In the Golden Age of scientific discipline fable , manly author far outnumbered their female counterparts . C.L. Moore was a notable break from the for the most part male person - dominated field , but she was n’t the only one to put fantastic tales to composition . Another far-famed generator of the day was Leigh Brackett . She began writing during the former days of the Golden Age of SF before gaining bump as a novelist and screenwriter in Hollywood , with several notable films to her credit : The Long Goodbye , The Big Sleep and Star war : The Empire Strikes Back .
https://gizmodo.com/they-mocked-her-science-fantasy-then-she-wrote-empir-489586578
Brackett was born on December 7th , 1915 in Los Angeles , California to a crime syndicate of decline fortune . Her early life was met with hardship early on in 1918 when her father passed away , one of the many fatal accident of the global flu epidemic . After that , her family moved quite a morsel , and Brackett later recalled that she had a haphazard training as they travelled the land before locate down . Her love of scientific discipline fable came when she was 8 year sometime , after picking up a transcript of Edgar Rice Burrough ’s 2d Barsoom novel , The Gods of Mars .

She afterward said that she knew from that point what she desire to do : “ I was never the same after that . of a sudden , I became aware of other Earth out there and then , from that prison term on , I was specify to be a scientific discipline fiction author . ”
Headstrong and described as a hoyden , Leigh Brackett was a malcontent girl . Her female parent , who never remarried , was a polar opposite of her girl : Described as a slight , beautiful woman , her daughter was gymnastic , tall and constantly at betting odds with her mother . Brackett was educated at an all - girl ’s secret school day in Santa Monica , where , at the eld of 13 , she had begin to write seriously . Through her school , she was introduce to the theater worldly concern , where her love of writing was reward by her successes with plays . While she was offer a learning , she never continued on to college , ineffectual to give the residual of the cost . In its place , she opted for a vocation in written material .
Brackett continue close to science fabrication . In 1939 , she joined the Los Angeles Science Fiction Society , where she met other skill fiction writer who were just breaking into the field , such as Ray Bradbury and Robert Heinlein , who would rest close personal ally for years to come . As she became more involved with the science fable community , she began publish brusque stories for submission to the magazines from which she ’d meet her early dose of science fable — Argosy and Adventure — only to earn a number of rejections . It was n’t until she foregather fellow authors Henry Kuttner ( and later , C.L. Moore ) , who offer advice and valuable connection within the field , that Brackett ’s vocation as a author begin . Her work was heavily influenced by the erratic romance of her childhood , and she write numerous space opera adventure . In 1940 , she sell her first two stories , “ Martian Quest ” and “ The Treasure of Ptakuth , ” to John W. Campbell Jr. ’s Astounding Magazine . Her luck with Campbell did n’t last , after her sales agreement of “ The Sorcerer of Rhiannon ” to the market in 1942 . Brackett ’s first sexual love was the planetary romances , and Campbell simply was n’t interested , so she started look for other base for her study . She establish that magazines such as Planet Stories , Startling Stories , Thrilling Wonder Stories , Super Science Stories and others would be happy to publish her adventures throughout the 1940s .

Her mother and relatives were n’t supportive of her interest in science fiction , or her writing in the genre . An auntie once asked her : “ Why do n’t you write nice stories for the Ladies ’ Home Journal ? ” , to which Brackett replied : “ I wish I could , because they compensate very well , but I ca n’t learn the Ladies ’ Home Journal , and I ’m certain I could n’t write for it . ”
While she was beginning to retrieve some achiever in the scientific discipline fabrication markets , Brackett found that she had to feel other sources of income , and start to write police detective stories . Her first sale was in 1942 , a short story call “ Murder in the Family , ” to Mammoth Detective , adopt by a number of other gross revenue in the market place . While science fabrication writer had difficulty through the next decade trying to publish outside of the mag market place , enigma writer had no such barriers , and the hardback book was in Brackett ’s future . Her first novel , No Good From a Corpse was first published in 1944 , where it attracted the attention of Hollywood director and manufacturer Howard Hawks . A friend at a bookstall roll in the hay that Hawks would continually search for Modern material , frequently buying mass of closed book novels , and added her Christian Bible to the pile . Intrigued by her story , Hawks hired Brackett to write the screenplay for an adaptation of Raymond Chandler ’s novel , The Big Sleep , which she co - wrote with William Faulkner .
Working in Hollywood was more lucrative than writing for the SF cartridge clip market , and she would extend to work with Hawks over the next couple of years , largely taking a breakage from science fable . When she was having a hard time finishing a novella for Planet Stories in 1946,Lorelei of the Red Mist , she asked for assist from fellow source Ray Bradbury , who completed the narrative , and it was write jointly . In the same year , Brackett get married fellow science fiction author Edmond Hamilton , with Bradbury as their effective man at the ceremony . Unlike their friends C.L. Moore and Henry Kuttner , whose employment was indistinguishable follow their wedlock , Brackett noted that the pair did n’t collaborate well together . Brackett frequently wrote screenplays and short fable , while Hamilton finally encounter employment save for DC comics , along with his own short fabrication .

Brackett ’s suspension from science fiction only hold up a yoke of yr before she returned , writing a series of novels throughout the 1950s : The Star Men , Alpha Centauri or Die ! , The Big Jump and perhaps her best get it on novel , The recollective Tomorrow . In increase to skill fiction , she continued to drop a line investigator and westerly fib , alongside several other screenplay , for films such as Rio Bravo , Hatari , El Dorado , Rio Lobo and The Long Goodbye .
Brackett ’s final movie screenplay was a mixture of her entire screen background , between heroic distance opera house and film : Star warfare : The Empire Strikes Back .
Hired by the first film ’s director , George Lucas , the move seemed to be a arrant conniption : Brackett and her late husband ( Hamilton had passed forth in 1977 ) had written extensively in the space opera subgenre , which was a vast influence on Star Wars . Brackett , delighted by the invitation , was creditworthy for the first draft of the screenplay , completing it in 1978 , shortly before she died of cancer , never to see her final work on the big screen . Had she not expire , she would have compose one of the first Star Wars spinoff novels about Leia Organa , alongside books about Han Solo and Lando Calrissian .

Brackett was an former trailblazer for women in the genre . After get word the ropes , she recalled little enemy to her penning , with only one example where she pull out her stories out of a market due to sexism : Campbell ’s Astounding . But she just run on to other markets , where she depart a long survive impact in the genre , both in print and on the silver screen .
Brackett was a rare loanblend of eccentric in the authorship world : While some authors had toiled away for the pulp and magazine market throughout the 1950s , she find that success in a wider range of fields , dipping into screenwriting and mystery novels , producing several exceptionally well - known works . Her love for science fiction , however , was something that remain close at kernel , and she noted in interviews that she appreciated the science fiction fan surroundings , having made a large number of close friend in the California traffic circle : “ Everybody in the field welcome me with exposed arms . All the other writers and editors and everybody were just bully because we were such a small clubby group in those Clarence Shepard Day Jr. that if you find another nutcase that you could speak to , it was great . ”
This clause was in the beginning published at Kirkus Reviews .

https://www.kirkusreviews.com/features/leigh-bracketts-planetary-romances/
Empire Strikes Back
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