The Fair in Emain Macha / Ill Met in Lankhmar

by Fritz Leiber, Charles de Lint

Here are two fantasy tales of magic and heroism, in which men struggle for destiny in worlds charged with enchantment. The winning Tor Double tradition continues with these stories by two of science fiction and fantasy's top talents. Tor Science Fiction Doubles, No 19.

Ill Met in Lankhmar: 104pp, 1969, Mercury Press
The Fair in Emain Macha: 104pp, 1985, Space & Time #68

Genres: Fantasy, Fiction, Science Fiction Fantasy, Anthologies, Urban Fantasy, Magic, 20th Century

208 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1985

About the author

Fritz Reuter Leiber Jr. was one of the more interesting of the young writers who came into HP Lovecraft's orbit, and some of his best early short fiction is horror rather than sf or fantasy. He found his mature voice early in the first of the sword-and-sorcery adventures featuring the large sensitive barbarian Fafhrd and the small street-smart-ish Gray Mouser; he returned to this series at various points in his career, using it sometimes for farce and sometimes for gloomy mood pieces--The Swords of Lankhmar is perhaps the best single volume of their adventures. Leiber's science fiction includes the planet-smashing The Wanderer in which a large cast mostly survive flood, fire, and the sexual attentions of feline aliens, and the satirical A Spectre is Haunting Texas in which a gangling, exo-skeleton-clad actor from the Moon leads a revolution and finds his true love. Leiber's late short fiction, and the fine horror novel Our Lady of Darkness, combine autobiographical issues like his struggle with depression and alcoholism with meditations on the emotional content of the fantastic genres. Leiber's capacity for endless self-reinvention and productive self-examination kept him, until his death, one of the most modern of his sf generation.

Used These Alternate Names: Maurice Breçon, Fric Lajber, Fritz Leiber, Jr., Fritz R. Leiber, Fritz Leiber Jun., Фриц Лейбер, F. Lieber, フリッツ・ライバー

Reviews

[Craig · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a double-book in the Tor series, printed back-to-back and opposite each other in the style of the old Ace doubles. The Leiber is a story in the Fafhrd and the Grey Mouser series; I'd read it before a time or three. Though not the first in the series either chronologically or by publication date, it is the one in which the two heroes meet and team up for the first time. Leiber's prose is very dramatic and well-crafted, and his dialog reads like it should resound off the page like a Shakespeare-in-the-park performance. On the other hand, I did note this time around that it seems to be a very sexist work, almost misogynistic at times. The de Lint is a short novel from very early in his career. It doesn't have the same level of style or subtlety that his lovely Newford stories do, but it's not a bad read. It's an aggressively Irish slant on Arthurian themes that one would be more likely to think of as being similar to Robert E. Howard than more modern high fantasy. Both stories are flawed, but I'm glad I read them.

[Tomislav · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is Tor Double #19, of a series of 36 double books published from 1988 to 1991 by Tor Books. It contains two novellas, bound together tête-bêche in mass market paperback – back-to-back, inverted, with two front covers and both titles on the spine. The novellas are listed here alphabetically by author; neither should be considered “primary.”

The Fair In Emain Macha, by Charles De Lint (1985) ***
This was originally published in the Summer 1985 issue of Space and Time Magazine (semiprozine), edited by Gordon Linzner. This story won Canadian writer De Lint a 1991 Aurora Award in the short form category. Emain Macha is the old Irish name for an ancient ceremonial monument in County Armagh, Northern Ireland, the royal seat of Gaelic Ireland before Christianization. This story rehashes Arthurian legends from an Irish perspective, with the site in use as a fairground.

Ill Met In Lankhmar, by Fritz Leiber (1970) **
This was originally published in the April 1970 issue of The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction. It won both the 1971 Nebula Award and the 1971 Hugo Award in their respective novella categories. It has been widely anthologized. Out of a popular series of Leiber stories, this is the one in which the primary characters – Fafhrd and Gray Mouser - first become companions. I've never been a fan of heroic fantasy, but recognize that this piece is important to the genre.

[Duffy Pratt · Rating 4 out of 5]

Review here is for The Fair in Emain Macha by Charles De Lint. I think I review the Leiber separately. These are in a Tor double book, containing two novellas, one starting from the front of the book, and the other, upside down from the back.

This novella is an early book by DeLint, and is much closer to Epic fantasy than the other books of his I've read, which are all Urban Fantasy which tie back in some way into the Fey. Here, he tries his hand at Arthurian legend. An exiled warrior from Ireland (I'm using our names, not the old fashioned names used in the book) has become a great captain for Arthur, who solely yearns for peace in England. That peace is uneasy because if immediate threats from the Vikings and from Ireland itself.

Against Arthurs command, Collum returns to Ireland with the goal of overthrowing the false king who exiled him. He is accompanied by Merlin. From there, the story is both well told and fairly predictable. It's competent and has a bit of depth. It also is different territory for de Lint, and it's nice to see him trying something new. But then, I think he was probably right to focus on contemporary fantasy. He feels more comfortable there.

I like this book. But if it was the only thing of de Lint's I had read, I'm not sure whether I would go onto more. I have a feeling this might have been richer if it had been longer. But maybe not; maybe it would just have become dull. Still I'm glad to have read it, and it has even made me wonder whether I should reread Mallory. I like this Arthurian stuff better than I had remembered.

[Michael Brown · Rating 4 out of 5]

Two of my favorite authors. A standard Fritz Leiber tale of the best thieves in fantasy. His stories are well written with strong characters and reasonable plots for fantasy. Bad people, evil mages and strange creatures all work in these early tales as the genre was slowly growing in America.

And de Lint's early work as he was gaining his footing in crafting a story with all the elements needed to market and grow.

[Nik Hawkins · Rating 3 out of 5]

This rating is for The Fair in Emain Macha only.

[Steven Cole · Rating 2 out of 5]

Ill Met in Lankhmar

I picked up this book because the tales of Fafhrd and the Grey Mouser were listed in the back of the first edition Dungeon Master's Guide for the role-playing game Dungeons and Dragons as being a source of inspiration for the game. I'd read one Leiber book earlier (The Big Time), and was unimpressed, but decided to give this story a go to see if his "adventurer" stories were any better.

In short: Nope. Leiber might very well be one of the creators of the popular fantasy genre, but his writing is still atrocious. In particular, Leiber is an absolute master of the run-on sentence. As an example:

"When Fafhrd was halfway to the seventh doorway, from which the monotonous yet sinister recitation continued to well, there shot out through it a slender, whey-faced youth, his narrow hands clapped over his mouth, under terror-wide eyes, as if to shut in screams or vomit, and with a broom clamped in an armpit, so that he seemed a bit like a young warlock about to take to the air."

And that was one I just happened to pick out. Every time one of these monstrosities came along I cringed.

Yes, these adventurers are forefathers of the genre. And if you're doing a scholarly review of fantasy, I'm sure you should read Leiber's work. The rest of us, though? Stay away.

1/5 stars.

The Fair In Emain Macha

The "other" story in this double volume does a much better job of being interesting. It's set in a group of islands (Britain) during the time when druids were powerful, and there were kings aplenty. The thrust is a story of a warrior under a king's curse trying to cause a king-breaking on the king who laid the curse and has in the meantime arranged an alliance with the Norsemen.

It did a good job of presenting the faith of druids and their interactions with the gods they revered. I was impressed with how nicely everything was presented, as I rarely read stories of this time period.

3/5 stars.

[Tanvir Muntasim · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is part of a very interesting series where award winning and influential fantasy novellas are published in pairs, which would have been too small to be books on their own. Excellent idea to introduce readers to great work which would be unavailable otherwise. Anyway, this volume contains writings from two legendary fantasy writers, Leiber and De Lint, and both the novellas are very good, even though much different in scope and execution. The Leiber novella serves as a background to introduce how two of his most popular characters met and went on to reign through quite a few number of novels. The story is amusing, interesting and while starts off lightly, leaves quite an emotional impact by the end. The other one from De Lint, who is more famous for his excellent urban fantasies, show the author capably handing a historical and mythical fantasy in a very appealing manner. It's a small and fast read, and uses one man's love for a woman and love for his country to devise a compelling narrative. Proves that you don't always need fat trilogies to tell a heroic fantasy story that will resonate long time with you even after you have finished reading!

[Carol · Rating 3 out of 5]

The Fair in Emain Macha is the better of the two tales, IMHO.
It hashes up some Arthurian legend, having Merlin by a few other
names, and mostly takes place and atmosphere from Celtic lore.

Ill Met in Lankhmar is a Grey Mouser story that basically introduces
the two buddies who go on other adventures in many other tales.
Taken as a stand-alone it isn't inspiring, but having read other
of their buddy-swashbucklers it fits in well with the established
fantasy setting.

[Cheriti · Rating 3 out of 5]

I have this book for the de Lint side of it. I read it years ago, and I'm sure I loved it (it is de Lint after all), but it was long enough ago that I have no memory of what it was about, unlike some de Lint books that have stuck with me for years.

[Angela Randall]

We own the omnibus of Ill Met in Lankhmar and The fair in Emain Mancha: Ill Met in Lankhmar/The Fair in Emain Macha

[Ron · Rating 4 out of 5]

I bought this so that I had a copy of The Fair in Emain Macha since I already had the Fafhrd and Gray Mouser series. Never regretted the purchase.