LEIGH BRACKETT (1915 – 1978) A writer of Science Fiction, Fantasy, Mystery and screenplays, Leigh Brackett is the unsung heroine of SF and Noir. Her most famous films The Big Sleep, The Long Goodbye and The Empire Strikes Back (for which she won a Hugo for best screenplay) illustrate the same terrific storytelling that’s found in her short stories and novels. Themes that recur over and over in Brackett’s fiction include: Mars, Venus, Mercury, waning civilizations, space opera, planetary romance, hard-boiled, detective fiction, western. Brackett was married to fellow SFF author Edmond Hamilton for more than 30 years yet they rarely collaborated.
Commercial Audiobooks:
The Vanishing Venusians
By Leigh Brackett; Read by Mark Douglas Nelson
Audible Download – Approx. 1 Hour 20 Minutes [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: Wonder Audio
Published: June 2009
Matt Harker and his people have journeyed for far too long. They’re a rag-tag group of Earthmen and Venusians floating on the Sea of Morning Opals… floating without a home and with very little hope, victimized by hostile natives, burning fevers, bad soil, and bad luck. When land is sighted, Harker makes the decision to scale the mountainous terrain in the dim hopes of finding a new home. With two companions, he ascends to encounter unknown malevolent alien beings. Harker thought he’d be lucky to find a habitable land – but now he thinks he will be lucky to just survive!
Podcast Fiction:
A World Is Born
By Leigh Brackett; Read by Ron Huber
2 MP3s – [UNABRIDGED]
Podcaster: Beam Me Up
Podcast: February 2008
“The first ripples of blue fire touched Dio’s men. Bolts of it fastened on gun-butts, and knuckles. Men screamed and fell. Jill cried out as he tore silver ornaments from her dress.”
Part 1 |MP3| Part 2 |MP3|
Public Domain Audiobooks:
A World Is Born
By Leigh Brackett; Read by Rowdy Delaney
1 |MP3| – Approx. 52 Minutes [UNABRIDGED]
The first ripples of blue fire touched Dio’s men. Bolts of it fastened on gun-butts, and knuckles. Men screamed and fell.
Radio Broadcasts:
The Last Days Of Shandakor
By Leigh Brackett; Read by Nathan Osgood
Broadcast in 2 parts – Approx. 50 minutes [UNABRIDGED?]
Broadcaster: BBC 7 / 7th Dimension
Broadcast: March 2007 (repeated January/February 2008)
An epic space adventure written in which Mars is portrayed as a dying planet where desperate Earthmen compete with the last Martians and other alien races for lost knowledge and hidden power.
Interviews:
A 1975 Interview With Leigh Brackett
Interviewer Tony Macklin
1 |MP3| Approx. 70 Minutes [INTERVIEW]
Provider: TonyMacklin.net
Posted: June 2009
“My interview with author Leigh Brackett took place in Kinsman, Ohio. I drove with my young daughter on a hot, humid, blazing July 1975 day to Leigh’s rural farm house. She was a gracious hostess and introduced us to her husband, fellow science fiction author Edward [sic] Hamilton. A lot of heady imagination was born in that rural locale. I vividly remember Leigh’s making us lemonade to help cool us — it was pure sugar. My teeth still cringe when I think of it. On the way home we stopped in the woods by a lake and took a refreshing dip in the warm water. The whole trip was like a trip to an alien world, where we were welcomed by a fairy godmother.”
Notable Paperbooks:
