The Black Ewe by Fritz Leiber Episode #79
Fritz Leiber | July 5, 2023-
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The Black Ewe by Fritz Leiber Episode #79
Fritz Leiber
THE BLACK EWE
Episode #79 · Written by Fritz Leiber · Narrated by Scott Miller
A man believes he has found the perfect partner—until a series of bizarre “accidents” and whispered premonitions unravel into something far darker than he imagined. As he finally glimpses the pattern behind a trail of doomed suitors, he must confront a truth that threatens both his sanity and his life.
The Black Ewe is Fritz Leiber at his most unnerving, guiding readers into a tale where the strange and the ordinary mingle so subtly that the dread feels almost invisible—until it’s too late. The story follows a thoughtful, introspective narrator who becomes engaged to Lavinia Simes, a woman who seems gentle, cultured, and oddly timeless. But the quiet elegance she carries conceals a pattern of strange events: a trail of previous lovers who met shocking fates, eerie hints about world-changing future events, and uncanny moments where she seems to slip outside the bounds of normal intuition.
Leiber slowly tightens the tension through conversations, subtle gestures, prophetic slips, and a rising unease that becomes harder for the narrator to ignore. A seemingly harmless experiment with telepathy reveals disturbing symbols. A party spirals into chaos as emotions erupt into a bizarre, almost prophetic frenzy. And then, a moment of horrifying clarity arrives on a quiet morning tour where the narrator realizes what has been following him since the moment he met her. The truth he uncovers suggests that destiny—and destruction—have been trailing Lavinia for years, and perhaps she is more than merely a witness to catastrophe.
Leiber’s genius is in how he layers social commentary, psychological unraveling, and subtle supernatural overtones. The Black Ewe explores fear on both personal and global scales: the fear of intimacy, of unseen forces shaping history, and of a world rushing toward disaster. It is a story about the burden of knowledge, the terror of intuition, and the sense that humanity might be marching toward something vast and dreadful—guided by influences it cannot see.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Fritz Leiber (1910–1992) stands among the great stylists and visionaries of 20th-century speculative fiction. His writing blended sophistication, psychological depth, and a sharp understanding of human vulnerability. Leiber’s ability to merge the mundane with the uncanny set him apart, allowing him to craft stories that resonate long after the final sentence.
His work spans horror, science fiction, fantasy, satire, and the wonderfully strange—from the iconic Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser stories to award-winning psychological tales such as “Smoke Ghost,” “The Girl With the Hungry Eyes,” and “Gonna Roll the Bones.” Leiber won numerous Hugos, Nebulas, and World Fantasy Awards, and his bold explorations of fear, desire, and the supernatural helped redefine what speculative fiction could be. He remains one of the field’s most influential voices—an author whose stories reveal as much about humanity as they do about the fantastic.
LISTEN TO THE STORY
Listen to The Black Ewe by Fritz Leiber — a gripping vintage science fiction story of strange intuition, doomed romance, and unease.
FRITZ LEIBER SHORT STORIES
Fritz Leiber brought a distinctive voice to vintage science fiction. His short stories rarely rely on conventional space adventure alone. Instead, Leiber explored how ordinary people react when the universe suddenly turns strange—when time bends, when science changes daily life, or when survival depends on quick thinking in impossible conditions.
Many of his stories begin in familiar settings. A quiet home. A city street. A routine job. Then something slips sideways. A world freezes solid. Pedestrians gain absolute power over traffic. A casual decision triggers consequences that reach across time. Leiber excelled at placing human characters inside extraordinary situations and letting their choices drive the tension.
His science fiction often balances imagination with sharp observation. Some stories carry dark humor. Others deliver genuine dread. A few unfold as clever thought experiments that spiral into dangerous territory. Whether the threat comes from space, from technology, or from humanity itself, Leiber keeps the focus tightly on the people forced to confront it.
The stories below showcase a wide range of Leiber’s science fiction—from survival tales and strange futures to biting satire and time-bending paradox.
- The Last Letter by Fritz Leiber
- What's He Doing in There? by Fritz Leiber
- The Black Ewe by Fritz Leiber
- The Moon is Green by Fritz Leiber
- The Goggles of Dr. Dragonet by Fritz Leiber
- Nice Girl With 5 Husbands by Fritz Leiber
- Try and Change the Past by Fritz Leiber
- A Hitch in Space by Fritz Leiber
- A Pail of Air by Fritz Leiber
- X Marks the Pedwalk by Fritz Leiber
- Later Than You Think by Fritz Leiber
- The Foxholes of Mars by Fritz Leiber
ABOUT THE LOST SCI-FI PODCAST
The Lost Sci-Fi Podcast is the most listened-to vintage science fiction podcast in the world. Ranked the #1 Science Fiction Podcast in 34 countries and heard in more than 190 countries, the show has surpassed 3.7 million listens.
Each episode features carefully selected stories from the Golden Age of science fiction, professionally narrated. Timeless storytelling the way it was meant to be heard.
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“My favorite podcast. I love this selection of vintage science fiction stories. They are always interesting and entertaining and often edifying. Narrator and curator Scott Miller does a good job of balancing his own taste for obscure works with popular demand for stories from bigger name authors. High quality narration from a former television professional.”
— WillEKY
Vintage science fiction. Professionally narrated. Carefully curated.
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