The Leech is a science fiction novella by Robert Sheckley, first published in 1952.

A visitor should be fed, but this one could eat you out of house and home ... literally! 

The Leech was first published in Galaxy Science Fiction December 1952.

Robert Sheckley (1928-2005) was a Hugo- and Nebula-nominated American author. First published in the science fiction magazines of the 1950s, his numerous quick-witted stories and novels were famously unpredictable, absurdist and broadly comical. 

Sheckley was nominated for Hugo and Nebula awards and was named Author Emeritus by the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America in 2001.