Our Lady of Darkness by Fritz Leiber
"Our Lady of Darkness" is a supernatural narrative centered around Franz Westen, a writer grappling with grief and alcoholism following the death of his wife, Daisy. After relocating to a San Francisco apartment, he begins a tentative romantic relationship with Cal, a harpsichordist whose music has a healing effect on him. Franz finds solace in his collection of occult literature and weird fiction, which he refers to as his "Scholar's Mistress," a tribute to his late wife. His fascination with these texts leads him to discover a fictional work titled "Megapolisomacy," which posits that urban environments can harbor malevolent supernatural entities.
As Franz delves deeper into the history of his apartment, he becomes increasingly convinced that he is being haunted by a mysterious figure he glimpses from his window. This figure, along with a curse hidden in the writings of Clark Ashton Smith—an actual fantasy author connected to H.P. Lovecraft—draws him into a web of urban myths and occult intrigue. The tension culminates in a nightmarish encounter, forcing Franz and Cal to confront the dark forces at play. Ultimately, their bond deepens, yet they choose not to marry, reflecting the complexities of love and loss intertwined with the supernatural elements of their story.
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Our Lady of Darkness
First published: 1977 (revised and expanded from “The Pale Brown Thing,” The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction, January-February, 1977)
Type of work: Novel
Type of plot: Fantasy—occult
Time of work: 1976
Locale: San Francisco, California
The Plot
Franz Westen, a writer of weird tales, has moved to a San Francisco apartment house following the death of his wife, Daisy, and a period of alcoholism. He has begun a tentative affair with Cal, a harpsichordist living in the apartment below whose music has a supernaturally healing influence. Still grieving, Franz avoids commitment with Cal, finding solace in his “Scholar’s Mistress,” a heap of occult books and weird pulp magazines, which he lines up every night on Daisy’s side of the bed.
While in an alcoholic haze, Franz had purchased two books: Megapolisomacy: A New Science of Cities, by Thibaut de Castries, and a diary written by one of de Castries’ disciples, whom Franz believes to be Clark Ashton Smith. De Castries and his book are imaginary, but Smith was an actual fantasy writer, a friend of H. P. Lovecraft, a writer of tales of cosmic terror. In his book, de Castries maintains that conglomerations of large buildings produce noxious residues and become breeding grounds for “paramental entities.” Franz gradually becomes certain that a pale brown dancing figure he sees from his window is such a being. When he walks to the Corona Heights area in pursuit, he is horrified to see the figure waving to him from the window of his own room.
Franz visits the sybaritic Jaime Donaldus Byers, a poet and authority on Clark Ashton Smith, who confirms that the diary is indeed by Smith. Byers, who also owns a copy of the rare Megapolisomacy, tells Franz about an anti-urban cult established by de Castries and describes de Castries’ mistress, a mysterious woman in a black veil. Examining Smith’s journal, Byers finds a cryptically written curse hidden between two pages.
Franz spends the day researching the history of the apartment building in which he lives, ultimately learning that Smith had inhabited the room in which Franz now lives. That evening, Franz attends Cal’s harpsichord concert but leaves in the middle, preoccupied with the curse. At home he decodes the cryptogram and realizes that de Castries had set a trap for Clark Ashton Smith; Smith had died before the tall buildings needed to spring the trap were constructed. After placing on the bed the works of occult and weird fiction that make up his “Scholar’s Mistress,” Franz lies down. He dreams that Daisy is alive and caressing him, then that she is dead and that what he had taken for fingers are black vines growing out of her skull. He awakes to find that his “Scholar’s Mistress” has come to life and is attacking him. Cal arrives barely in time to exorcise the evil being by invoking the names of musicians and scientists, representing the principles of order and harmony. Cal and Franz move together to another apartment but do not marry.