THE DEEP ONES: "Spider Mansion" by Fritz Leiber

"Spider Mansion" by Fritz Leiber

Discussion begins August 15.

First published in the September 1942 issue of Weird Tales.



ONLINE VERSIONS

None so far.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

http://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/title.cgi?78247

SELECTED PRINT VERSIONS

The Black Gondolier

MISCELLANY

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fritz_Leiber
http://tinyurl.com/c94ee7d
http://tinyurl.com/cc6xeq3

Okaaaay... this is a toughie. If you can't get your hands on the original WT or The Black Gondolier, you might be out of luck. I could swear I've seen it in a couple of anthologies - I'll check.

There is an online posting of the story, but since it's the only one and the site looks kind of dubious, I decided not to post it yet. Just Google "Unz" and the title of the story. What do you think? Legit?

I have a copy of Gondolier - anyone else?

It looks like I am out of luck. It's a crazy busy week for me anyhow. This may be my first missed date with the Deep Ones.

I'm pretty sure I voted for this story, because I always enjoy Leiber, but the book isn't on my shelves or at my local lending libraries.

The Black Gondolier is in the mail from England. I'll see if it makes it in time.

As much as I would like to join in, it looks like I'm gonna have to sit this one out, too. "Spider Mansion" isn't in my personal collection or at my local library, and a quick check of WorldCat (http://www.worldcat.org/title/black-gondolier-other-stories/oclc/85896661) indicates that the nearest copy of The Black Gondolier that would be available for ILL is in Missouri, and I'm in northern Illinois. :(

I snagged a DRM-free ePub copy of The Black Gondolier from a reputable online book seller. By using a promotional code I had received earlier, it came to $5.00 ($7.69 retail, as I recall).

>4 RandyStafford:,6

It's always a good idea to add Leiber to your collection! I'll be posting later- crazy day!

Spoilers lurk, if you haven't read it yet!

Well, "Spider Mansion" definitely reminds me of Leiber's pulp-origins. The story is a fairly solid piece of lurid horror-melodrama, but it contains none of the author's chillingly intellectual and unique explorations of just what the supernatural in the 20th century might really be, as we see in tales like "Smoke Ghost" ( a previous DEEP ONES discussion) and so many of his later stories. There are many ideas here, such as angry-midget-turned-into-sadistic-giant and the giant midget (!) wanting to rule the world by shrinking the rest of mankind (no easy task, that!), that are just plain hilarious, but Leiber is an adept enough writer that you will sit still and finish the story anyway.

I was reminded of early cinema a lot in this one. The arrival of the narrator and his wife arriving at the spooky old house populated by a bunch of weirdos echoed THE OLD DARK HOUSE and THE MOST DANGEROUS GAME. Malcom's oddly reticent, trance-like wife reminded me of I WALKED WITH A ZOMBIE. Unfortunately, the racial stereotypes cast by the servants recall some of the lesser Monagram and Republic B-movies of the period. Leiber doesn't usually fall into that trap, so it sticks out like a sore thumb here. Maybe he was trying to emulate those very features!

One thing I didn't quite latch onto was how on earth Malcolm Orne actually controlled the spider!

Maybe he controlled at through the "more than human" powers he claimed to've developed? They were not otherwise much in evidence.

This is the first thing by Leiber I've read. I think I ought read more some day.

>9 AndreasJ:

Leiber wrote so well in so many genres that he's hard to nail down. Some go for the quirky SF of The Big Time, some love the Fafhrd & Gray Mouser sword & sorcery tales, some are blown away by his horror fiction. I prefer the latter, and I've long chosen Our Lady of Darkness as my favorite horror novel of all time. Conjure Wife ain't bad, either. I even like Leiber's cat stories, as collected in Gummitch and Friends. "Spider Mansion" is more like an early b-side by a great musician. Interesting when tracking the artist's creative evolution, but definitely not what he became known for.

You must be right about the spider control, Andreas!

I got a kick out of the unexpected shotgun reception at the beginning - nice touch!

I thought Tuesday was Wednesday. Must...screw...head...on..... Apologies for starting the discussion early!

> 12:

I just assumed y'all live in some time zone I don't know about where Wednesday comes 24 hours before here. Not a problem.

Anyway, this story delivers the goods, but awkwardly. Genuine weirdness and horror. The characters are mostly puppets who behave very implausibly in order to fit the plot. If a 'negro servant' had nearly blown a hole in me with a shotgun, I don't think I would have brushed it off.

I wondered if Mrs. Orne was not originally human, which would have accounted for her not speaking. I suppose her zombiness was the result of intimidation.

The theme of the despised man becoming powerful and vengeful is the strongest point, I think. Heathcliff?

The details such as the rustling sound and the need to grease the sword fill in the narrative nicely.

> 12/13: Strange aeons and all that.

>13 bertilak:

My time zone has definitely been the Forbidden Zone lately, that's for sure! I think I'm back to Eastern Standard now, though.

The shotgun sequence - well, this was 1942, after all. Such an occurrence need not give one pause, especially out in the boondocks. I wonder how Nick and Nora Charles would have handled it?

Imagine Mrs. Orne being occasionally hung up in the web as punishment. Wonder what insidious commands Malcolm Orne gave the spider to torture her with...

13 > I did wonder why KentonSem was starting the discussion early, but figured any damage done was so already and that, anyway, it's Wednesday already somewhere in the Pacific.

>16 AndreasJ:

Nyarlathotep made me do it. :P

I liked this story.

I thought its biggest downside was the title telegraphing the existence of Malcolm's horrible henchspider. Still, what do you expect from 1942 Weird Tales?

Definitely agree there was a definite cinematic feel to this story -- especially with the climax taking place in a burning room. It would seem to have been ripe for a Corman production -- except he would have had to pay royalties.

I liked the escalating menace when the narrator notices the crappy food, rundown mansion, and his old acquataince Malcolm's increasing unpleasantness.

>12 semdetenebre: There was definitely an air of gothic menace -- the rundown mansion, terrified servants, Cynthia's odd silence, the warning to the narrator not to leave his room, the odd sounds, and locked living room. However, the fictional character Malcolm most reminded me of was Blascoe from the movie The Legend of Hell House -- another short guy with a chip on his shoulder.

>18 RandyStafford:

Excellent analogy to Hell House, Randy. In fact, as I read the story, I kept vaguely conjuring Malcolm Orne in my mind's eye as resembling a character named Belasco as drawn by Don Perlin in the 1970's Marvel comic WEREWOLF BY NIGHT. That storyline was a not-so-thinly-veiled adaptation of the Matheson novel. Your mentioning "another short guy with a chip on his shoulder" just helped me bridge the connection.

Wanted to post this earlier and then forgot - a nice little tribute "area" to Leiber on the Library of America's new American Science Fiction subsite:

http://www.loa.org/sciencefiction/appreciation/gaiman.jsp

>20 artturnerjr:

Good call, Art. They really did a nice job on that website. I actually ordered that set a little earlier this week!

>21 semdetenebre:

Sweet! You'll have to give us the rundown on that one when you get it, Kenton. 8)

>22 artturnerjr:

It looks like the set also boasts Richard Powers covers, so I couldn't resist. Plus I really enjoy the 1950's SF covered by the two volumes, only about half of which I've read. I also have a spasmodic ” buy now” impulse for anything Fritz-related. :-)

Just discovered that Leiber's Hugo Award-winning novel The Big Time is available for free from the fine folks at Project Gutenberg:

http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/32256