Bullet with His Name

Fritz Reuter Leiber Jr.Project Gutenberg · United StatesDec 2019

3.6

Word count: 70K words
Chapters: 7

Summary

Project Gutenberg was the first provider of free electronic books, or eBooks. Michael Hart, founder of Project Gutenberg, invented eBooks in 1971 and his memory continues to inspire the creation of eBooks and related technologies today.Bullet with His Name by Fritz LeiberAuthor: Leiber, Fritz, 1910-1992,Language: English, Class: PS: Language and Literatures: American and Canadian literature, Release Date: Mar 13, 2016

Editor's review

Fritz Leiber was a major figure in American science fiction and fantasy, known for his nimble prose and eerie atmospherics. The very title "Bullet with His Name" carries a Leiber-esque sense of fatalism and suspense, and the work continues his signature short-form structure: a concrete object or event serves as the fulcrum, gradually drawing out the characters' circumstances and a larger backdrop, with an ending that often leaves a lingering, thought-provoking resonance. The value of reading this piece lies not in elaborate worldbuilding but in observing how the author creates a sense of pressure and uncertainty within a limited space, and how he maintains a personal style within the framework of the pulp magazines. The Project Gutenberg electronic edition is well suited as an introductory sample of Leiber's short fiction, and also for readers interested in studying the narrative techniques of mid-twentieth-century American genre literature. It should be noted that the gender attitudes and linguistic habits of early genre short stories bear the marks of their era; readers would do well to approach them from a literary-historical perspective rather than judging them simplistically by contemporary standards.

Who it's for

A good fit for

Science fiction and fantasy readers new to Fritz Leiber's short fiction
Readers studying mid-twentieth-century American genre literature
Readers who enjoy suspenseful, fatalistic short stories
Learners seeking English-language genre fiction samples for close-reading practice

Not a good fit for

Readers who only accept contemporary fast-paced, plot-heavy narratives
Readers sensitive to the period language and attitudes of early genre literature
Readers expecting long-form worldbuilding and series continuity

Reading tips

On a first pass, watch how the object in the title drives the plot; on a second, note the hints and foreshadowing in the dialogue.
After finishing, compare it with other Leiber short stories to observe his habitual techniques for building suspense.
For close reading in English, retell the characters' situations paragraph by paragraph to check whether you have grasped the implicit chain of cause and effect.

About the publisher

Project Gutenberg United States · Founded in 1971

Project Gutenberg is a digital publishing project focused on public-domain ebooks. Its publishing direction centers on classic literary works whose copyright has expired, covering genres such as poetry, drama, fiction, and epic. Representative books include Lyrical Ballads by Wordsworth and Coleridge, Proust's Du côté de chez Swann, Shakespeare's Macbeth and The Complete Works of William Shakespeare, Homer's The Iliad, Dante's La Divina Comèdia: Purgatòri, Cervantes's The History of Don Quixote, Volume 2, and Grahame's The Wind in the Willows. Its author resources consist mainly of classic Western writers such as Wordsworth, Proust, Shakespeare, Homer, Dante, Cervantes, Grahame, and Tolstoy. Its publishing feature is the provision of freely accessible ebooks in EPUB and Kindle formats; it is not a traditional publisher, and publicly available information is limited.

FAQ

Is this Leiber piece science fiction or fantasy?

Leiber often moved between science fiction and fantasy, and this short story is closer to genre narrative with a suspenseful atmosphere. Readers need not decide on a category first; following the story's own clues makes it easier to appreciate how the author builds atmosphere within a popular framework.

Is this suitable as an introduction to Leiber?

It works well as an introductory short-form sample. Its limited length and focused structure let you quickly sense Leiber's nimble language and atmospheric craft; but to understand the full breadth of his work, it should be read alongside stories of other themes and lengths.

Does the public-domain electronic edition include annotations?

Project Gutenberg editions usually provide only the original text, without modern editorial notes. When encountering period language or background allusions, it is advisable to look them up yourself or consult genre-literature history, so as not to misread the work's historical context.

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About the author

Fritz Reuter Leiber Jr. Author · American · 1910–1992

Fritz Leiber (1910–1992) was an American writer of science fiction, fantasy, and horror, born in Chicago to parents who were both Shakespearean actors. His work spans several genres, with representative titles including The Big Time, Yesterday House, A Bad Day for Sales, The Moon Is Green, and A Pail of Air, as well as the Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser sword-and-sorcery series created with Harry Fischer. He excelled at injecting the grotesque and the fearful into everyday settings, combining cool social satire with sharp imagination and a witty, dramatic prose style. Leiber won the Hugo Award six times and the Nebula Award three times, and in 1981 was named a Grand Master by the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America, leaving a lasting influence on later genre literature.