On Cheating Death

Lankhmar in Publication Order 2 The Bleak Shore

The Bleak Shore is Fritz Lieber's second published tale featuring Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser. It appeared in a1940 issue of Unknown. Today you can find it as the 4th chapter in the second volume of the collected editions, Swords Against Death.

This story is a pretty remarkable bit of weird fiction. While boasting in a tavern, The Silver Eel of course, Fafrd and Mouser are confronted by a "small, pale man, whose bulging forehead was shadowed by a black cowl." He asks: "So you think a man can cheat death and outwit doom?" He presses the point and then whispers a simple phrase to them three times: "The Bleak Shore."

Clearly placed under some kind of spell the two adventurers drop everything and leave the tavern, hire a ship, and set out for... you guessed it.

This story is the first published story set in Lankhmar (or at least it starts there). It is the first we hear the name of The Silver Eel, a tavern that will become a common starting point for trouble in the stories. And introduces the character of, and the recurring theme of cheating Death.

Other than being notable for these firsts, it is a beautifully told tale with a strange but satisfying ending.