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LEIGH BRACKETT, QUEEN OF SPACE

LEIGH Brackett was one quarter of the greatest team of Space Opera writers ever. (These included Edmond Hamilton. C. L. Moore and Henry Kuttner as well. Not surprisingly, these four were actually two couples, Brackett married to Edmond Hamilton. Moore and Kuttner wrote separately and together under the names Lewis Pagett and  Lawrence O'Donnell.) Brackett was the last of the four, getting her start with "Martian Quest" Astounding Science Fiction,  February 1940. She did not stay with Astounding but went on to become the driving force behind Planet Stories, a later Pulp that published adventure stories on other planets. In the pages of Planet Stories, Brackett developed her own vision of Mars, being the second great incarnation of that planet, the first being Edgar Rice Burroughs' Barsoom (which influenced Brackett heavily) and the third, Ray Bradbury's Martian Chronicles (which Brackett can take some small amount of credit for inspiring her friend Bradbury. The two wrote "Lorelei of the Red Mists" together.) Leigh left full-time magazine writing for Hollywood in 1946. She wrote The Big Sleep with William Faulkner and Rio Bravo and Rio Lobo for John Wayne. She ended her movie writing career by returning to Space Opera, penning The Empire Strikes Back with Lawrence Kasdan for George Lucas. No surprise, my favorite of the Star Wars films.

 

Copyright G. W. Thomas Covers used with "Fair Use" in mind.