The Black Ewe by Fritz Leiber Episode #79

Fritz Leiber | July 5, 2023

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.