#the gray mouser

[smbhax]

Cover illustration by Wayne Barlowe

[krinsbez]

Screw it, I'm counting 'em as Pulp Heroes.

BTW, I read this like, a month ago.

Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser, by Mike Mignola.

[davey-dammit]

A box of some of my vintage sci-fi and fantasy collection

[oldschoolfrp]

"Nehwon's ghouls are not of the AD&D undead type, but are a species of humanoids unto themselves. They are almost totally transparent, except for their bones, which are grey. They are often mistaken for skeletons, and are almost invisible (80%) in the dark." (Jennell Jaquays, AD&D Deities & Demigods, TSR, 1980)

[comicarthistory]

Page from Fafhrd and the Grey Mouser Book 4. 1991. Art by Mike Mignola and Al Williamson.

[balu8]

Sword of Sorcery #5: The Mouse Alone

by George (Alec) Effinger: Jim Starlin; Al Milgrom and Ben Oda

DC

[victusinveritas]

Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser.

Art by Clyde Caldwell

[yojimbot13]

[zelphafrost]

What a shit week for the animals in my family. This is Mr. Thomas J Whoopie, otherwise known as Mr. Tom. He started out in my dad's garden, keeping the other furry critters from eating the vegetables a good many years ago. He stayed in the garage most nights. Was super friendly and a massive tom cat with a huge head. A few (maybe more) years back, his health started going a bit with age, so my dad moved him into the house. Doc diagnosed him with stomach cancer just last week. Today, my dad buried him in the backyard he loved so much. 😿💔😿💔

[panelswithoutpeople]

Bazaar of the Bizzare from Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser Book Three

by Howard Chaykin and Mike Mignola

[bugbart]

Fafhrd & The Grey Mouser as an Art trade for a friend

[smbhax]

Cover illustration by Jeffrey Catherine Jones

[vintagerpg]

Man, these books. These are the original Ace paperback editions of Fritz Leiber’s Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser stories (1970 to 1977), all but the last, because I just can’t stand the cover of that one. Jeffery Catherine Jones delivers atmospheric covers for the first five, then Michael Whelan is on the last on Swords and Ice Magic, putting up what was apparently the first book-accurate color portrait of the pair. All together, they have a gorgeous, mysterious look. I love them.

I’ve been slowly re-reading them. I thought I had read all of them but either my memory has gotten way faultier than I thought or I skipped around, because a lot of these feel fresh. Even old favorites, like “Ill-Met in Lankhmar” and “Bazaar of the Bizarre,” seemed far less dusty than I expected.

The more years that go by and the more I think about D&D and Appendix N and these stories, the more I kind of think Gygax’s reading list was a smoke screen put up to make it seem like D&D came out of a bunch of different sources. That is demonstrably true — I can see a little Moorcock, a little Zelazny and so on in the tapestry, sure. But Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser are increasingly, to my eye, D&D before D&D. Its a couple key things, really. First, they are twain, and up to that point, and long after, honestly, most fantasy protagonists were lone wolves of one sort or another. These two blokes aren’t a party, but they are close. They banter. They grouse. Second, their fortunes rise and fall like the tide, and when the tide is low, they seek adventure, for how else will they pay their tavern tabs? This is at least two decades of the D&D experience in a nutshell.

They’re nearly all good (never read Adept’s Gambit though - trash). I tend to like the shorter adventures of the first three books best, but there are charms in the longer stories, particularly as they grow older and, mostly, none the wiser.

[sixty-silver-wishes]

me, researching pulp fantasy for a potential job: let's see what this is all about

me, about a week after researching: I think fafhrd and the gray mouser definitely explored each other's bodies

[oldschoolfrp]

"Lankhmart vampires only have their full vampiric abilities when the full moon is in the night sky. During other times, they have normal human characteristics -- those they had when they were mere mortals. Like all vampires, they must rest in their coffins during the day and can only come out at night, whether or not they are in their full vampiric phase." (James C McGonigle illus, AD&D Lankhmar module CA2: Swords of Deceit, TSR, 1986)

[prtzlctls]

Been reading Fafhrd and Grey Mouser (specifically the Swords Against books) and love the hijinks these two get up to. Hiring 40 men to pick up and steal a house from a noble's garden?? Only to then be haunted by the ghosts of your dead loves because you decided to plant the house on the same lot where they horrifically died??? Only to then sell your souls to hermit sorcerers????

Average Tuesday for these two, they barely even bat an eye.