Judgment Night

Four different worlds. Five different tales of conflict and discovery. All of them the unique visions of science fiction master C.L. Moore, presented here in her first published book -- Judgment Night.

Released in 1952 from Gnome Press, Judgment Night collects five Moore novellas from the pages of editor John W. Campbell, Jr.'s Astounding Science Fiction magazine. 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: "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; and "Paradise Street" (September, 1950) shows a futuristic take on the old western conflict between lone hunter and wilderness-taming settlers.

Except for "Judgment Night," all of these pieces were originally published under the pen name Lawrence O'Donnell. Moore's marriage to fellow author Henry Kuttner yielded both a prodigious amount of collaborative writing and a bewildering variety of pen names. However, it is known that -- with a few recognized exceptions -- the O'Donnell name was used for work that Moore wrote with a minimum of collaboration (if any), and this is reflected in the sole author's credit that graces this collection.

Catherine Lucille Moore was born in Indianapolis, Indiana in 1911, and from an early age she proved to be a prolific storyteller. Moore discovered the world of science fiction in 1930 through the seminal pulp magazine Amazing Stories, and was inspired to try her hand at this exciting new literary form. In 1933 she succeeded with the sale of her first story, "Shambleau," to Weird Tales, where it ran as the lead in the November issue. "Shambleau" was an immediate success, winning praise from readers and writers alike (including horror legend H.P. Lovecraft). Moore became a mainstay of Weird Tales throughout the 1930s, turning out fourteen more stories for the magazine by the end of the decade (as well as contributing to several other publications). In 1940 she married science fiction writer Henry Kuttner and began an extended period of collaboration with him. The couple moved to Hastings-on-Hudson, just north of the pulp magazines' headquarters in New York City, and unleashed a torrent of creativity on the genre's ever-growing audience. In addition to work signed with their own names, Moore and Kuttner wrote under at least 17 assumed names, of which Lewis Padgett and Keith Hammond were probably the most renowned.

After 10 years in New York, Moore and Kuttner moved back to Kuttner's native California to earn college degrees and investigate the screenwriting market. With aid from the G.I. Bill, Kuttner graduated from the University of Southern California in 1954, and Moore followed in 1956. They succeeded in breaking into scriptwriting for both radio and television, but their collaboration ended sadly with Kuttner's death from a heart attack in 1958. Moore continued to work, writing scripts for television shows like Maverick and 77 Sunset Strip and branching into the mystery genre, but she never again wrote science fiction. She remarried in 1963 to Thomas Reggie, and spent the rest of her life in Hollywood before passing away in 1987. MooreÕs groundbreaking contributions to the medium she helped to define, however, were never forgotten. In 1981 she was presented with the World Fantasy Award for Lifetime Achievement, and in 1998 she was inducted into the Science Fiction and Fantasy Hall of Fame.