Fritz Leiber The Big Time Mind Spider Ace Double 1961

🚀 The Big Time / The Mind Spider and Other Stories by Fritz Leiber — Ace Double D-491 (1961), the first book publication of Leiber’s Hugo Award-winning novel paired with a companion story collection.

QUICK FACTS

• Author: Fritz Leiber (1910–1992)
• Publisher: Ace Books, New York (Ace Double D-491)
• Year: 1961 (first book publication of The Big Time)
• Format: Two novels back-to-back, 122 + 129 pages
• Cover Art: Ed Emshwiller (“Emsh”), both sides
• Original Price: 35¢
• Condition: Good plus — full report below

THE STORY

Fritz Leiber was one of the most versatile and decorated writers in science fiction, fantasy, and horror. A three-time Hugo Award winner and Grand Master of the World Fantasy Convention, Leiber co-created the Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser sword-and-sorcery series and originated the “Change War” sequence — a sprawling time-travel conflict between two godlike factions who rewrite history itself.

The Big Time (1958) is the centerpiece of the Change War cycle. Set entirely in a single room — the “Recuperation Station” where wounded Change Warriors recover between battles across time — it’s a claustrophobic, theatrical novel told through dialogue and character. Six soldiers and a manipulative hostess named Greta, all stranded outside of time, argue, scheme, and fall in love while the universe outside them is endlessly rewritten. It won the Hugo Award for Best Novel at the 17th World Science Fiction Convention (DyKon) in 1959.

The Mind Spider and Other Stories collects six Change War tales that expand the universe beyond the single-room setting of the novel. The most notable is “The Oldest Soldier,” which traces the personal cost of immortality across centuries of hidden warfare. “The Number of the Beast” features a human detective solving a case involving alien telepaths. “Midnight in the Mirror World” stands apart as a standalone puzzle story set in a haunting parallel dimension.

THIS EDITION

This Ace Double D-491 is the first book publication of The Big Time — the novel was previously serialized in Galaxy Science Fiction magazine’s March and April 1958 issues, with interior illustrations by Virgil Finlay. Ace published both novels back-to-back in 1961 at 35¢, making this the affordable mass-market debut that brought the Change War to paperback readers. The two-novel format was Ace’s signature: flip the book over to read The Mind Spider from the other direction.

COVER ART

Both covers are by Ed Emshwiller, the prolific Science Fiction book cover artist who signed his work “Emsh.” The Big Time side shows a woman in a red-and-gold futuristic outfit holding an electronic device, with distressed figures in a dark, abstract environment — capturing the novel’s claustrophobic, backstage-of-time atmosphere. The Mind Spider side features a helmeted astronaut head with spacecraft, a running red figure and blue-suited soldier with rifle, and alien landscape elements including a large green eye and organic tendrils. Both covers are bold yellow-and-blue compositions typical of early-1960s Ace Doubles.

WHY IT MATTERS

• The Big Time is one of only two novels to win a Hugo while set entirely in a single room (the other is The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet by Becky Chambers, 2016)
• Leiber coined the term “Change War” and influenced decades of time-travel fiction, from Philip K. Dick to the TV series Travellers
• This Ace Double represents the first time both works appeared in book form — The Big Time was serialized in Galaxy before this publication
• Emshwiller went on to become the first winner of the Hugo Award for Best Professional Artist (1961) and pioneered video art at the Television Laboratory at WNET

FREQUENTLY ASKED

What edition is this? Ace Double D-491, published 1961. First book publication of The Big Time (previously serialized in Galaxy, 1958).

What condition is it in? Good plus — full report below.

Are both novels in one volume? Yes — Ace Doubles are two novels printed back-to-back. Read The Big Time from one side, flip it over for The Mind Spider.

FOR COLLECTORS

The Big Time’s Hugo win and Change War legacy make this Ace Double a foundational piece of science fiction publishing history. The Emshwiller covers alone are collectible — he won the Best Professional Artist Hugo the same year this was published.

Condition Report
Overall Grade: Good plus
Cover and Spine: Covers show edge wear with chipping all around. Transparent tape applied at the spine at bottom of The Big Time. Cover hinges weak.
Text Block and Pages: Lightly age-toned pages, remaining clean and supple without any sign of brittleness.
Binding: Block out of square a bit due to age warping of the spine glue. Block is complete, solid not cracked. Delicate but whole.

See accompanying images for full condition details. Will ship promptly, carefully packaged.

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