On Sunken Lands

Lankhmar in Publication Order 4 The Sunken Land

The Sunken Land is Fritz Leiber's fourth published tale featuring Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser. It was published in 1942 in Unknown magazine. The Sunken Land also appears as the 6th chapter in the second volume of the collected editions, Swords Against Death.

Fafhrd and Mouser are sailing across the Outer Sea (presumably still returning home from the Bleak Shore) when Fafhrd catches a fish. In its belly he finds a strange ring that seems to also be a key.

The key reminds Fafhrd of stories of ancient Simorgya, a land that is said to mysteriously rise from and sink back into the sea. He dozes off daydreaming about the men of that fabled land and a storm blows up. Out of the storm a dragon-prowed galley nearly swamps the adventurers' small boat and triggers a series of dream-like events in which Fafhrd catches more than a glimpse of Simorgya and its strange inhabitants.

This tale, even more than the last two, has a distinctly Lovecraftian vibe. In fact, it's a bit like a more pulpy, condensed version of At the Mountains of Madness. An ancient land + a dream-like descent into the past + an encounter with alien horrors; what a perfect formula.