Fritz Leiber is one of the most widely read authors of fantasy. He is an author who was influenced by H. P. Lovecraft and influenced many authors himself. His most famous characters are Ffahrd and the gray mouser, as they are called in Germany. Leiber's work is characterized by diversity. He knew how to express himself with equal artistic energy and quality in different genres or to mix the genres - for example, horror with science fiction in the story The Oldest Soldier, 1960 (Engl. Nachhutgefechte, 1974) - seemingly effortlessly. Leiber did not see science fiction, horror, and fantasy as distinct genres, but rather as narrative possibilities that could be freely combined.

Leiber had German roots. His parents were both Shakespearean actors. Leiber studied philosophy and psychology at the University of Chicago. In 1936, he married Welsh poet Jonquil Stephens. She brought to Leiber's attention the author H. P. Lovecraft, with whom he subsequently corresponded intensively for eight months until Lovecraft's death in 1937. Leiber enjoyed a reputation, especially in the U.S. as an author of idiosyncratic, detailed Weird Fiction since about the mid-1950s.