Happy Birthday C.L. Moore

This coming Saturday is C.L. Moore's birthday and to celebrate, next Monday, I'll be posting an monster from her psychedelic short story The Black God's Kiss.

C.L. Moore was born in Indianapolis, Indiana in 1911. She dropped out of college to get a job as a secretary to help her family during the Great Depression.  Around this time she started writing and had stories published in Weird Tales and Astounding Fiction.

Supposedly, her story Shambleau was so well received by Weird Tales editor Farnsworth Wright, that he gave the entire staff the day off. Whether or not this is true, it speaks to the power of her writing. People loved it.

She's probably most well know for her character Jirel of Joirey, a Medieval French woman who's defining characteristic is her unrelenting rage. Jirel goes on some really trippy adventures to strange dimensions and meets some really disgusting monsters! 

It's great stuff!

Moore went by the more ambiguous "C.L." because she was well aware of the fact that male writers were paid more than female writers. She may have even had a harder time getting her work read at all if she hadn't done this. Most readers didn't know that Moore was a woman, including fellow weird fiction author Henry Kuttner.

He wrote her a fan letter and later, struck up a romantic relationship. They frequently collaborated using their own names as well as multiple pseudonyms. They collaborated on the story Mimsy Were the Borogoves which was later turned into the movie The Last Mimsy.

She was also part of the "famous" round robin story The Challenge From Beyond which featured H.P. Lovecraft, Robert E. Howard, Frank Belknap Long and A. Merritt.

Moore's work is pretty unappreciated but you should check it out if you get the chance. She's not only a pioneer of female sci fi authors but sci fi and weird fiction in general.