Today is December 7, which is the birthday of Leigh Brackett (1915-1978).  I was planning on reading and reviewing her novel The Starmen of Llyrdis. I read it in high school and haven’t reread it since, although I’ve planned on rereading it for the last few years.

Unfortunately, I’m in the middle of final exams and only got one -third of the way through the book. I’ll do a detailed review when i get a chance to finisht he book.

The Starmen of Llyrdis was originally published in the March 1951 issue of Startling Stories.

The plot and themes are familiar to regular readers of Brackett’s work. The loner who doesn’t fit but is looking for a place to belong is at the core of the novel.

This book isn’t set in the same solar system as most of her work up to this time. The solar system of Eric John Stark, Loreli of the Red Mist, and the ancient cities of Mars. At least, if it is, there’s no evidence of it that I’ve seen so far. The story concerns a galactic civilization.

I said I read this book in high school. I won’t say how many decades ago that was. I have very little memory of the story. I just know I enjoyed it at the time.

The Starmen of Llyrdis was one of the last long pieces of scieince fiction Brackett would write. There were the Skaith novels in th e seventies, as well as The Long Tomorrow, which was set here on Earth.

Brackett was’t idle, though. She was busy writing screenplays for such films as Rio Bravo. That one starred an obscure actor named John Wayne. Perhaps you’ve heard of him.

I’ll finish the book as soon as I get finals out of the way. I’ve got one set to grade and a second set to write and grade. That will all be done by the end of the week.