Monday, January 24, 2011

Happy Birthday, C. L. Moore!

Today is the one-hundredth anniversary of the birth of Catherine Lucille (C. L.) Moore, one of the great pulp authors. At a time when the science fiction and fantasy genres were imagined to be the exclusive domain of male authors, Moore was writing adventure and fantasy stories--including her "Jirel of Joiry" series--that carried all the weirdness, action, and blood-and-thunder melodrama the boys were writing about. The cover to the October 1934 issue of Weird Tales featured a now-famous illustration for Moore's story "The Black God's Kiss" drawn by Margaret Brundage, the premiere illustrator of the pulp era. Moore and Brundage were both trailblazers, as fantasy author and artist alike.

For those who have not read anything by Moore, the "Jirel of Joiry" series is a great starting point. It is a fantasy series set in a version of medieval France, in which the heroine faces a rogue's gallery of villains who attempt to claim her throne. Much like Robert Howard's "Conan" series--which was thought to be an influence on her work--the "Jirel of Joiry" series is made up of independent stories set in the same world, but taken together, they paint as rich a picture of their heroine and her world as if she had written them as one novel. Jirel of Joiry is one of the first "sword and sorcery" heroines, and she is also a character with a great dramatic arc. From one story to the next, Jirel has to often choose the lesser of two evils, affecting her and her world, sometimes in surprising ways. As Jirel moves from one story to the next, her past demons (literal and figurative) carry over, adding depth to her mythology.

Books of Moore's work are largely out-of-print at present, but hopefully new releases will be coming soon. Red Jacket Press does have a nice edition of Judgment Night, which collects five of her novellas. And you should look for the 1982 Ace Fantasy edition of Jirel of Joiry at used bookstores and your local library!

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