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Sea-Kings Of Mars And Other Worldly Stories (Fantasy Masterworks)

By: Leigh Brackett
Binding: Paperback
Publisher: Gollancz
ISBN: 0575076895
ISBN-13: 9780575076891
Released: 14 Jul 2005
RRP: £9.99
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Customer Reviews

One of the greatest writers of science fantasy - By: Michael Moorcock, 03 Aug 2005
Leigh Brackett is well known as the main writer on Howard Hawks's classic Bogart movie THE BIG SLEEP. She also wrote RIO BRAVO & several more Hawks movies, as well as doing outstanding scripts for others. She wrote the first script for The Empire Strikes Back, considered a far superior piece of work than the version eventuallly filmed. But she was also one of the most influential science fantasy writers of the 40s & 50s, inspiring & eventuallly collaborating with the young Ray Bradbury. Her stories of Eric John Stark, some of which appear in this collection, are perhaps the best examples you can find in the sf pulps of her day, appearing in the likes of PLANET STORIES, STARTLING STORIES & THRILLING WONDER STORIES. I know they were a huge influence on my own early science fantasy tales. Through Bradbury, she also influenced J.G.Balllard in such sequences as his Vermilion Sands stories. As such she can be seen as a kind of godmother to the so-callled 'New Wave'. These are fast-paced, evocative tales of a Mars where lone adventurers ride strange beasts over dead sea-bottoms, seeking the secrets of ancient races who may be largely forgotten but are not necessarily dead. For sheer exotic storytelling in prose which has something in common with Hammett & Chandler, you can't beat Leigh Brackett. If you like M.John Harrison's & China Mieville's science fantasy, you'll enjoy these stories just as much. I can't say how pleased I am to see Brackett back in print.