Sheriff Leigh Brackett

"Sheriff Leigh Brackett is a recurring character in the Halloween franchise. He first appears in the original Halloween, played by Charles Cyphers. ..."

http://horror-movies.wikia.com/wiki/Leigh_Brackett


"The character in the movie Halloween, Sheriff Leigh Brackett, is named for her. Her well-known SF trilogy, The Ginger Star, The Hounds of Skaith, ..."

http://www.librarypoint.org/leigh_brackett

Lost Sorceress of the Silent Citadel - Michael Moorcock

A homage to Brackett. Appeared in Peter Crowther's Mars Probes anthology, and is also in The Space Opera Renaissance by David G. Hartwell and Kathryn Cramer.

A link to the podcast version by Starship Sofa :-


4 out of 5

http://www.podtrac.com/pts/redirect.mp3/media.libsyn.com/media/starshipsofa/Michael_Moorcocks_The_Lost_Sorceress_of_The_Silent_Citadel.mp3

The Sky People - S. M. Stirling

"Deera of the Cloud Mountain People ran as she had through the short hours of darkness, without hope and without much fear. The mild warm air of the midlands made the sweat on her face and flanks feel almost cool as it dried, and the tall grass beat against her thighs as her long legs scissored endlessly. The morning sun was still low, casting the seven runners' shadows before them and turning the clouds to the color of raw gold; they had trotted through the short bright summer night and would run on into the long span of daylight, until the great yellow globe of Sauweli sank in the east... if they lived that long, which was unlikely.

She would run until she could run no more; then the Wergu would catch them, and they would fight, and they would die. If they were fortunate, they would die quickly; her warriors had orders to make sure of that for her. There had been some slight chance that they would reach the foothills before the beastmen came up with them, being longer-limbed, but their foes had gained too quickly for that to seem likely. The Cloud Mountain party had been tired from a long journey when the ambush struck, and those who broke away had not had time to snatch up more than their weapons, nor had they been able to build enough of a lead to hide their trail. Now hunger gnawed at them as well as weariness, and they had had no time to do anything but scoop up water in their hands as they forded pool or creek. The Wergu were fresh, with gourds of water at their belts and dried meat in their pouches to eat as they pursued.

Then her mate Jaran broke the deep rhythm of his breath, sniffing deeply.

"What is it, my love?" Deera said. "What do you scent?"

Before he could answer, she smelled it herself, and spoke: "Fire!"

The land before the dozen-strong war party was gently rolling, covered in long green grass starred with flowers crimson and white, with copses of trees along the occasional small streams. They passed small herds of tharg and churr, but luckily nothing bigger, and most animals-of-fur avoided men. Not longtooths or greatwolves or crescent-horns, but there weren't any of those in sight either. Then they saw the thread of smoke rising skyward, and saw animals and flyers heading away. Men and beastmen used fire... or it might be wild-fire from a lightning strike, deadly in grassland country if it spread.

"We go there," Deera said, pointing; the sunlight broke off the bright bronze of her spearhead.

She alone of their party carried metal weapons, the spear and the knife at her belt; their trading mission to the coastal cities hadn't reached its goal before the Wergu found them.

"That is where the streak-of-light pointed," her mate said doubtfully. "A bad omen."

"It is a new thing. If we go on with no new thing, the beastmen will crack our bones for marrow before the sun sets. If it is not a new thing we can use, we cannot be killed any more surely.""


4 out of 5

http://hem.bredband.net/b104699/books/skypeople/skypeople_p.html

In the Courts of the Crimson Kings - S. M. Stirling

"What if Mars and Venus really were inhabitable and inhabited, like in many SF stories from the early sixties and before? In this series Mars and Venus have been terraformed a long time ago and "seeded" with Earth life, including several different human species. On Earth everything is the same until the start of space exploration, but then the cold war turns into a real space race...
"The Sky People" is set on Venus, "In the Courts of the Crimson Kings" on Mars."





"ratingly absent. All were tall and slim despite the muffling cloth; Fred estimated the leader as most of the way to seven feet. The leader... might as well call him the Captain... drew his sword. Light shimmered off the metal; it was double-edged and looked disconcertingly sharp, but not exactly like steel.

"Cut-and-thrust blade," Sprague said. "More thrust than cut. A good deal like some seventeenth-century European types."

Everyone caught their breath as the captain turned and spoke to his... men? The voice sounded human, perhaps a little high-pitched, but the language was wholly unfamiliar. It sounded ripplingly musical with an occasional staccato burst...

"Tonal and monosyllabic, I think, like Chinese," Sprague went on, as two of the robed humanoids turned and trotted back towards the ship. "Maybe. Difficult to learn, if it is. I'll bet the grammar is analytic, too."

The captain turned back and prodded the lander, reaching up; they could all hear the tunk... tunk... as the point of the blade prodded the light-metal hull.

The television spoke. "We are attempting to communicate. The message shall be: We come in peace for all mankind."

"Some advertising man thought that up," Fred said, and there was a nervous chuckle; everyone knew how he felt about them.

Minutes passed, and the English words sounded, tinny and strange through the pickup in the thin Martian atmosphere. The Martians jumped back; the one with the bow turned and ran. A rifle came up and fired—there was no bang, no flash or smoke, just a slight hsssst sound, but the lander rang under an impact.

The Captain didn't run. Instead he shouted something in the musical language and waved the long blade at his followers. One hurried back up the ramp and returned with a folded tarpaulin; the Martians threw it over the lander, and then the screen went dark. Creaking noises followed.

Poul broke the long silence with a guffaw. "They're putting it on board, by God! They swung a yard over and tied it up in a sack and they're hoisting it on deck!"

Walter and Werner came back on, both looking sandbagged and starting to stammer explanations that couldn't possibly have anything behind them.

"I knew it!" Leigh shouted, punching her fist into the air. "I told you sons of... sons what it would be like years ago!"

A rebel yell cut loose, and suddenly the room was a babble of voices."


4.5 out of 5

http://hem.bredband.net/b104699/books/crimson/crimson_p.html

Lady Be Good - John G. Hemry

Published in Analog Magazine, April 2006

"There's a place, they say, where sailors go when their last voyage ends, when their ships come apart among the drifting reefs of an asteroid belt or vanish in the great dark between the stars that light worlds. A place where the engines never falter and the hull never cracks, where particle storms never rage in sudden fury that pierces shielding to shred the workings of machines and men and leave lifeless wrecks in their wake. A place where every sailor has a safe posting and a fair wage and every Captain sees a decent profit from a hard run. A place where the bars are cheap and honest, the planet-tied greet sailors with open hands and hearts, and every ship finds welcome and a safe berth."

and the author says:

"MilSciFi: "If you had a chance to write one story just because you wanted to, and didn't have to worry about if it would sell or not, what would it be about?

Hemry: "Actually, I ended up writing that story, and it did end up eventually selling. LADY BE GOOD, an old-fashioned tale of a tramp freighter in space which is about choices and chances."

MilSciFi: "What is your favorite story you have ever written and why?"

Hemry: "LADY BE GOOD. It felt like Leigh Brackett was standing beside me as I wrote, telling me what to say.""


4 out of 5

http://www.milscifi.com/files/inter-JGH-BTH.htm