Night's Black Agents is a collection of fantasy and horror

Horror fiction

Horror fiction also Horror fantasy is a philosophy of literature, which is intended to, or has the capacity to frighten its readers, inducing feelings of horror and terror. It creates an eerie atmosphere. Horror can be either supernatural or non-supernatural...

 short stories

Short Stories

Short Stories may refer to:*A plural for Short story*Short Stories , an American pulp magazine published from 1890-1959*Short Stories, a 1954 collection by O. E...

 by author Fritz Leiber

Fritz Leiber

Fritz Reuter Leiber, Jr. was an American writer of fantasy, horror and science fiction. He was also a poet, actor in theatre and films, playwright, expert chess player and a champion fencer. Possibly his greatest chess accomplishment was winning clear first in the 1958 Santa Monica Open.. With...

. It was released in 1947

1947 in literature

The year 1947 in literature involved some significant events and new books.-Events:*The Diary of Anne Frank is published for the first time.*Jack Kerouac makes the journey which he will later chronicle in his book On the Road....

 and was the author's first book. It was published by Arkham House

Arkham House

Arkham House is a publishing house specializing in weird fiction founded in Sauk City, Wisconsin in 1939 by August Derleth and Donald Wandrei to preserve in hardcover the best fiction of H.P. Lovecraft. The company's name is derived from Lovecraft's fictional New England city, Arkham. Arkham House...

 in an edition of 3,084 copies.

Most of the stories originally appeared in the magazines Unknown

Unknown (magazine)

Unknown was an American pulp fantasy fiction magazine, published from 1939 to 1943 by Street & Smith, and edited by John W. Campbell. Unknown was a companion to Street & Smith's science fiction pulp, Astounding Science Fiction, which was also edited by Campbell at the time; many authors and...

and Weird Tales

Weird Tales

Weird Tales is an American fantasy and horror fiction pulp magazine first published in March 1923. It ceased its original run in September 1954, after 279 issues, but has since been revived. The magazine was set up in Chicago by J. C. Henneberger, an ex-journalist with a taste for the macabre....

; 3 were original.

The book's title is borrowed from Macbeth

Macbeth

The Tragedy of Macbeth is a play by William Shakespeare about a regicide and its aftermath. It is Shakespeare's shortest tragedy and is believed to have been written sometime between 1603 and 1607...

, Act III, scene ii.

Contents

Night's Black Agents contains the following tales:

1. "Foreword"
2. "Smoke Ghost"
3. "The Automatic Pistol"
4. "The Inheritance / The Phantom Slayer"
5. "The Hill and the Hole"
6. "The Dreams of Albert Moreland"
7. "The Hound / Diary in the Snow"
8. "The Man Who Never Grew Young"
9. "The Sunken Land"
10. "Adept's Gambit"

Reprints

• New York: Ballantine, 1961 (as Tales from Night's Black Agents, abridged, omits "Adept's Gambit")
• New York: Berkley, 1978 (restored and adds two stories: "The Girl with the Hungry Eyes", "A Bit of the Dark World").
• Boston: G.K. Hall, 1980 (text identical to Berkley edition; adds new intro by Richard Gid Powers; the most complete edition printed).