Wednesday Cover: THE BEST OF LEIGH BRACKETT

I recently ordered a slew of fantasy paperbacks from online used book dealers. As noted last week, I primarily acquired a handful of Lin Carter fantasies to fill in some holes in my collection, but I also decided to get some Leigh Brackett space operas/interplanetary swashbucklers as well. I am currently alternating between the two authors. I just finished Carter's first "Zanthadon" lost world adventure, and have started on Brackett's Outlaw Of Mars. Upon completing that, I intend to read another Carter book.

I have not previously read much of Brackett's work, although I have been long fascinated by her career as a writer. I've always felt a little odd in that my love for fantasy fiction rivaled my rabid affection for hardboiled crime tales, so I'm intrigued by this woman who not only appears to have shared that duality of literary passions, but is considered to be one of the greats by aficionados of both genres. As her career also included notable screenwriting credits (The Big Sleep and The Empire Strikes Back!), she attracts my attention as a film buff, too.

The Best of Leigh Brackett was published by Ballantine Books' Del Rey science fiction imprint in 1977, and collected a handful of her classic short stories and novellas. It was edited by her husband, noted science fiction author Edmond Hamilton, and was graced with this cover painting by Boris Vallejo.

Actually, this is the only book of that recent batch of purchases that has yet to arrive; ironically, it's also the only one that was shipped from a Maine-based bookseller! All the other books came from much further away and got here more quickly. Gotta love the Post Office!