Nifft the Lean Series by Michael Shea

SHEA'S "INFERNO"!Follow the adventures of Nifft the Lean, the master thief whose felonious appropriations and larcenous skills will lead through Stygian realms to challenge your most lurid fantasies and errant imaginings. Places where horror, harm and long eerie calms flow past the traveller in endless, unpredictable succession... moreSHEA'S "INFERNO"!Follow the adventures of Nifft the Lean, the master thief whose felonious appropriations and larcenous skills will lead through Stygian realms to challenge your most lurid fantasies and errant imaginings. Places where horror, harm and long eerie calms flow past the traveller in endless, unpredictable succession. Travel the man whose long, rawboned, sticky fingers and stark length of arm will lead you down to the vermiculous grottos of the demon sea, to stand beneath the subworld's lurid sky and battle monsters who seem the spiritual distillation of human evil itself!We invite to the very gates of Hell and beyond —COME IF YOU DARE! less

Nifft the Lean, and his companion-at-arms, Barnar Hammer-Hand, were often lucky. Enroute to working Costard's sap mine — very dangerous, and sometimes nauseating work far below ground — they were shipwrecked. But this proved fortuitous, when they met Bunt, who had been seeking just such as they. If they would work the sap mine, but also bring back twenty gills of fluid, he would make them exceedingly wealthy.So it was settled... moreNifft the Lean, and his companion-at-arms, Barnar Hammer-Hand, were often lucky. Enroute to working Costard's sap mine — very dangerous, and sometimes nauseating work far below ground — they were shipwrecked. But this proved fortuitous, when they met Bunt, who had been seeking just such as they. If they would work the sap mine, but also bring back twenty gills of fluid, he would make them exceedingly wealthy.So it was settled. They would suck the sap from the servants of the monstrous insectile queen — and they would bring back some of the ichor that she alone exuded — and they would be rich. It seemed relatively easy. They wouldn't have to go to hell at all, for instance.Of course, the best laid plans sometimes do go a little astray. less

THIS TIME, THEY WOULD MAKE A KILLINGJoin master thief Nifft the Lean with his companion-at-arms, mighty barbarian Barnar Hammer-Hand, as they trust to their wits and their luck. Once Nifft and Barnar were hired by the ghost of a dead woman to kidnap the man who betrayed her and drag him down to hell to join her. A simple task — or so they thought at first... moreTHIS TIME, THEY WOULD MAKE A KILLINGJoin master thief Nifft the Lean with his companion-at-arms, mighty barbarian Barnar Hammer-Hand, as they trust to their wits and their luck. Once Nifft and Barnar were hired by the ghost of a dead woman to kidnap the man who betrayed her and drag him down to hell to join her. A simple task — or so they thought at first....Another time, the pair lucked into an even more lucrative proposition, when they were shipwrecked on the way to work in Costard's sap mine — very dangerous and sometimes nauseating work far below ground and were hired by Bunt to bring back twenty gills of the ichor exuded only by the monstrous insectile queen. It seemed like easy money — they wouldn't have to go to hell Of course, the best laid plans sometimes do go astray, but this time they were sure they would...make a killing.Publisher's Note: Parts of this work were previously published as "Nifft the Lean" and "The Mines of Behemoth." less

PROSPEROUS HAGIA'S VAULTS BRIMMED WITH GOLD. HER WAREHOUSES BULGED WITH THE GOODS OF THE SOUTHERN SEAS. SHE HAD THE SPIDER-GOD TO THANK FOR HER PROSPERITY.But beneath Hagia's ancient bargain with the A'Rak lay the direst danger. That mercenary kingdom had mortgaged its soul in its pact with the giant arachnoid. When the note fell due, death of the most hideous kind awaited the multitudes of that affluent and bustling nation... morePROSPEROUS HAGIA'S VAULTS BRIMMED WITH GOLD. HER WAREHOUSES BULGED WITH THE GOODS OF THE SOUTHERN SEAS. SHE HAD THE SPIDER-GOD TO THANK FOR HER PROSPERITY.But beneath Hagia's ancient bargain with the A'Rak lay the direst danger. That mercenary kingdom had mortgaged its soul in its pact with the giant arachnoid. When the note fell due, death of the most hideous kind awaited the multitudes of that affluent and bustling nation.As Hagia's debt falls due, two foreigners arrive in Big Quay, her capital: Lagademe and her team, foremost among the world's Nuncios -- deliverers of anything to anywhere -- and Nifft the Lean, thief and rogue extraordinaire.Nifft and Lagademe, strangers to one another at the outset, will soon be struggling side by side for their lives -- and a nation's survival -- against the most hideous foe in the annals of Sword and Sorcery fiction. less