Fafhrd and Fritz
posted by Tim Walters @ 10:08 PM The Second Book Of Fritz Leiber. A bit of an outtakes collection, but well worth it for the essay "Fafhrd And Me", which outlines the history of Leiber's collaboration with Harry Fisher, and throws in all kinds of entertaining stories along the way. There's also a very interesting essay on tides (did you know that there are places on Earth with no tides at all, and some where there's only one tide a day? I sure didn't), and a couple of decent stories (but nowhere near his best).
3 Comments:
Sure didn't know that either about tides. None - perhaps at the two points where the moon is always the same distance away? One - ????
Never heard of this book. but I see by quick search that it was a DAW pb in the 70s. The F&GM books sold well, I hear, so I guess it was sort of a cash-in on Ace's coat-tails. Once Wollheim left Ace to found DAW he probably yearned for some of the properties he left behind. I too would be interested in reading it though.
Apparently, the continents and sub-oceanic mountains cause interference patterns in the tides. So some places (like the Bay of Fundy) get huge tides, and some get none (or, to look at it another way, two extremely small tides a day, too small to be measured). One a day must be a subharmonic or sumpin'.
I suspect the fish gods must be involved somehow. As they move their tremendous selves across the ocean floor, perhaps they influence the oceanographic balance, doutbless to further their unfathomable (sorry) aims. When you notice a change in the tidal pattern, you will know that it's all over for the terrestrial bipeds.
I suppose a James Blaylock novel must surely cover this somewhere.
Cool. Thanks.
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