The Firebrand

Blending archaeological fact and legend, the myths of the gods and the feats of heroes, Marion Zimmer Bradley breathes new life into the classic tale of the Trojan War-reinventing larger-than-life figures as living people engaged in a desperate struggle that dooms both the victors and the vanquished, their fate seen through the eyes of Kassandra-priestess, princess, and passionate woman with the spirit of a warrior.

Marion Zimmer Bradley was an American writer and editor best known for science fiction and fantasy that explored alien societies, psychic powers, gender, myth, and the tension between personal identity and social expectation. Born in 1930, she became widely known for the Darkover series, a long-running body of planetary romance and science fantasy, and later for The Mists of Avalon, her influential retelling of Arthurian legend from the perspectives of its women.Bradley's early magazine fiction belongs to the mid-century speculative world of planetary adventure, psychic mystery, alien inheritance, and science fantasy. Falcons of Narabedla, first published in Other Worlds in 1957, is an important early example of that direction and has been associated with the larger Darkover universe in later bibliographic discussion. Her work remains historically important to readers tracing the development of women writers in science fiction and fantasy, planetary romance, feminist fantasy, and mythic reinterpretation. Modern discussion of Bradley also includes serious awareness of abuse allegations connected to her personal life, but her place in the publishing history of science fiction and fantasy remains significant.