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    Night of the Long Knives
    Night of the Long Knives
    Night of the Long Knives
    Audiobook3 hours

    Night of the Long Knives

    Written by Fritz Leiber

    Narrated by Matt Armstrong

    3.5/5

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    About this audiobook

    Ray and Alice are Deathland Buggers: the ones who, after the destruction of the world, found it impossible to interact with others, and became a race of wandering murderers. Far from being a conscious choice, however, Buggers simply can't control their inborn urge to murder, so they usually travel solo.

    When Alice and Ray inadvertently stumble across one another in the Deathlands, they must decide whether to give into their urge to murder one another or not. Their dance of death is interrupted - first by a strange plane, appearing from the middle of nowhere, then by a chatty, congenial stranger named Pop who also appears from nowhere. Together, the three of them embark on a journey to escape from the Deathlands that has completely unintended consequences.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherMatt Armstrong
    Release dateDec 20, 2011
    ISBN9781936455065
    Author

    Fritz Leiber

    Fritz Leiber (1910–1992) was the highly acclaimed author of numerous science fiction stories and novels, many of which were made into films. He is best known as creator of the classic Lankhmar fantasy series. Leiber has won many awards, including the coveted Hugo and Nebula, and was honored as a lifetime Grand Master by the Science Fiction Writers of America.

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    Reviews for Night of the Long Knives

    3.5/5

    33 ratings7 reviews

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    • 3/5
      Written in 1960 this post-apocalyptic novella is sent during the fall-out of a nuclear bombing. The book has a western gunslinger feel to it as we follow the three characters through the Deadlands, the name given to the majority of the wasted, uninhabited land left on Earth. The three are Deadlanders, people with a natural urge to kill who spend their lives murdering others they find out here. Even though the book certainly comes from the Cold War era it's not a dated read at all. The story deals with many human characteristics and emotions which could be of great discussion. I didn't find it particularly thought-provoking myself though and the naive suggestion of a future promised land was a hokey ending.
    • 1/5
      Very creepy. Good writer but this requires you to be in the mind of a sociopath for far to long. Need a shower.
    • 5/5
      America has been devastated by a nuclear holocaust. Although there are still so-called civilized factions living (and warring) in some areas such as Atla-Hi and Alamos, much of the interior, now called the Deathlands, is blanketed by radioactive dust. Survivors or Deathlanders, who bear the scars both physically and psychologically of this holocaust, have developed a compulsion to kill. They may band together for immediate needs and for short periods but eventually they will be driven to murder each other.Ray, the narrator, has just survived such a Murder Party when he meets Alice, another Deathlander, and they fall into an uneasy truce. When they stumble upon a plane that appears seemingly from nowhere and then a friendly old man they call Pop, their urge to murder is eased at least for the moment first by the murder of the craft’s pilot and then by curiousity. A decision to steal the plane has some surprising consequences as they learn more about the world outside the Deathlands, about each other, and most importantly about themselves and their motives.The Night of the Long Knives was written by author Fritz Leiber in 1960 at the height of the Cold War and at the end of the Red Trials in America and the title is taken from the 1934 purge by the Nazi Party of Leftists within the party as well as outside opposition. With the end of the Trials that had destroyed the careers of so many people within the arts including writers, many in the US were trying not only to put this sad period of their history behind them but also trying to understand how it could have happened and how they could move forward. This was reflected in much of the writing of the period but none does it better than this novella by Leiber. Ray talks often about the Last War and the capitalizing these two words reflects both the hope that the world will finally learn from the devastation of war and the fear that, given its recent actions, it has learned very little and, therefore is doomed to repeat it: Oh, I can understand cultural queers fighting city squares and even get a kick out of it and whoop ‘em on, but these Atla-Hi and Alamos folk seemed a different kind of cat altogether… - the kind of cat that ought to have outgrown war or thought its way around it. Maybe Savannah Fortress had simply forced the war on them and they had to defend themselves…Still, I don’t know that it’s always a good excuse that somebody else forced you into war. That sort of justification can keep on until the end of time. With its very likeable trio of murderous Deathlanders and it’s sparse noir prose and active voice as well as it’s pacing reminiscent of the language and rhythm of the post-war beat poets, The Night of the Long Knives is still a very highly readable and engrossing novella despite its age. There is a great deal of violence both in the action and the language but this is a surprisingly hopeful story and it’s message is still as important and relevant today, one could almost argue prescient.
    • 4/5
      An interesting little novella about culture, impulse control, and the end of the world. Not nearly as dated as you might imagine from a book about a Cold War nuclear winter.
    • 3/5
      The Night of the Long KnivesAuthor: Fritz LieberPublisher: Project GutenbergPublished In: Salt Lake City, UT, USADate: 2008Pgs: 62REVIEW MAY CONTAIN SPOILERSSummary:America has been destroyed. Scavengers roam a devastated, partially radioactive, landscape. Desperation among the destruction. Rules of life. The breaking of those rules. The surviving. And the dying.Genre:ApocalypseDisasterEnd of the WorldFictionScience fictionShort storiesSurvivalistWarWhy this book:Lieber.Favorite Character:I like Pop. But considering the Deathlander’s credo, that Ray has introduced us to and that the girl obviously lives by, I wouldn’t get too attached to him or any of the characters since they could all go into a paroxysm of reflexive murder any time now leaving no survivors behind.Least Favorite Character: The advanced people are strawmen, the few that appear here.The Feel:Has a gunslinger/western feel to it...with zombies and desolation and the aftermath of war.Favorite Scene:The long seduction and aftermath is well done in a post apocalyptic, Deathlander, gunslinger, survivor way.Pacing:The pacing is great.Hmm Moments:Werewolf gangs.It had that “the other shoe is about to drop” feel, all the way through.Last Page Sound:And they all lived happily ever after? Really?Author Assessment:It’s Lieber.Editorial Assessment:The story is well put together.Knee Jerk Reaction:real genre classicDisposition of Book:e-BookWould recommend to:genre fans
    • 4/5
      The Tale of the Night of the Long Knives by Fritz Leiber is a tale of men and women at the end of the world. (The book was written in 1960 and published in Amazing Science Fiction Stories.) The story takes place in a world remade by Nuclear Holocaust. The main character, Ray Baker, is a self justified murder and survivalist in the anarchic land. His weapon he relys on he has named "Mother."He walks in a land where only the strong will survive. Baker's philosophy is that there is aesthetics in homicide."we talk, mostly to ourselves, about the aesthetics of homicide; we occasionally admit, but only each to himself alone, that we're just plain nuts." Leiber asks the reader to consider: "Is murder ever justified?" "Where is civility when the civilized institutions have been destroyed?" I agree with PINPRICK about making this into a movie. The story would lend very well to a visual medium. Leiber and Philip K. Dick share a number of similar traits. I have never seen a bad movie made from a Philip K. Dick story. One can listen to this tale from Libri Vox and get a free version from Gutenberg. Enjoy!
    • 4/5
      I don't understand why this hasn't been made into a movie or comic book! This story is awesome, post-apocalyptic, sci-fi at it's very, very best.