The Best of Leigh Brackett by Leigh Brackett

Sadly, the end result does not play to Brackett’s strengths. It would also not be unreasonable to expect her husband of such motives in selecting stories for the collection. But this collection feels more like an attempt to show her range rather than simply showcase her best. It would not be unreasonable to expect Hamilton to be in an excellent position to select Brackett’s best fiction. Which was, incidentally, edited by her husband, Edmond Hamilton. Make no mistake: of the sf authors writing planetary romance or space opera in the 1940s and early 1950s, Leigh Brackett was probably the best.Īnd so it seems reasonable to expect superior stories in a collection titled The Best of Leigh Brackett. The real indignity of this, however, is that other such progenitors, like EE ‘Doc’ Smith, whose writing was so vastly inferior, are still remembered fondly.

The style of what she wrote, irrespective of its quality, has fallen out of favour.

Given the nature of Brackett’s science fictions, it’s no real surprise that despite her skill she is these days mostly forgotten. Perhaps the closest was CL Moore, Catherine Lucille Moore, with her tales of Northwest of Earth, or her superior space opera novel, Judgment Night. Brackett was very very good at what she did, and her nearest male rivals – including her husband – were no match. The sensibilities were pure pulp, but the prose was hard-boiled noir polished to a diamond sheen. These were stories in which adventurers sought alien treasures and became trapped by ancient curses, or the last members of a dying race managed to exact their final revenge. Titles included ‘The Dragon-Queen of Jupiter’ (AKA ‘The Dragon-Queen of Venus’), ‘Sea-Kings of Mars’ and ‘Enchantress of Venus’, among many others.

Much of her output could be described as “planetary romance”, stories in which the planets of the solar system – Earth excluded – hosted the dying remains of ancient civilisations. And throughout the 1940s and 1950s, she churned out dozens of science fiction stories, most published in Planet Stories, and a handful of novels. But back in the day, she was almost science fiction royalty, published in many magazines, a collaborator with Ray Bradbury, and married to Edmond Hamilton. These days, it’s likely Brackett is better known as the screenwriter of The Empires Strikes Back (and The Big Sleep, Rio Bravo, The Long Goodbye and others). The Best of Leigh Brackett, Leigh Brackett (1986)

The Best of Leigh Brackett by Leigh Brackett