| The Best of Fritz Leiber | |
| Author: | Fritz Leiber |
| Cover Artist: | Tony Roberts |
| Country: | United Kingdom |
| Language: | English |
| Series: | Ballantine's Classic Library of Science Fiction |
| Genre: | Fantasy, science fiction and horror |
| Publisher: | Sphere Books |
| Release Date: | 1974 |
| Media Type: | Print (paperback) |
| Pages: | 368 |
| Isbn: | 0-7221-5474-7 |
| Preceded By: | The Best of Stanley G. Weinbaum |
| Followed By: | The Best of Henry Kuttner |
The Best of Fritz Leiber is a collection of short stories by American writer Fritz Leiber. It was first published in the United Kingdom by Sphere Books in paperback in May 1974, and in the United States in hardcover by Doubleday in June 1974; a British hardcover and American paperback followed in November of the same year from Sidgwick & Jackson and Ballantine Books (as a volume in its Classic Library of Science Fiction), respectively. The Sphere edition was reprinted in June 1977, and the Ballantine edition in September 1979.
The collection contains twenty-two fantasy, science fiction and horror novelettes and short stories. The British and American editions differ slightly from each other. The former credits Angus Wells as editor; the latter neither lists an editor nor acknowledges the existence of the earlier edition. Both contain the same stories, but the British edition arranges these chronologically in the order of their original publication, while the American edition presents the novelette "Gonna Roll the Bones" first, out of its chronological order. The British edition also includes an introduction by the author and a bibliography of his published books as of 1973; the American edition substitutes a different introduction by Poul Anderson and an afterword by the author.
British edition:
American edition:
The book won the 1975 Locus Poll Award for Best Single Author Collection. The story "Gonna Roll the Bones" won both the 1967 Nebula Award and the 1968 Hugo Award for Best Novelette.
As of July 5, 2009, Night Shade Press was planning a new Leiber collection to be issued under the same title, but covering the whole of his writing career through his death in 1992. Publication was projected for 2010.[1]