Leigh Brackett, Winner of the 2005
Cordwainer Smith Foundation "Rediscovery" Award
Who was Leigh Brackett and why was she awarded the 2005
Rediscovery Award?
Leigh Brackett was awarded the 2005
Rediscovery Award from the Cordwainer Smith
Foundation. The award has found a new permanent host
with the annual Readercon, which presents a lot of
interesting programs.Thanks to Diane Martin and others
at Readercon for their warm welcome!
This link takes you to a photo of
Scott Edelman, Diane Martin, & John
Clute at the 2005 Readercon. Edelman and Clute are
two of the four jurors for the award. Diane Martin has
the 2005 Rediscovery award in her hand. There are more
Readercon photos at this site, so you can get some sense
of the event.
Also, many thanks to the supremely
knowledgeable four jurors for the Rediscovery Award
-- Robert Silverberg, Gardner Dozois, John Clute, and
Scott Edelman -- for once again coming up with a
science fiction or fantasy writer whose work displays
unusual originality, embodies the spirit of
Cordwainer Smith's fiction, and deserves renewed
attention or 'Rediscovery.'
Leigh Brackett (1915-1978) was a
contemporary of Cordwainer Smith who wrote in several
genres.
Here's a short Leigh Brackett
biography and bibliography. She was prolific! In
science fiction, she's best known for her work on the
first draft of the screenplay for "The Empire Strikes
Back." She won a Hugo for this in 1981, three years
after her death, and the film was dedicated to
her.
To take a look at some of her works, click
on any of the Amazon links. Most of her works in
print are detective novels. The Best of Leigh
Brackett, available used only, is a good
anthology with her science fiction in it. Martian
Quest: The Early Brackett is is a collection of
the twenty earliest stories by the undisputed "Queen
of Space-Opera."
Some other websites on Leigh
Brackett
The most enjoyable reading I found was this
Boston Globe article. It made her come alive for
me.
http://www.thrillingdetective.com/trivia/brackett.html
emphasizes her detective writing, not surprisingly. Another
page on this site has an excerpt from her first novel, a
1944 thriller No
Good from a Corpse.