Night’s Black Agents was the first book Fritz Leiber had published, and was was released by Arkham House in 1947 (3084 copies). It collects together many of his stories that appeared in ‘ Weird Tales’ and ‘Unknown’. The ‘Ancient Adventures’, two Fafhrd and Mouser stories would later appear in Swords in the Mist. The book is dedicated to his first wife Jonquil (Stephens). The Ballantine edition of Night’s Black Agents loses Adepts Gambit, whilst The Gregg press edition adds A Bit of the Dark World and The Girl With Hungry Eyes.
Notable Editions: Gregg Press HB, Neville Spearman HB, Aeonian Press HB (limited to 80 copies).
“These grotesque chronicles, written in the 1940’s, range from terror and alarms of the 20th Century to archaic romance. The modern fantasies see the American suburban sprawl, oily, smelly and dusty, as the epitome of horror and an occasional weird enchantment. A dead man bequeathes his guilt to his shabby lodging room. A pistol takes on a life of its own, terrifying a gang of miserable racketeers. The city itself becomes a grisly predator. The antique fictions embrace the reversal of time patterns.”
Leonard Barras – The Times 1974.
Adept's Gambit
Diary in the Snow
Smoke Ghost
The Automatic Pistol
The Dreams of Albert Moreland
The Hill and the Hole
The Hound
The Man Who Never Grew Young
The Phantom Slayer
The Sunken Land
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