The Best of Leigh Brackett


The Best of Leigh Brackett is a collection of science fiction short stories by American author Leigh Brackett, edited by her husband and fellow science fiction writer Edmond Hamilton. It was first published in hardcover by Nelson Doubleday in July 1977 and in paperback by Ballantine Books in September of the same year as a volume in its Classic Library of Science Fiction. A second hardcover edition was issued by Garland Publishing in March 1983, and Del Rey/Ballantine reprinted the paperback edition in June 1986. The book has been translated into German.

Summary

The book contains ten short works of fiction with an afterword and two addenda by the author, together with an introduction by editor Edmond Hamilton and a map of Brackett's fictional version of Mars with an associated piece by Margaret Howes.

Contents

  • "Story-Teller of Many Worlds"
  • "The Jewel of Bas"
  • "The Vanishing Venusians"
  • "The Veil of Astellar"
  • "The Moon That Vanished"
  • "Enchantress of Venus"
  • "The Woman from Altair"
  • "The Last Days of Shandakor"
  • "Shannach - The Last"
  • "The Tweener"
  • "The Queer Ones"
  • "Afterword"
  • "Addendum"
  • "About the Maps of Mars"
  • "Mars"
  • "Mars"

Reception

The book was reviewed by Algis Budrys in The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction, Dec. 1977, Philippa Grove-Stephensen in Paperback Parlour, April 1978, and Brian Stableford in Vector 90, 1978.