Swords Against Death - Fritz Leiber

 I think that I first read this book when I was 11 or 12, picking it up from the spinny rack of pulp fantasy and sci-fi books in Harpenden Public Library. Annoyingly enough, they didn't seem to have the first book in the 'Swords' series, so this was my introduction to the characters of Fafhrd and the Grey Mouser. I re-read it in preparation for a Grognard Files bookclub.

It's a actually a collection of short stories written between 1940 and 1969, although they do tie together in a sort of chronological narrative. There are themes that tie the stories together and there's a recurring theme of one or other (or both) of the characters being enchanted somehow and haring off into danger. Leiber's prose is enchantingly baroque, sprinkled with references to exotic sounding places such as Quarmall, the Lakes of Plea and the beggar city of Tovilyis.

It's still a cracking read, although there are some somewhat dated attitudes towards sex and race in places (and those would become even more apparent in the last book in the series written in 1988). Highlights include The Jewels in the Forest - effectively a mini dungeon with a great twist, Thieves' House - which set the template for every D&D Thieves' Guild, and Bazaar of the Bizarre which is the archetype for the mysterious magic shop that appears in a previously blank wall.

Gary Gygax himself acknowledged these books as major influence on D&D and included them in the famous Appendix N of suggested reading in the Dungeon Masters Guide - a place they richly deserve.