time. “Oh Lavas Laerk/ Had a face like a dirk / And of swordsmen twenty-and-three…” I may have to dig up my old paperbacks and give them another read. Thanks for the reminder!
I LOVED these guys when I was a kid—they were my entry drug into fantasy especially because they were funny and not all grim like Conan the Meathead or the amusing but deadly serious inhabitants of Demonland and Goblinland. Some of the themes don’t hold up (it wasn’t so much that Mouser liked the teenage girls, it was that Fafhrd was always pointing out that Mouser liked them thin, slender, almost boy-like…). Sheelba and Ningauble are also two of my favorite wizards.
My favorite stories were always the ones where they broke up, only to get together again.
It’s a bit of a weird series to read in internal chronological order (and as far as I’m aware, it’s never been collected in order of publication like the Del Rey Elric series) because the later-written stories were often not as good as the middle-period stories, or went off on weird tangents, but you’d find them all jammed together in the same volume; or you’d get a book with several solid stories separated by some occasionally … weird … interstitial pieces.
Still, I have never regretted reading them, and I’ll get back to my current reread one of these months.
(I also really, really need to read more non-Lankhmar Leiber.)
Stardock. I’d love to have you do a good analysis of that one.
This will probably ruffle feathers for mentioning this, but you do realize, I hope, all the literary examples mentioned were men?
Anyone like to mention any female pairs, or male & female pairs that aren’t romantic, or person animal pairs?
I’ll start.
Kell & Peachblossom from Protector of the Small by: Tamora Pierce
Also, Alanna & Faithful, from the Song of the Lioness, by the same author mentioned above
Long ago, I had to sell off my old sf paperback collection to make my August rent. I miss my old Leibers perhaps more than any of the others, and they’ve grown prohibitively expensive online in the intervening years. White Wolf issued some aesthetically pleasing reprints (with covers I believe by Mike Mignola, who did a decent job of adapting the duo to comics) but nothing will ever replace those old Ace editions in my heart.
Anyway, enjoyed this article, and always happy to see my favorite neglected classics get some well-deserved exposure. I’d quibble with the line that Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser “are as different as two people can be;” their physical appearances and elements of their personalities are certainly distinct, but as the article itself notes, they’re both ” black comedians for all eternity, lusty, brawling, wine-bibbing, imaginative, romantic, earthy, thievish, sardonic, humorous, forever seeking adventure across the wide world….” (Really, can those lines ever be quoted too often?) In short, there are many more commonalities than differences between them to underlie and sustain their epic camaraderie.
Another quibble: the description of Graywand as a “massive two-handed claymore.” At least one iteration of the weapon was described as shaped like a rapier, but with the heft of a broadsword. Harry Otto Fischer and Fritz Leiber both fenced, and the latter liked to spice his excellent fight scenes with occasional fencing terminology.
For my money, the best Fafhrd and Gray Mouser stories are in Swords Against Death and Swords In the Mist. These, together with “Ill Met In Lankhmar,” “Scylla’s Daughter,” and “The Sadness of the Executioner” showcase the best blend of action, horror, humor and pathos. My least favorite are the later stories. When the epicenter gravitates from Lankhmar to Rime Island, the series seems to lose something of its strange and vital essence.
As for Leiber’s other work, most of it’s worth reading. Many consider “Smoke Ghost” to be one of the greatest horror short stories of all time. If I had to single out just one of his novels to recommend, it would be Conjure Wife.
@12 I was just wondering the same thing!! I realize I’ve drifted from the Sword and Sorcery I read as a teen and now tend to read more urban fantasy. Just how many woman swashbucklers are there? The swordswoman protagonists I’ve read about either are loners or have male partners or mentors.
@@@@@ 5 With you there. F&GM is one of the few fantasies I enjoyed more at 30 than I would have at 15.
@@@@@ 4 & 8 But you weren’t disturbed by their other, earlier girlfriends, who included an evil wererat with 8 nipples and a ghoul with transparent flesh who resembled a walking skeleton? (I believe they were involved with several other bizarre females, but I’m blanking on the details at the moment. F&GM’s taste in women was, shall we say, eccentric…)
@@@@@12 Which literary examples mentioned where?
@12/@14 — There’s Dhulyn & Parno (from Violette Malan’s series beginning with The Sleeping God). Although I think they do share a bedroll from time to time. Or maybe Morgaine & Vanye from C.J. Cherryh’s Gate of Ivrel &c., although they might end up together as the series progresses? Ditto for Jennifer Roberson’s Del & Tiger books (Sword Dancer et al.).
All of those series are well worth checking out, regardless.
My favorite F&GM story is “Lean Times in Lankhmar’, where Fafhrd finds religion and Mouser gets a day job, then hilarity ensues. ‘Bazaar of the Bizarre’ is also a fun read. Sheelba and Ningauble are great characters- the friendly Lovecraftian horrors next door! Ningauble gets the best lines, though. From The Swords of Lankhmar:
“Gentle Son, I now understand your problem and its answer. In part. I have seen much, yet cannot explain all. The Gray Mouser, now. He’s exactly twenty-five feet below the deepest cellar in the palace of Glipkerio Kistomerces. But he’s not buried there, or even dead—though about twenty-four parts in twenty-five of him are dead, in the cellar I mentioned. But he is alive.”
“But how?” Fafhrd almost gawked, spreading his spread-fingered hands.
“I haven’t the faintest idea. He’s surrounded by enemies but near him are two friends—of a sort. Now about Lankhmar, that’s clearer. She’s been invaded, her walls breached everywhere and desperate fighting going on in the streets, by a fierce host which outnumbers Lankhmar’s inhabitants by . . . my goodness . . . fifty to one—and equipped with all modern weapons.
“Yet you can save the city, you can turn the tide of battle—this part came through very clearly—if you only hasten to the temple of the Gods of Lankhmar and climb its bell-tower and ring the chimes there, which have been silent for uncounted centuries. Presumably to rouse those gods. But that’s only my guess.”
“I don’t like the idea of having anything to do with that dusty crew,” Fafhrd complained. “From what I’ve heard of them, they’re more like walking mummies than true gods—and even more dry-spirited and unloving, being sifted through like sand with poisonous senile whims.”
Ningauble shrugged his cloaked, bulbous shoulders. “I thought you were a brave man, addicted to deeds of derring-do.”
Fafhrd cursed sardonically, then demanded, “But even if I should go clang those rusty bells, how can Lankhmar hold out until then with her walls breached and the odds fifty to one against her?”
“I’d like to know that myself,” Ningauble assured him.
“And how do I get to the temple when the streets are crammed with warfare?”
Ningauble shrugged once again. “You’re a hero. You should know.”
Nice piece on Swords & Deviltry! Thanks.( It’s always fun to read kind words about a favorite author.)
This happens to be the first book in the F&G series that I read. I remember vividly picking up a copy of the Ace paperback, with that glorious Jeff Jones cover, and thinking, “I will have to read this.” The stories are on my “always reread” list, along with most of Leiber (except, I guess, the ones in The Knight and Knave of Swords, which didn’t really work for me).
People who love Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser might want to check out Joanna Russ’ stories of Alyx the Adventuress, which grew out of a reaction to (and conversations with) Fritz Leiber’s stories. Fafhrd appears, almost by name, in the first Alyx story, and Alyx appears tangentially in “The Two Best Thieves in Lankhmar”.
Not a pair as such, but a woman swordmaster in fantasy fiction is Jirel of Joiry from CL Moore’s Black God’s Kiss. Exquisite writing though more than a little weird at times. A great read on kindle or other such ebook.
Yeah, Knight and Knave of Swords is best avoided.
The Big Time won a Hugo Award. It is a science-fiction locked-universe mystery, set against a background of war across all ages of time. It asks pointed questions about the morality of the Cold War. Stylistically it is unusual because it was clearly written to be performed as a play. One of the most unique and interesting novels to ever win a Hugo.
@15 : For one, I haven’t read the entire F&GM catalog. And it’s not a matter of ‘what’ kind of women the two get involved with, but rather that those women are actually, y’know, consenting adults.
Again, I’m a bit soured on it all, as I picked up The Knight & Knave of Swords at a used book sale, thinking I would get some Swords & Sorcery hijinks, and instead I got … not that. I gave up at the point where Lieber had the Gray Mouser voyeur in on a lesbian S&M threesome on the other side of the planet for no apparent reason.
As for female S&S pairs, S.M. Stirling and Shirley Meyer wrote a post-apocalyptic fantasy series that stars a gender-flipped Fafhrd & Grey Mouser pair (who are also romantically involved). It’s … okay. But I’ve only read one book in the series, so maybe other ones are better?
Joe Abercrombie had a very entertaining female version of F&GM, Javre and Shevedieh, in several stories of his Sharp Ends collection.
I never did read Knight & Knave; looks like I didn’t miss anything.
@2 That sixty-sixty split is one of my favorite lines of all time!
@12 You are right about that lack of diversity, and I apologize. My early reading days skewed toward books with male protagonists, and sometimes it shows. Thanks for bringing up literary partnerships of note that aren’t just male-male, there are many!
Mercedes Lackey’s Vows and Honor trilogy features swordswoman Tarma and female mage Kethry. They live in the Valdemar universe.
Hi
Two of my favourite Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser tales are “The Sadness of the Executioner” and “Bazaar of the Bizarre”. I would really enjoy it if you tackled Leiber’s other works, “A Pail Of Air” which you mentioned, really did capture the silly exuberant imaginative side of science fiction and his “The Foxholes of Mars” is a more serious work that really made an impression on me. I do think his contribution to the genre is overlooked. My favourite Leiber work has to be “To Arkham and the Stars” a lovely tribute to the writing of H.P. Lovecraft.
Another great post.
Happy reading.
Guy
Yes, I remember ever so fondly being gleefully transported to Lankhmar following the adventures of Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser! I was thrilled to meet my favorite authors at Noreascon 80 when I was in America. Jack Vance was sitting beside me at my table at the banquet and exchanging jokes with Fritz Leiber (or was it Poul Anderson?) across from me,and urging me to eat; as a mere young foreign fan, I felt so shy… Their stories and novels and Poul Anderson’s, Robert Heinlein’s and many more were on my favorite reading list for travels to unknown places in fantasy or far-out planets. I would have loved to meet Catherine L. Moore, because Jirel of Joiry also was such a wonderful character who had impressed me, even if the story I had read felt too short. But she had already passed away. Damon Knight and Kate Wilhelm were GoH, linking that convention more tightly to SF and I had just read her beautiful novel, Juniper Time. But Roger Zelazny of the wonderful Amber chronicles was there. And there was also Vonda McIntyre breaking out with her Dreamsnake; I was hoping to meet her again in Dublin in August, but alas, time has swept away so many of those luminaries.
But the novels and stories live on, when it’s possible to re-read them. I have lost all my old books and magazines in various moves across continents, where the past in hardbound or softcover form had to be left behind. I feel somewhat wistful finding them again in e-book form; I used to love the touch and smell of paper. But for over a decade now, I have come to terms with reading on the screen. It is also wonderful to be able to carry a modern Library of Alexandria’s worth of reading on a phone, everywhere, even on a surreal trip I did years ago and far away in a hermit country where enormous spiders haunted the trees outside the stifling wooden huts where I spent a night reclining on the porch floorboards after letting my bare feet cool out in the rain which was drizzling down on the closed dark courtyard, and lulled by the sound of water beating down ancient dust and the smell of wet wood that made me feel … well, maybe somewhere in the mists of dangerous Lankhmar!
Thanks for doing this series, Alan.
@28 You are welcome. It is a pleasure to read all the old books, and I love the discussions that ensue.
Been meaning to get into these once I’m finished with Conan