Leigh Brackett was one quarter of Space Opera’s Big Four (Edmond Hamilton, Henry Kuttner, C. L. Moore. These four were actually two married couples who produced many of the classics of the 1930-1950s. Brackett and Moore became TV and Film writers. Kuttner died tragically in 1958 of heart failure. Hamilton went onto pen Superman comics for the 1940-60s.)
Brackett may be best remembered for writing The Big Sleep (1946 ) screenplay with William Faulkner or the Rio Bravo (1959) movies for Howard Hawks, but I will always remember her as the one who wrote The Empire Strikes Back (1980) with Lawrence Kasden. This film is the most perfect example of great Space Opera ever done. Many Star Wars fans do not like it because of it being the middle piece of three but so what? You have all the great Space Opera elements (romance, action, aliens, chases, etc.) and a better budget than the first Star Wars film.
When Leigh wasn’t writing movies, perhaps because of a writers’ strike, she would continue the adventures of her great hero, Eric John Stark. Or she would work on the old farm house she and Ed bought in Kinsman, OH. Or she would spend time in California, where she grew up. Not the most prolific of Pulp writers, the stories she produced were the high water mark against which all others are tested. She and Ray Bradbury inspired each other in the pages of Planet Stories, and no one else deserves the title more, Leigh Brackett, Queen of Space.
This is not a complete list. It doesn’t include fanzine work, Mysteries or Westerns.
“Martian Quest” Astounding Science Fiction, February 1940
“The Stellar Legion” Planet Stories, Winter 1940
“The Treasure of Ptakuth” Astounding Science Fiction, April 1940
“The Tapestry Gate” (Strange Stories, August 1940)
“The Demons of Darkside” Startling Stories, January 1941
“Water Pirate” Super Science Stories, January 1941
“The Dragon-Queen of Jupiter” Planet Stories, Summer 1941
“Interplanetary Reporter” Startling Stories, May 1941
“No Man’s Land in Space” Amazing Stories, July 1941
“Meet the Author” (Amazing Stories, July 1941)
“A World Is Born (Comet Stories, July 1941)
“Retreat to the Stars” Astonishing Science Fiction, November 1941
“Child of the Green Light” Super Science Stories, February 1942 (Reprinted in Super Science Stories, April 1951)
“Child of the Sun” Planet Stories, Spring 1942
“Out of the Sea” Astonishing Stories, June 1942
“Lord of the Earthquake” Science Fiction, June 1942
“Cube from Space” Super Science Stories, August 1942
“The Halfling” (Astonishing Stories, February 1943)
“Outpost on Io” Planet Stories, Winter 1942
“PS’s Feature Flash” (Planet Stories, Winter 1942)
“The Sorcerer of Rhiannon” Astounding Science Fiction, February 1942
“Citadel of Lost Ships” Planet Stories, March 1943 (Reprinted in Tops in Science Fiction, Spring 1953)
“The Blue Behemoth” Planet Stories, May 1943)
“Thralls of the Endless Night” Planet Stories, Fall 1943
“The Jewel of Bas” Planet Stories, Spring 1944
“The Veil of Astellar” Thrilling Wonder Stories, Spring 1944
“Terror Out of Space” Planet Stories, Summer 1944
“Shadow Over Mars” Startling Stories, Fall 1944
“Meet the Author” (Startling Stories, Fall 1944)
“The Vanishing Venusians” Planet Stories, Spring 1945
“Lorelei of the Red Mist” (with Ray Bradbury ) Planet Stories, Summer 1946 (reprinted in Tops in Science Fiction, Fall 1953)
“The Beast-Jewel of Mars” Planet Stories, Winter 1948
“The Moon That Vanished” Thrilling Wonder Stories, October 1948
“Quest of the Starhope” Thrilling Wonder Stories, April 1949
“Sea-Kings of Mars” Thrilling Wonder Stories, June 1949 (reprints The Sword of Rhiannon)
“Queen of the Martian Catacombs” Planet Stories, Summer 1949
“Enchantress of Venus” (aka “City of the Lost Ones”) Planet Stories, Fall 1949
“The Lake of the Gone Forever” Thrilling Wonder Stories, October 1949
“The Sword of Rhiannon” (Ace Double, 1949)
“The Dancing Girl of Ganymede” Thrilling Wonder Stories, February 1950
“The Truants” Startling Stories, July 1950
“The Citadel of Lost Ages” Thrilling Wonder Stories, December 1950
“Black Amazon of Mars” Planet Stories, March 1951 (expanded as “People of the Talisman”)
“The Starmen of Llyrdis” Startling Stories, March 1951
“The Woman from Altair” Startling Stories, July 1951
“Shadow Over Mars” (a: The Nemesis from Terra ) (1951)
“The Shadows” Startling Stories, February 1952
“The Last Days of Shandakor” Startling Stories, April 1952
“Shannach – The Last” Planet Stories November 1952
“The Ark of Mars” Planet Stories, September 1953
“The Big Jump” Space Stories, February 1953
“Mars Minus Bisha” Planet Stories, January 1954
“Runaway” Startling Stories, Spring 1954
“Teleportress of Alpha C” Planet Stories, Winter 1955
“The Tweener” Fantasy & Science Fiction, February 1955
“Last Call from Sector 9G” Planet Stories, Summer 1955
The Starmen (a: The Galactic Breed and The Starmen of Llyrdis) (1955)
The Long Tomorrow (1955)
“All the Colors of the Rainbow” (Venture Science Fiction, Magazine November 1957)
“The Queer Ones” (aka “The Other People”) Venture Science Fiction, March 1957
“The Road to Sinharat” (a: “The Secret of Sinharat”) Amazing Stories, May 1963
Alpha Centauri – or Die! (1963)
The Secret of Sinharet/People of the Talismen (1964)
“Purple Priestess of the Mad Moon” Fantasy & Science Fiction, October 1964
The Coming of the Terrans (1967)
“Come Sing the Moons of Moravenn” (The Other Side of Tomorrow, 1973)
“How Bright the Stars” (Flame Tree Planet: An Anthology of Religious Science-Fantasy, 1973)
The Halfling and Other Stories (1973)
“Mommies and Daddies” (Crisis, 1974)
“The Ginger Star” Worlds of If, February April 1974
The Ginger Star (1974)
The Best of Planet Stories No 1 (1974)
The Reavers of Skaith (1976)
The Best of Leigh Brackett (1977)
Eric John Stark: Outlaw of Mars (1982)
“Thieves’ Carnival” by Karen Haber/”The Jewel of Bas” (1990)
Martian Quest: The Early Brackett (2000)
“Stark and the Star Kings” (with Edmond Hamilton) (2005)
For Leigh’s Mystery fiction click here.
I haven’t read most of these, I started getting into Brackett , I read Sword of Rhaiannon ( however you spell it) and couple others. I liked them so much that bought all of the PAIZO books editions of her books but those were mostly about farmers and space dogs or something. Kinda lost me there. What you’re showing here looks much more like what I was after.
Thanks for a great post! I’ve never seen some of those covers and you included a fine selection of artwork from greats such as Virgil Finlay and F. Kelly Freas.
Hail Leigh Brackett, Queen of Space!