Sunday, May 31, 2020

Night Monsters by Fritz Leiber

(pb; 1969: story anthology)


Overall review


Night Monsters is a standout tale collection. Its stories are presented in an intuitive, theme-linked and -progressive flow, the key elements of each story passed on─in altered form─to the next story. Three of the four pieces are excellent, one of them good (it’s chatty). Worth owning, this.



Stories


The Black Gondolier”: In Los Angeles, CA, a man recounts his friendship with a conspiracy theorist (Daloway), who lives in mortal fear of oil─which may possess a malevolent awareness. Creepy, atmospheric, entertaining, quirky and overly chatty work.


Midnight in the Mirror World”: A man (Giles Nefandor) sees weird, multiple figure reflections in his late-night mirror─is he being stalked? And if so, by whom or what?

As with his other works (e.g., Our Lady of Darkness, 1977), Leiber─in “Midnight”─abstract, odd notions of unease palpable and believable. Excellent piece, one of my favorite Leiber works thus far.


I’m Looking for Jeff”: A mysterious Veronica Lake look-alike─invisible to some people─regularly visits Tomtoms, a bar, looking for Jeff. Clever, fun and superb tale, would make a great Twilight Zone episode.


The Casket-Demon”: A notorious film star (Vividy Sheer) is repeatedly─and by necessity, if she is to continue living─attacked by a demon, whose purpose is to hunt and eventually kill those in her family.

Casket-Demon” is a unique, sly and full-of-twists story, one of the best stories I’ve read a long time.

#

Night Monsters was packaged as a reverse-bound “Ace Double” novel, which means that if readers flip the book over and upside down, there was another science fiction novel. Often, it was penned by another author. In this case, it is Fritz Leiber’s The Green Millennium.


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