Swords and Ice Magic
core collection 1977 Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser
Record
| First published | 1977 |
|---|---|
| Original language |  EN |
| Work type | collection |
| Canon status | core |
| Reader rating | 3.94 (3,109 ratings, collected 2026-09-13) |
| Page count | 243 |
| First-edition ISBN | 0839824033 |
| Internal chronology | 6 |
Synopsis
Swords and Ice Magic gathers eight Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser stories in which the pair confront death in various guises and reckon with the wrath of gods they once served but no longer wholly trust. Their travels carry them to a strange equatorial sea far from their usual northern haunts, testing their partnership against unfamiliar dangers and cultures. The collection builds toward the two adventurers helping to defend the frozen land of Rime Isle from an invasion, a conflict that draws together supernatural threats and more conventional warfare. Throughout, the stories continue tracing the long, uneven arc of Fafhrd and the Mouser's friendship as much as any single quest, showing how age and consequence catch up with even the most resourceful rogues.
Where it sits
- Universe: Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser
- Series: Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser core; position 6 of 7 in the series' recorded order
- Author: Fritz Leiber
Notes
- From the series record (Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser): 7 volumes assembled by Leiber himself from ~35-40 short stories/novellas written 1939-1988 (originally scattered across pulp magazines over five decades) into a fixed internal reading order; collection-publication order does not match this internal order (Swords and Deviltry, internally 1st, was published in 1970, after Swords in the Mist/Against Wizardry/The Swords of Lankhmar, all 1968). Classified Core Canon per the same collection-as-Core exception established for The Witcher's foundational short-story collections: for this universe, the collections ARE the primary/definitive reading unit, not supplementary material.
Neighbouring works
Publication order and internal chronology are tracked as two separate orderings and are never conflated: a book's place in one says nothing about its place in the other.
- Publication order, within the series Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser: position 6 of 7: previous Swords Against Death (1970) · next The Knight and Knave of Swords (1988)
- Internal chronology, within Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser: position 6 of 7: previous The Swords of Lankhmar (1968) · next The Knight and Knave of Swords (1988)
Sources
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fafhrd_and_the_Gray_Mouser
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Swords_and_Ice_Magic
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Part of the Library. Fields without an identified source are omitted, never guessed.