Belsen Express - Misplaced Pages

1975 horror fiction short story by Fritz Leiber

"Belsen Express" is a 1975 horror fiction short story, by Fritz Leiber. It first appeared in his collection The Second Book of Fritz Leiber.

Synopsis

George Simister is a racist bigot, but also has a fear of Nazis. As he commutes to work each day, he begins to notice that his journey is apparently recapitulating elements of the Holocaust, including a destination sign which he thinks says "Belsen". After traveling in an uncomfortably full bus permeated by exhaust fumes, he arrives at his office, where he dies of what one doctor believes to be carbon monoxide poisoning.

Reception

"Belsen Express" won the 1976 World Fantasy Award—Short Fiction and the August Derleth Award for short fiction.

SF Signal called it "spooky stuff", rating it three stars out of five.

References

The 2nd World Fantasy Convention, at WorldFantasy.org; retrieved March 12, 2020
Fritz Leiber, by Malcolm Edwards and John Clute, in The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction; last updated February 7, 2019; retrieved March 12, 2020
REVIEW: Fritz Leiber: Selected Stories edited by Charles N. Brown and Jonathan Strahan, by John DeNardo; at SF Signal; published April 20, 2010; retrieved March 12, 2020

External links

Belsen Express title listing at the Internet Speculative Fiction Database

v t e World Fantasy Award—Short Fiction
1975–2000	"Pages from a Young Girl's Journal" by Robert Aickman (1975) "Belsen Express" by Fritz Leiber (1976) "There's a Long, Long Trail A-Winding" by Russell Kirk (1977) "The Chimney" by Ramsey Campbell (1978) "Naples" by Avram Davidson (1979) "Mackintosh Willy" by Ramsey Campbell (1980, tie) "The Woman Who Loved the Moon" by Elizabeth A. Lynn (1980, tie) "The Ugly Chickens" by Howard Waldrop (1981) "The Dark Country" by Dennis Etchison (1982, tie) "Do the Dead Sing?" by Stephen King (1982, tie) "The Gorgon" by Tanith Lee (1983) "Elle Est Trois, (La Mort)" by Tanith Lee (1984) "The Bones Wizard" by Alan Ryan (1985, tie) "Still Life with Scorpion" by Scott Baker (1985, tie) "Paper Dragons" by James Blaylock (1986) "Red Light" by David J. Schow (1987) "Friend's Best Man" by Jonathan Carroll (1988) "Winter Solstice, Camelot Station" by John M. Ford (1989) "The Illusionist" by Steven Millhauser (1990) "A Midsummer Night's Dream" by Neil Gaiman and Charles Vess (1991) "The Somewhere Doors" by Fred Chappell (1992) "Graves" by Joe Haldeman (1993, tie) "This Year's Class Picture" by Dan Simmons (1993, tie) "The Lodger" by Fred Chappell (1994) "The Man in the Black Suit" by Stephen King (1995) "The Grass Princess" by Gwyneth Jones (1996) "Thirteen Phantasms" by James Blaylock (1997) "Dust Motes" by P. D. Cacek (1998) "The Specialist's Hat" by Kelly Link (1999) "The Chop Girl" by Ian R. MacLeod (2000)
2001–present	"The Pottawatomie Giant" by Andy Duncan (2001) "Queen for a Day" by Albert E. Cowdrey (2002) "Creation" by Jeffrey Ford (2003) "Don Ysidro" by Bruce Holland Rogers (2004) "Singing My Sister Down" by Margo Lanagan (2005) "CommComm" by George Saunders (2006) "Journey Into the Kingdom" by M. Rickert (2007) "Singing of Mount Abora" by Theodora Goss (2008) "26 Monkeys, Also the Abyss" by Kij Johnson (2009) "The Pelican Bar" by Karen Joy Fowler (2010) "Fossil-Figures" by Joyce Carol Oates (2011) "The Paper Menagerie" by Ken Liu (2012) "The Telling" by Gregory Norman Bossert (2013) "The Prayer of Ninety Cats" by Caitlín R. Kiernan (2014) "Do You Like to Look at Monsters?" by Scott Nicolay (2015) "Hungry Daughters of Starving Mothers" by Alyssa Wong (2016) "Das Steingeschöpf" by G. V. Anderson (2017) "The Birding: A Fairy Tale" by Natalia Theodoridou (2018) "Like a River Loves the Sky" by Emma Törzs / "Ten Deals with the Indigo Snake" by Mel Kassel (2019) "Read After Burning" by Maria Dahvana Headley (2020) "Glass Bottle Dancer" by Celeste Rita Baker (2021) "(emet)" by Lauren Ring (2022)

World Fantasy Award—Short Fiction

1975–2000

"Pages from a Young Girl's Journal" by Robert Aickman (1975)
"Belsen Express" by Fritz Leiber (1976)
"There's a Long, Long Trail A-Winding" by Russell Kirk (1977)
"The Chimney" by Ramsey Campbell (1978)
"Naples" by Avram Davidson (1979)
"Mackintosh Willy" by Ramsey Campbell (1980, tie)
"The Woman Who Loved the Moon" by Elizabeth A. Lynn (1980, tie)
"The Ugly Chickens" by Howard Waldrop (1981)
"The Dark Country" by Dennis Etchison (1982, tie)
"Do the Dead Sing?" by Stephen King (1982, tie)
"The Gorgon" by Tanith Lee (1983)
"Elle Est Trois, (La Mort)" by Tanith Lee (1984)
"The Bones Wizard" by Alan Ryan (1985, tie)
"Still Life with Scorpion" by Scott Baker (1985, tie)
"Paper Dragons" by James Blaylock (1986)
"Red Light" by David J. Schow (1987)
"Friend's Best Man" by Jonathan Carroll (1988)
"Winter Solstice, Camelot Station" by John M. Ford (1989)
"The Illusionist" by Steven Millhauser (1990)
"A Midsummer Night's Dream" by Neil Gaiman and Charles Vess (1991)
"The Somewhere Doors" by Fred Chappell (1992)
"Graves" by Joe Haldeman (1993, tie)
"This Year's Class Picture" by Dan Simmons (1993, tie)
"The Lodger" by Fred Chappell (1994)
"The Man in the Black Suit" by Stephen King (1995)
"The Grass Princess" by Gwyneth Jones (1996)
"Thirteen Phantasms" by James Blaylock (1997)
"Dust Motes" by P. D. Cacek (1998)
"The Specialist's Hat" by Kelly Link (1999)
"The Chop Girl" by Ian R. MacLeod (2000)

2001–present

"The Pottawatomie Giant" by Andy Duncan (2001)
"Queen for a Day" by Albert E. Cowdrey (2002)
"Creation" by Jeffrey Ford (2003)
"Don Ysidro" by Bruce Holland Rogers (2004)
"Singing My Sister Down" by Margo Lanagan (2005)
"CommComm" by George Saunders (2006)
"Journey Into the Kingdom" by M. Rickert (2007)
"Singing of Mount Abora" by Theodora Goss (2008)
"26 Monkeys, Also the Abyss" by Kij Johnson (2009)
"The Pelican Bar" by Karen Joy Fowler (2010)
"Fossil-Figures" by Joyce Carol Oates (2011)
"The Paper Menagerie" by Ken Liu (2012)
"The Telling" by Gregory Norman Bossert (2013)
"The Prayer of Ninety Cats" by Caitlín R. Kiernan (2014)
"Do You Like to Look at Monsters?" by Scott Nicolay (2015)
"Hungry Daughters of Starving Mothers" by Alyssa Wong (2016)
"Das Steingeschöpf" by G. V. Anderson (2017)
"The Birding: A Fairy Tale" by Natalia Theodoridou (2018)
"Like a River Loves the Sky" by Emma Törzs / "Ten Deals with the Indigo Snake" by Mel Kassel (2019)
"Read After Burning" by Maria Dahvana Headley (2020)
"Glass Bottle Dancer" by Celeste Rita Baker (2021)
"(emet)" by Lauren Ring (2022)

v t e Fritz Leiber
Novels	Conjure Wife (1943) Destiny Times Three (1945) The Big Time (1961) The Wanderer (1964) Tarzan and the Valley of Gold (1966) A Specter Is Haunting Texas (1969) Our Lady of Darkness (1977)
Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser	Two Sought Adventure (1957) Swords and Deviltry (1970) Swords Against Death (1970) Swords in the Mist (1968) Swords Against Wizardry (1968) The Swords of Lankhmar (1968) Swords and Ice Magic (1977) Bazaar of the Bizarre (1978) The Knight and Knave of Swords (1988) Swords Against the Shadowland (Robin Wayne Bailey) (1998)
Short story collections	Night's Black Agents (1947) The Best of Fritz Leiber (1974) The Book of Fritz Leiber (1974) The Second Book of Fritz Leiber (1975) Heroes and Horrors (1978)
Short stories	"Coming Attraction" (1950) "A Pail of Air" (1951) "The Moon is Green" (1952) "The Unholy Grail" (1962) "Bazaar of the Bizarre" (1963) "To Arkham and the Stars" (1966) "Gonna Roll the Bones" (1967) "Ill Met in Lankhmar" (1970) "The Snow Women" (1970) "Midnight by the Morphy Watch" (1974) "Belsen Express" (1975) "Catch That Zeppelin!" (1975) "The Terror from the Depths" (1976)
Adaptations	Weird Woman (1944) Night of the Eagle (1962) Witches' Brew (1980) The Girl with the Hungry Eyes (1995)
Other items	Bibliography Fritz Leiber, Sr. (father)

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