Marion Zimmer Bradley
Marion Zimmer Bradley's most popular contributions to feminist sf are the Darkover stories, particularly the stories about the Free Amazons (the Saga of the Renunciates), and The Mists of Avalon, a woman-centered retelling of the Arthurian legend.
Biography
Marion Zimmer Bradley hoped to become an opera singer, but ended up teaching and writing to pay the bills. She wrote more than fifty novels, established a fantasy magazine (Marion Zimmer Bradley's Fantasy Magazine) that was the first publishing home for many aspiring writers, and edited numerous anthologies, particularly including the Sword and Sorceress series of anthologies. Although some of her earliest works were Lesbian romances and paranormal stories, and she was involved with the Daughters of Bilitis, in her later life she did not identify as a Lesbian or as a feminist, though she continued to write stories of strong women who were proud of their independence from men.
Names
Numerous pseudonyms under which she wrote gay stuff in the 60s and porn.
- Lee Chapman
- John Dexter
- Miriam Gardner
- Valerie Graves
- Morgan Ives
- John J. Wells
Works
Darkover Novels
(in Darkover chronology, not publication order)
- Darkover Landfall (1972)
- Stormqueen! (1978)
- Two to Conquer (1980)
- The Fall of Neskaya (2001; with Deborah J. Ross)
- Hawkmistress! (1982)
- Zandru's Forge (2003; with Deborah J. Ross)
- A Flame in Hali (2004; with Deborah J. Ross)
- The Heirs of Hammerfell (1989)
- The Shattered Chain (1975; published in an omnibus with Thendara House as The Oath of the Renunciates)
- Thendara House (1983; published in an omnibus with The Shattered Chain as The Oath of the Renunciates)
- City of Sorcery (1984)
- Rediscovery (1993; with Mercedes Lackey)
- The Spell Sword (1974)
- The Forbidden Tower (1977)
- Star of Danger (1965)
- Winds of Darkover (1970)
- The Bloody Sun (1979)
- The Heritage of Hastur1975)
- The Planet Savers (1962)
- Sharra's Exile (1981) (rewritten version of The Sword of Aldones (1962))
- Reluctant King (not yet published)
- The World Wreckers (1971)
- Exile's Song (1996; with Adrienne Martine-Barnes)
- Shadow Matrix (1998; with Adrienne Martine-Barnes)
- Traitor's Sun (1999; with Adrienne Martine-Barnes)
- The Alton Gift (2008, Deborah J. Ross]]
Darkover Anthologies
- The Keeper's Price (1980)
- Sword of Chaos (1982)
- Free Amazons of Darkover (1985)
- The Other Side of the Mirror (1987)
- Red Sun of Darkover (1987)
- Four Moons of Darkover (1987)
- Domains of Darkover (1990)
- Renunciates of Darkover (1991)
- Leroni of Darkover (1991)
- Towers of Darkover (1993)
- Marion Zimmer Bradley's Darkover (1993)
- Includes To Keep the Oath
- Editor, Snows of Darkover (1994)
- Includes To Keep the Oath
Avalon series
- The Mists of Avalon (1983)
- The Forest House (1994)
- Lady of Avalon (1997)
- Priestess of Avalon (2001)
Other science fiction and fantasy
- The Ruins of Isis (1978)
- Lythande (1986 collection of Bradley's stories from the "Thieves' World" series)
- The Firebrand (1987)
Other works
- The Catch Trap (1984)--mainstream novel about two gay men who meet in a circus trapeze act
- Sword and Sorceress series Bradley edited these until close to her death, and they have continued thereafter. Volume 23 will be published in 2008.
Further reading
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