Lorelei of the Red Mist

Book excerpt: Lorelei of the Red Mist: Planetary Romances is the companion volume to Martian Quest: The Early Brackett, a volume that collected the First twenty published stories by the ?undisputed Queen of ?Space Opera.? ?With the stories in this volume, Brackett takes the foundation of the Fictional universe established in her early work, and populates these worlds with colorful characters and locales teeming with adventure and intrigue. Here, hard-bitten and cynical rogues risk (and sometimes lose) all to battle stellar horrors, escape from decadent tyrannies, and yes, rescue the girl.During the timeframe when these stories were written, Brackett First broke into writing screenplays for Hollywood. With only modest success for Republic Pictures, it was on the strength of her First mystery novel that she was offered to co-author the screenplay for Warner Bros.? The Big Sleep with William Faulkner by director Howard Hawks.Appropriately, Lorelei of the Red Mist: Planetary Romances features an introduction by a protege of Leigh Brackett, a one-time collaborator (on this volume?s title story) and 2004 recipient of the National Medal of Arts, Ray Bradbury.