heroic fantasy of Fritz LEIBER. He has written very
little short fantasy that did not fall into one or an-
other of his series since the 1960s, some of which is
collected in The Singing Citadel(1970). Most of his
early fantasy novels have been reissued in omnibus
form, including Hawkmoon (1992), Von Bek
(1995), Corum(1997), and Elric(2001). His early
work often appears to be nothing more than light
adventure fiction, but Moorcock was even then
beginning to tackle philosophical issues such as the
nature of good and evil and destiny and duty. His
heroes are almost always flawed, and those flaws
provide a much greater depth than can be found
among similar work by his contemporaries.
Morressey, John(1930– )
After trying his hand at mainstream fiction and
books for young adults, John Morressey became a
relatively prolific science fiction writer during the
1970s, turning out several creditable but unexcep-
tional novels. He first turned to fantasy with Iron-
brand(1980) and its sequels, Graymantle(1981)
and Kingsbane(1982). The trilogy follows the ad-
ventures of three brothers who are cheated out of
their place as ruling family by an evil wizard who
usurps the throne. They set out on a typical quest
using a set of magical swords to eventually reclaim
their legacy. Time of the Annihilator(1985) is simi-
larly predictable, involving an imminent invasion
hastened by the death of the local sorcerer.
Morressey finally began to distinguish himself
with A Voice for Princess(1986), the first of the
Kedrigern series. Kedrigern is a wizard who is an-
noyed by the admission of alchemists into the wiz-
ards’ guild. He is also bored, so he sets out to find
himself a wife, during the course of which he has
several humorous adventures. His new wife falls
under a spell in The Questing of Kedrigern(1987),
and he frees her in due course. The twosome then
pool their talents to help a princess who has been
transformed into a talking sword in Kedrigern in
Wanderland(1988). These first three novels were
surprisingly fresh, as Morressey was clearly more
adept at light, humorous adventure than at serious
sword and sorcery. Kedrigern and the Charming
Couple(1990) reprised the previous novel. This
time the enchanted princess suffers from lycan-
thropy; she turns into a wolf when the moon is full.
In A Remembrance for Kedrigern(1990) the wizard
reluctantly agrees to take part in a plan to track
down and destroy a swamp monster feared by the
locals, but he makes a surprising discovery that sets
him at odds with his fellows.
Morressy’s most recent fantasy novel is The
Juggler(1996), a well done and occasionally inter-
esting but ultimately predictable deal-with-the-
devil story. The Kedrigern novels have recently
been reprinted in omnibus editions as The Domesti-
cated Wizard(2002) and Dudgeons and Dragons
(2002) and are still his most notable fiction. He
continues to write short stories regularly, both fan-
tasy and science fiction, and is long overdue for a
collection. The decline in popularity of humorous
fantasy after the early 1990s probably brought the
Kedrigern series to an early end, unfortunately, be-
cause they had been improving steadily from one
title to the next.Morris, Janet(1946– )
Janet Morris emerged as a prolific and versatile
writer in the late 1970s with two brief series of sci-
ence fiction novels that strongly resembled fantasy
as well as short fiction in the Thieves’ World
shared universe series of original anthologies, start-
ing with “Vashanna’s Minion” (1980) and “Man
and His God” (1981). She used a recurring charac-
ter, Tempus, a roguish adventurer who generally
finds himself fighting on the side of good, although
it is not always easy to tell good from evil. Tempus
was a popular enough figure that Morris used him
as the protagonist of three novels, followed by a
collection of the shorter adventures as Tempus
(1987).
The original Tempus trilogy takes him out of
his familiar setting in Sanctuary, a haven for those
seeking to hide from the outside world. In Beyond
Sanctuaryhe discovers that his particular talents
are much in demand in the outside world. His am-
bitions take on a greater scope in Beyond the Veil
(1985), this time causing him to join a group op-
posing an evil witch who has raised an army of
demons. In Beyond the Wizardwall(1986) he even
becomes an agent of his government, infiltrating
the city of a neighboring kingdom to disrupt plansMorris, Janet 247