Marion Zimmer Bradley

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Marion Zimmer Bradley

Born June 3, 1930(1930-06-03)
Albany, NY, USA
Died September 25, 1999 (aged 69)
Berkeley, CA, USA
Pen name Morgan Ives, Miriam Gardner, John Dexter, and Lee Chapman
Occupation Novelist, Editor
Nationality United States
Genres Fantasy, Science fiction
Official website

Marion Eleanor Zimmer Bradley (June 3, 1930 – September 25, 1999) was an American author of fantasy novels such as The Mists of Avalon and the Darkover series, often with a feminist outlook. In literary circles, she is often referred to by her initials, "MZB," a nickname reinforced by her friend and editor, Donald A. Wollheim.[citation needed]

Contents

[edit] Biography

Born on a farm in Albany, New York, during the Great Depression, she began writing in 1949 and sold her first story to Vortex in 1952. She was married to Robert Alden Bradley from October 26, 1949 until their divorce on May 19, 1964. During the 1950s she was introduced to the cultural and campaigning lesbian group the Daughters of Bilitis.

After her divorce she married numismatist Walter Breen on June 3, 1964. They separated in 1979 but remained married until their divorce on May 9, 1990.

In 1965 Bradley graduated with a Bachelor of Arts degree from Hardin-Simmons University in Abilene, Texas. Afterward, she moved to Berkeley, California, to pursue graduate studies at the University of California, Berkeley between 1965 and 1967. Her first child, David Bradley, and brother, Paul Edwin Zimmer are published science fiction & fantasy authors in their own right. Her daughter, Moira Stern, is a professional harpist and singer.

In 1966, she helped found and named the Society for Creative Anachronism and was involved in developing several local groups, including in New York after her move to Staten Island.

After suffering declining health for years, Bradley died at Alta Bates Medical Center in Berkeley on September 25, 1999 four days after suffering a debilitating heart attack. Her ashes were scattered at Glastonbury Tor, in Somerset, England, two months later.

[edit] Religious beliefs

In an article written in 1986, Marion Zimmer Bradley described her views on religion. She referred to a long journey and development of her beliefs. According to this piece, she considered her views compatible with Christianity and also with Neopaganism. She also mentioned that she was a priest in a Gnostic Catholic church:

“ About the time I began work on the Morgan le Fay story that later became [The] Mists [of Avalon], a religious search of many years culminated in my accepting ordination in one of the Gnostic Catholic churches as a priest. Since the appearance of the novel, many women have consulted me about this, feeling that the awareness of the Goddess has expanded their own religious consciousness, and ask me if it can be reconciled with Christianity. I do feel very strongly, not only that it can, but that it must....

I think the neo-pagan movement offers a very viable alternative for people, especially for women, who have been turned off by the abuses of Judeo-Christian organized religions. I speak, of course, of patriarchal attitudes, hatred of women, the pervasive and insidious attitude that mankind was made to dominate nature rather than the other way round, which is leading us, via hubris, to destroy our very planetary environment in a mass of pollution and misused technology. People who have become so sickened by the pride, arrogance, anti-woman attitudes, hypocrisy and cruelty of what passes for Christianity that they leap toward atheism or agnosticism, may well reach out for the gentler reign of Goddess-oriented paganism to lead them back to a true perception of the spiritual life of the Earth. Time enough later to make it clear -- or let the Mother make it clear to them -- that Spirit is One and that they are, in worshipping the Goddess, worshipping the Divine by whatever name.[1]

 ”

[edit] Literary career

Bradley's first published novel-length work was Falcons of Narabedla, first published in the May 1957 issue of Other Worlds. When she was a child, Bradley stated that she enjoyed reading adventure fantasy authors such as Henry Kuttner, Edmond Hamilton, and Leigh Brackett, especially when they wrote about "the glint of strange suns on worlds that never were and never would be." Her first novel and much of her subsequent work show their influence strongly.

Early in her career, writing as Morgan Ives, Miriam Gardner, John Dexter, and Lee Chapman, Marion Zimmer Bradley produced several works outside the speculative fiction genre, including some gay and lesbian pulp fiction novels. For example, I Am a Lesbian was published in 1962. Though relatively tame by today's standards, they were considered pornographic when published, and for a long time she refused to disclose the titles she wrote under these pseudonyms.

She created the planet of Darkover as a setting for her own series, writing a large number of Darkover stories as a solo author and later collaborating with other authors to produce Darkover anthologies, where once again she encouraged story submissions from unpublished authors. For a time, Bradley actively encouraged fan fiction within the Darkover universe, but this came to an end following a dispute with a fan over an unpublished Darkover novel of Bradley's that had similarities to some of the fan's stories. As a result, the novel remained unpublished, and Bradley demanded the cessation of all Darkover fan fiction. The Darkover novels may be considered fantasy with science fiction overtones or science fiction with fantasy overtones, as Darkover was a lost earth colony where psi powers had developed to an unusual degree.

In 1966, Bradley became a cofounder of the Society for Creative Anachronism, and is credited with coining the name of that group.

Probably her most famous single novel is The Mists of Avalon. A retelling of the Camelot legend from the point of view of Morgaine and Gwenhwyfar, it grew into a series of books.

Bradley was the editor of the long-running Sword and Sorceress anthology series, which encouraged submissions of fantasy stories featuring original and non-traditional heroines from young and upcoming authors. Although she particularly encouraged young female authors, she was not averse to including males in her anthologies. Mercedes Lackey was just one of many authors who first appeared in the anthologies. She also maintained a large family of writers at her home in Berkeley. Ms Bradley was editing the final Sword and Sorceress manuscript up until the week of her death.

In 2000, she was awarded the World Fantasy Award for lifetime achievement.

[edit] Bibliography

[edit] Novels

  • Falcons of Narabedla (1957)
  • The Door Through Space (1961)
  • Seven from the Stars (1961)
  • The Colours Of Space (1963)
  • Castle Terror (1965)
  • Souvenir of Monique (1967)
  • Bluebeard's Daughter (1968)
  • The Brass Dragon (1970)
  • In the Steps of the Master - The Sixth Sense #2 ([1973]) (based on television series The Sixth Sense, created by Anthony Lawrence)
  • The Jewel of Arwen (1974) (novelette)
  • The Parting of Arwen (1974) (novelette)
  • Can Ellen Be Saved? ([1975]) (adaptation of a teleplay by Emmett Roberts)
  • The Endless Voyage (1975)
  • Drums of Darkness (1976)
  • Ruins of Isis (1978)
  • The Catch Trap (1979)
  • The Endless Universe (1979) (rewrite of The Endless Voyage)
  • The House Between the Worlds (1980)
  • Survey Ship (1980)
  • The Colors Of Space (1983) (unabridged edition)
  • Night's Daughter (1985)
  • Warrior Woman (1987)
  • The Firebrand (1987)
  • Black Trillium (1990) (with Julian May and Andre Norton)
  • Lady of the Trillium (1995)
  • Tiger Burning Bright (1995) (with Mercedes Lackey and Andre Norton)
  • The Gratitude of Kings (1997) (with Elisabeth Waters)

[edit] Short story collections

  • The Dark Intruder and Other Stories (1964)
  • The Best of Marion Zimmer Bradley (1985)
  • Jamie and Other Stories (1988)

[edit] Series

  • Atlantean series
    • Web of Light (1983)
    • Web of Darkness (1983)
    • The Fall of Atlantis (1987) (omnibus edition of Web of Light and Web of Darkness)
  • Avalon Series
    • The Mists of Avalon (1979)
    • The Forest House (1993) (with Diana L. Paxson) (also now known as The Forests of Avalon)
    • Mistress of Magic (audiobook edition of The Mists of Avalon, part 1) (1994)
    • The High Queen (audiobook edition of The Mists of Avalon, part 2) (1994)
    • The King Stag (audiobook edition of The Mists of Avalon, part 3) (1994)
    • The Prisoner in the Oak (audiobook edition of The Mists of Avalon, part 4) (1994)
    • Lady of Avalon (1997) (with Diana L. Paxson)
    • Priestess of Avalon (2000) (with Diana L. Paxson)
    • Ancestors of Avalon (2004) (written by Diana L. Paxson)
    • Ravens of Avalon (2007) (written by Diana L. Paxson)
    • Sword of Avalon (forthcoming in 2009) (written by Diana L. Paxson)
  • Colin McLaren series
    • Witch Hill (1972)
    • The Inheritor (1984)
    • Dark Satanic (1988)
    • Heartlight (1998)
  • Shadow's Gate series (with Rosemary Edghill)
    • Ghostlight (1995)
    • Witchlight (1996)
    • Gravelight (1997)
  • Darkover series (See: List of Darkover books for complete details)
    • The Planet Savers (1958)
    • The Sword of Aldones (1962)
    • The Bloody Sun (1964)
    • Star of Danger (1965)
    • Winds of Darkover (1970)
    • World Wreckers (1971)
    • Darkover Landfall (1972)
    • The Spell Sword (1974) (with Paul Edwin Zimmer (uncredited))
    • The Heritage of Hastur (1975)
    • The Shattered Chain (1976)
    • The Forbidden Tower (1977)
    • Stormqueen! (1978)
    • The Bloody Sun (1979) rewritten and expanded edition
    • Two To Conquer (1980)
    • Sharra's Exile (1981)
    • Hawkmistress! (1982)
    • Thendara House (1983)
    • City of Sorcery (1984)
    • The Heirs of Hammerfell (1989)
    • Rediscovery (1993) (with Mercedes Lackey)
    • Exile's Song (1996) (with Adrienne Martine-Barnes)
    • The Shadow Matrix (1997) (with Adrienne Martine-Barnes)
    • Traitor's Sun (1999) (with Adrienne Martine-Barnes)
    • The Clingfire trilogy
    • Modern Darkover (also known as The Children of Kings trilogy) (written principally by Deborah J. Ross)
      • The Alton Gift (2007)
      • The Children of Kings (forthcoming)[2]
      • (not yet titled) (forthcoming)[2]
    • Omnibus editions
      • The Children of Hastur (omnibus edition of The Heritage of Hastur and Sharra's Exile) (1982)
      • The Oath of Renuciates (omnibus edition of The Shattered Chain and Thendara House) (1984)
      • The Darkover Saga (a slipcase set containing Hawkmistress, Sharra's Exile; The Shattered Chain; Stormqueen!; Sword of Chaos) (1984)
      • The Ages of Chaos (omnibus edition of Stormqueen! and Hawkmistress!) (2002)
      • The Forbidden Circle (omnibus edition of the Spell Sword and The Forbidden Tower ) (2002)
      • Heritage And Exile (omnibus edition of The Heritage of Hastur and Sharra's Exile) (2002)
      • The Saga of the Renunciates (omnibus edition of The Shattered Chain, Thendara House and City of Sorcery) (2002)
      • A World Divided (omnibus edition of Star of Danger, Winds of Darkover and The Bloody Sun) (2003)
      • First Contact (omnibus edition of Darkover Landfall and Two to Conquer) (2004)
      • To Save a World (omnibus edition of The Planet Savers and World Wreckers) (2004)
  • Glenraven series (with Holly Lisle)
    • Glenraven (1996)
    • In the Rift (1998)
  • Survivors series(with Paul Edwin Zimmer)
    • Hunters of the Red Moon (1973)
    • The Survivors (1979)

[edit] Anthologies

  • Best of Marion Zimmer Bradley's Fantasy Magazine, vol. I (1994) (with Elisabeth Waters)
  • Best of Marion Zimmer Bradley's Fantasy Magazine, vol. II (1995) (with Elisabeth Waters)
  • Darkover anthologies (edited by MZB, with some short stories by her, but mostly by other writers)
    • The Keeper's Price (1980)
    • Sword of Chaos (1982)
    • Free Amazons of Darkover (1985)
    • Other Side of the Mirror (1987)
    • Red Sun of Darkover (1987)
    • Four Moons of Darkover (1988)
    • Domains of Darkover (1990)
    • Leroni of Darkover (1991)
    • Renunciates of Darkover (1991)
    • Marion Zimmer Bradley's Darkover (anthology) (1993)
    • Towers of Darkover (anthology) (1993)
    • Snows of Darkover (anthology) (1994)
  • Marion Zimmer Bradley's Fantasy Worlds (1998)

[edit] Novels under pen names

  • Writing under the pseudonym Lee Chapman
    • I am a Lesbian (1962)
  • Writing under the pseudonym John Dexter
    • No Adam for Eve (1966)
  • Writing under the pseudonym Miriam Gardner
    • My Sister, My Love (1963)
    • Twilight Lovers (1964)
    • The Strange Women (1967)
  • Writing under the pseudonym Morgan Ives
    • Spare Her Heaven (1963)
    • Anything Goes (1964)
    • Knives of Desire (1966)

[edit] Poems

  • The Maenads (1978)

[edit] Music

[edit] Editorial positions

[edit] Scholarly work

  • Bradley, M.Z. "Feminine equivalents of Greek Love in modern fiction". International Journal of Greek Love, Vol.1, No.1. (1965). Pages 48-58.
  • Checklist: A complete, cumulative checklist of lesbian, variant, and homosexual fiction in English (1960).
  • A Gay Bibliography (1975).
  • The Necessity for Beauty: Robert W. Chambers & the Romantic Tradition (1974)

She also contributed to The Ladder and The Mattachine Review.

[edit] References

  1. ^ Thoughts on Avalon ~ Marion Zimmer Bradley Literary Works Trust
  2. ^ a b Deborah J. Ross's Darkover website

[edit] See also

[edit] External links

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