These are the Borealis Legends (read: White Wolf Publishing’s fiction imprint) of Fritz Leiber’s Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser stories, stories that remain my favorites in the fantasy genre.

The pair of thieves and their world always felt more true to me than a lot of other fantasy. Conan and Middle-earth seem to define our perception of fantasy, but sit on opposite ends of a very stylized spectrum. Leiber’s Lankhmar sits in the middle of that spectrum, occupying a spot both plausibly realistic and relentlessly human.

Leiber and his friend Otto Fischer created the pair in 1934, modeling them on themselves (Leiber for Fafhrd, Fisher for Mouser). The original stories were loosely connected until Leiber reorganized them in the 60s, filling in the gaps with new tales. The result is a lifetime, starting with the pair as young men and ending with them retired and settling down, older and wiser for their adventures.

Gary Gygax listed the Fafhrd and Gray Mouser stories in Appendix N and TSR put out a D&D campaign setting based in Lankhmar. In a weird bit of early RPG rights drama, Chaosium also held the right to adapt Leiber’s fantasy stories. After the death of his wife in 1969, Leiber fell into alcoholism and barbiturate addiction, which left him living in poverty. While he recovered his health in the late 70s, his finances didn’t follow suit. He apparently sold the Lankhmar rights to both TSR and Chaosium without realizing. Chaosium relinquished their claim to TSR without recovering their payment, reportedly because Greg Stafford was such a fan of Leiber’s work and saw the money as a contribution to the writer’s well-being. The TSR royalty checks ensured he lived out his days in comfort.

I love these editions in particular because of the Mike Mignola cover art and interior illustrations. Mignola’s art is worth its weight in gold no matter the subject, but I think he is particularly suited for the gritty world of Lankhmar. But more on that tomorrow…