Question about Leigh Brackett

[Ropespor]

Any Brackett fans out there? When I discovered she'd written the screenplays to some of my favorite movies, I figured I should pick up one of her novels. Which one would a fan recommend for a first?

The movies, by the way, are Empire Strikes Back (by far the best of the Star Wars movies) and two of my favorite Howard Hawks westerns, Rio Bravo and El Dorado.

[che2000]

The Gollancz Fantasy Masterworks series did a lovely Brackett collection a while back entitled The Sea Kings of Mars and Other Worldly Stories which contains, among others The Sword of Rhiannon (aka The Sea Kings of Mars) and is a good one-stop-shop for her work.

In terms of a single title, The Sword of Rhiannon is probably the one to go for - an exciting and extraordinarily influential novel in the grand sword and planet tradition.

[John M. Whalen]

Leigh Brackett is one of my favorite writers and was definitely an influence in describing Tulon, the setting of my Jack Brand novel. I first dug her filmwork, which also includes the screenplay for The Big Sleep (with William Faulkner as co-scripter no less) and The Long Goodbye (the ending was a let down). When I had to find a way to describe the desolate backdrop of the Jack Brand universe I went back to Brackett's Eric John Stark series, beginning with The Ginger Star and tried in my own inept fashion to do what she had done with the desert scenes. What I like about Brackett was her ability to make the setting seem alive and very much a part of the story. The other thing I like is her ability to switch genres from sf in print to westerns and mystery in film. An unusual career. So I would recommend anything she has written. But you couldn't go wrong starting the Stark series beginning with The Ginger Star.

[erazmus]

With Brackett, you couldn't go wrong if you started at both ends and met in the middle. I agree with both of these guys but recommend just gloming any Brackett you can find and start with it.

Mike

[Ropespor]

Thanks for the recommendations, guys!

[bluetyson]

Yeah, definitely read anything you can find. To help with that, you could see this :-

Leigh Brackett (ology) : http://leighbrackett.blogspot.com

[John M. Whalen]

Yeah, definitely read anything you can find. To help with that, you could see this :-

Leigh Brackett (ology) : http://leighbrackett.blogspot.com

Amazing! Really amazing!

[PaulMc]

Agreed, you can start anywhere. Easiest to find might be the Paizo Planet Stories reprints because they are recent. Sword of Rhiannon is a great romp. I just got Black Amazon of Mars (Wildside Press) the other day.

p.s. - I posted this elsewhere a few months ago.

I don't know about the veracity, but here's an article on the rumored Leigh Brackett's first take on the 'Star Wars' sequel.

http://io9.com/5539807/what-did-the-...back-look-like

A Wampa vs. Wookie battle royale? Sign me up!

[che2000]

The Paizo reprints are wonderful, I recently got my hands on Henry Kuttner's Elak of Atlantis and, I hear, they are gearing up to reprint Manly Wade Wellman's Hok the Mighty later on in the year!

[Ropespor]

Holy cow, that Brackett blog is, wow. That doesn't narrow things any, but it's manna for an obsessive-compulsive fanatic!

Paul, the ESB article was interesting. What a cool pic of a Wampa, too.