The Moon Is Green

Fritz Leiber

juuni 2011 · eStar Books

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Anybody who wanted to escape death could, by paying a very simple price--denial of life!Excerpt"Effie! What the devil are you up to?"Her husband's voice, chopping through her mood of terrified rapture, made her heart jump like a startled cat, yet by some miracle of feminine self-control her body did not show a tremor.Dear God, she thought, he mustn't see it. It's so beautiful, and he always kills beauty."I'm just looking at the Moon," she said listlessly. "It's green."Mustn't, mustn't see it. And now, with luck, he wouldn't. For the face, as if it also heard and sensed the menace in the voice, was moving back from the window's glow into the outside dark, but slowly, reluctantly, and still faunlike, pleading, cajoling, tempting, and incredibly beautiful."Close the shutters at once, you little fool, and come away from the window!""Green as a beer bottle," she went on dreamily, "green as emeralds, green as leaves with sunshine striking through them and green grass to lie on." She couldn't help saying those last words. They were her token to the face, even though it couldn't hear."Effie!"She knew what that last tone meant. Wearily she swung shut the ponderous lead inner shutters and drove home the heavy bolts. That hurt her fingers; it always did, but he mustn't know that."You know that those shutters are not to be touched! Not for five more years at least!""I only wanted to look at the Moon," she said, turning around, and then it was all gone--the face, the night, the Moon, the magic--and she was back in the grubby, stale little hole, facing an angry, stale little man. It was then that the eternal thud of the air-conditioning fans and the crackle of the electrostatic precipitators that sieved out the dust reached her consciousness again like the bite of a dentist's drill."Only wanted to look at the Moon!" he mimicked her in falsetto. "Only wanted to die like a little fool and make me that much more ashamed of you!" Then his voice went gruff and professional. "Here, count yourself."She silently took the Geiger counter he held at arm's length, waited until it settled down to a steady ticking slower than a clock--due only to cosmic rays and indicating nothing dangerous--and then began to comb her body with the instrument. First her head and shoulders, then out along her arms and back along their under side. There was something oddly voluptuous about her movements, although her features were gray and sagging.The ticking did not change its tempo until she came to her waist. Then it suddenly spurted, clicking faster and faster. Her husband gave an excited grunt, took a quick step forward, froze. She goggled for a moment in fear, then grinned foolishly, dug in the pocket of her grimy apron and guiltily pulled out a wristwatch.He grabbed it as it dangled from her fingers, saw that it had a radium dial, cursed, heaved it up as if to smash it on the floor, but instead put it carefully on the table."You imbecile, you incredible imbecile," he softly chanted to himself through clenched teeth, with eyes half closed.She shrugged faintly, put the Geiger counter on the table, and stood there slumped.He waited until the chanting had soothed his anger, before speaking again. He said quietly, "I do suppose you still realize the sort of world you're living in?"

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Fritz Reuter Leiber Jr. was born December 24, 1910, the son of a notable Shakespearean actor. He was a graduate of the University of Chicago where he had majored in psychology and physiology, and also attended Episcopal General Theological Seminary. Leiber was an Episcopal Minister from 1932 to 1933, but was encouraged to join his father's company, and toured with him in 1934, leaving two years later when he married in 1936. Leiber became an Editor with Consolidated Book Publishers in Chicago from 1937 to 1941. He was a Speech and Drama Instructor at Occidental College in Los Angeles from 1941 to 1942, a Precision Inspector at Douglas Air Craft Company, Santa Monica from 1942 to 1944, an Associate Editor for Science Digest Magazine from 1944 to 1956, and a Freelance Writer from 1956 to1992. Leiber's interest in writing came from correspondences with a a close college friend, Harry Fischer. Together they developed alter ego characters: Nordic Fafhrd a tall gangly limbed individual from 'the North' - based on Leiber, and the effervescent Grey Mouser - based on Fischer. Leiber first featured the characters in a story, "Adepts Gambit". The story was rejected, but the two characters reappeared in his first published story "Two Sought Adventure", which was published in Unknown magazine John W Campbell, of Astounding Science Fiction was Leiber's first editor. Leiber's first major work as an SF author came with his novel Gather, Darkness! in 1943, concerning the overthrow of a religious dictatorship. An anthology, Ill Met in Lankhmar, published in 1970, received the Hugo science fiction award. Leiber also received a Life Award for his contribution to his field, presented at the Second World Fantasy Convention. He regularly contributed a column to the SF trade magazine, Locus. Leiber was a member of the Science Fiction Writers of America, and a Lecturer for Science Fiction and Fantasy Workshops at Clarion State College and San Francisco State University. In his lifetime, Leiber won 7 Hugo Awards and a Hugo Grandmaster of Fantasy Award, 2 Nebula Awards and a Nebula Grandmaster Award, an August Derleth Award, 3 World Fantasy and one British Fantasy Awards, a Clark Ashton Award, a Balrog Award, a Locus Award, 3 Gigamesh Awards, an Anne Radcliffe Award, a University of Chicago Proffesional Achievemant Citation, and a Bram Stoker Life Achievement Award. He was also nominated for 7 other Nebula Awards, as well as 4 Lovecraft's and one Second Stage Lensman at Moscon. Leiber has appeared in television, film, on radio and in theater, and has written over 40 books. Fritz Leiber died September 5, 1992 at the age of 81.