C.L. Moore – författare

Under Eddie Burton''s management the ambitious starlet Lorna Maxwell seemed headed for the top of Broadway''s glamorous world of make-believe. And then she vanished - through a wall where there was no door. Eddie found himself plunging after her into a city beyond reality. In that weird twin city to New York, Eddie became a hunted fugitive while his girl friend turned up as an ever-present face and all-pervading voice that awed and mystified the inhabitants. And Eddie learned that between him and return to his natural home stood her new manager, a mysterious figure who ruled by a tyrannical combination of super-scientific miracle and brute force.

Released in 1952, Judgment Night collects five Moore novellas from the pages of editor John W. Campbell, Jr.''s Astounding Science Fiction magazine:''''Judgment Night'''' (first published in August and September, 1943) balances a lush rendering of a future galactic empire with a sober meditation on the nature of power and its inevitable loss; ''''The Code'''' (July, 1945) pays homage to the classic Faust with modern theories and Lovecraftian dread; ''''Promised Land'''' (February, 1950) and ''''Heir Apparent'''' (July, 1950) both document the grim twisting that mankind must undergo in order to spread into the solar system; ''''Paradise Street'''' (September, 1950) shows a futuristic take on the old western conflict between lone hunter and wilderness-taming settlers.Chosen by the author herself as the best of her longer-form writing, these stories show a gifted wordsmith working at the height of her talents.

Among the best-written and most emotionally complex stories of the Pulp Era, the tales of intergalactic bootlegger Northwest Smith still resonate strongly more than 75 years after their first publication. From the crumbling temples of forgotten gods on Venus to the seedy pleasure halls of old Mars, the thirteen stories in Northwest of Earth blaze a trail through the underbelly of the solar system. The quick-drawing smuggler of the spaceways who would become the model for countless science fiction heroes, Northwest Smith is SF''s original outlaw.

Comus, the communications network/police force, has spread its web of power all across an America paralyzed by the after-effects of limited nuclear war. But in California, resistance is building against the dictatorship of Comus and Andrew Raleigh, president for life. For now Raleigh is dying and the powers of Comus are fading. It''s the perfect time for the Californian revolutionaries to activate the secret weapon that alone can destroy America''s totalitarian system and re-establish democracy.Yet Comus too has powers at its disposal, chief among them Howard Rohan. A washed-up actor until Comus offers him a second chance, Rohan will head a troupe of players touring in the heart of rebel territory.Howard Rohan, double agent, caught between the orders of Comus and rebels demands. Which side will he choose? Who will he play false - himself, or the entire country?

From the SF Gateway, the most comprehensive digital library of classic SFF titles ever assembled, comes an ideal sample introduction to the fantastic work of C. L. Moore. One of the first women to rise to prominence in the male-dominated world of pulp science fiction, Moore was a mainstay of SF in the middle of the last century, both as a solo writer and in collaboration with her husband, Henry Kuttner. This omnibus shows her mastery of both Sword and Sorcery and planetary romance, reprinting JIREL OF JOIRY, NORTHWEST OF EARTH, and story collection JUDGEMENT NIGHT.