The Sadness of the Executioner

Nehwon Vision letterpress chapbook Pegana Press 2017 $85.00

Pegana Press is proud to offer for your approval, The Sadness of the Executioner, a thoroughly enjoyable tale from Fritz Leiber, in which Death once again pursues Fafhrd and The Gray Mouser. Fine Edition chapbook letterpress printed on watermarked German Ingres Antique white paper. Strictly limited to 60 numbered copies. Sewn onto wine purple heavy French paper covers with black Irish Linen thread. Featuring a new color frontispiece illustration by Swiss born Parisian artist Patrick Mallet for this edition. $85.oo

...Now it may be that in the world of Nehwon there are gods of whom even Death does not know and who from time to time take pleasure in putting obstacles in his path...

Illustrated by Patrick Mallet

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Twelve heartbeats to go...

Death most strongly felt that, if only for artistry's sake, heroes should be made to make their exits from the stage of life in the highest melodramatic style, with only one in fifty score let to die of old age and in the bed of sleep for the object of irony.

(From The Sadness of the Executioner by Fritz Leiber)

It struck me in choosing The Sadness of the Executioner and while setting the type, how much I enjoyed Leiber’s prose when he was freed from the restriction of writing from the viewpoint of Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser. I love his intimate and yet detached description of a day in the life of Death and his sometimes onerous burden.

--Mike Tortorello

Pegana Press 2017