Moore, C.L. Books

Northwest of Earth: The Complete Northwest Smith (Planet Stories Library)

C. L. Moore, C. J. Cherryh

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 3 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

the original Han Solo 5 out of 5 stars.
11 of 12 people found this review helpful.

Paizo's Planet Stories line gives us another classic from the "queen of the pulps" C.L. Moore. This volume focuses on Northwest Smith, hardbitten, yet strangely vulnerable, outlaw of the spaceways. Smith faces weird, and sometimes horrific, alien menances in a solar system owing inspiration to Edgar Rice Burroughs--Venus is swampy and cloud-enshrouded; Mars is an ancient desert. Moore has all the adventure of her pulp forebears, but adds to it a gift for weird imagery, an undercurrent of sensuality, and superior characterization. Moore's science fiction isn't shiny rockets, but dark and moody encounters with ancient horrors.

The volume opens with the first Northwest Smith story--the darkly sensual "Shambleau" which made her a star when it was published in 1933, just eleven months after Howard's Conan. It ends with the poignant vignette "Song in a Minor Key" which, in the words of writer/editor Karl Edward Wagner, packs a punch "Bruce Lee would have envied."

In between are tales full of adventure and strangeness waiting to bring CL Moore to a much deserved new audience.

Editorial Review:

75th Anniversary Edition! Among the best-written and most emotionally complex stories of the Pulp Era, the tales of intergalactic smuggler Northwest Smith still resonate strongly 75 years after their first publication. From the crumbling temples of forgotten gods on Venus to the seedy pleasure halls of old Mars, Northwest Smith blazes a trail through the underbelly of the solar system in 13 action-packed stories you won't soon forget.

The Best Of C. L. Moore

C. L. Moore

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 1 Average rating: 5.0 of 5

The Devouring Desire 5 out of 5 stars.
2 of 3 people found this review helpful.

The classic early SF/fantasy tales by Catherine Moore were so far ahead of their time that the extent of her influence is mind-boggling. In fact, many modern authors may consider themselves heavily influenced by other authors who were themselves heavily influenced by Moore. The short stories collected here are all from the 1930s and 1940s, and you can easily see Moore's insistent influence on vast realms of fantastic fiction. The stupendous "Shambleau," dealing with a bizarre alien predator that oozes terrifying sexual tension, broke so much new ground in science fiction, horror, and goth that the reader will be astounded to learn that it's from 1933. A year later Moore probably invented the fantasy femme fatale in "Black God's Kiss," featuring the amazingly butt-kicking (for 1934) heroine Jirel of Joiry, who hates her male oppressor so much that she recruits the very forces of hell to taste revenge. Moore may have also invented the cyborg (and a female one, no less) in "No Woman Born," while three different tales here make early inroads into the unknown horrors of time travel, most notably "Greater than Gods" in which a man learns that both of the paths he may take in an important life decision will lead to the downfall of humanity. The late Catherine Moore deserves vast appreciation and respect from historically-minded readers in several different genres of fantastic fiction. This enthralling collection shows why - relentlessly. [~doomsdayer520~]

Editorial Review:

One of the strangest, and surely one of the most imaginative stories ever written - Shambleau. Also Black God's Kiss; Black Thirst; Greater Than Gods - and many more.

Jirel Of Joiry

C. L. Moore

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 5 Average rating: 3.0 of 5

Lovers of Heroic Fantasy will enjoy this book! 4 out of 5 stars.
5 of 7 people found this review helpful.

Jirel of Joiry is a haunting, powerful fantasy that takes place back in Dark Age France sometime after the fall of Rome. Jirel, with her red hair and two-handed longsword, is the literary ancestor of such present day swordwomen as Red Sonja. The stories are vibrant and bold, depicting their settings very realisticly. In alot of ways, the stories are every bit as good as Howard's Conan stories. My only reservation is that the stories have a very 30's pulp feel to them (probably because that was when they were written). All in all an excellent read.

Editorial Review:

C. L. Moore created Jirel, ruler of Joiry, in reaction to the beefy total-testosterone blood-and-thunder tales of '30s pulp magazines, but Jirel is no anti-Conan. She's a good Catholic girl, stubbornly purposeful, relentless in pursuit of enemies or vengeance, hard-boiled and a little stupid, and cannot be distracted by mere physical attractiveness. Indeed, in Jirel's world, beauty = decadence = corruption. Were these stories written today, inevitably Jirel would have a lot of hot sex, but as they were first published in Weird Tales between 1934-1939, sexual attraction is mostly only vividly implied. No loss. Jirel's journeys through unnatural landscapes and her battles with supernatural opponents are still wonderful to read, and though newcomers Red Sonja and Xena are more famous now, Jirel rules as the archetypal, indomitable redheaded swordswoman in chain mail and greaves, swinging her "great two-edged sword."

In Another Country/Vintage Season (Tor Doubles, No 18)

Robert Silverberg, C. L. Moore

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Black Gods and Scarlet Dreams (Fantasy Masterworks)

C.L. Moore

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 3 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

Lush and Exotic Horror-Fantasy 4 out of 5 stars.
5 of 5 people found this review helpful.

Catherine Lucille Moore was working as a secretary when she typed up and sent in to WEIRD TALES her first and ultimately most famous short story, "Shambleau," which introduced the hardbitten space adventurer Northwest Smith and recounted his terrifying experiences with an outer-space version of the monster Medusa. Nine further Smith adventures followed, as well as five adventures of an early-medieval warrior-maid, Jirel of Joiry in a somewhat similar vein. All these tales are collected here, as originally published between 1933 and 1939 (with one exception).

I must say that reading the stories one after the other, as one does in such a collection, tends to spoil them... because they are all essentially the same story. Smith or Jirel invariably encounter an extraterrestrial or extra-dimensional being, almost always of godlike power, which creates its own exotic and terrifying world around itself. Smith or Jirel escape the influence and malign purposes of the being, mainly by sheer force of will, and so on to the next adventure. Also Moore has a favorite phrase, along the lines of "how long or how far [s]he walked, [s]he never knew," which occurs about once per page in every story, a maddening repetition if one is reading several stories per sitting.

However, what captivated WEIRD TALES readers still captivates... a dense barrage of evocations of completely other-worldly scenes and experiences, told in straightforward and rather immature but still compelling prose. The Smith adventures also contain an element which for obvious reasons doesn't appear in the Jirel tales... lavish descriptions of the physical charms of a long succession of stupifyingly beautiful and sexy women. And Smith has a semi-comical sidekick, Yarol the Venusian, whereas Jirel generally sets out completely alone.

If you come upon this collection, you'll savor these tales, but my advice is to read them one at a time, with other, unrelated readings in between. While Moore is not quite up there with the three titans of WEIRD TALES, H. P. Lovecraft, Robert E. Howard and Clark Ashton Smith, she is certainly not far behind.

Editorial Review:

Jirel of Joiry, the first of the great female warriors, the beautiful commander of the strongest fortress in the kingdom, would face any danger to defend her beloved country. She wielded her bright sword against mighty armies, the sinister magic of evil sorcerers and fearsome castles guarded by the dead, even daring to descend into Hell itself...Northwest Smith, the scarred and weathered outlaw, the legendary hero of the spaceways, forced to confront the terrible mysteries, the terrifying, mythic monsters of the universe...Jirel of Joiry and Northwest Smith are C.L. Moore's greatest creations and she used them not only to spin spellbinding tales but also to explore the mysteries of the human psyche.

Judgment Night: Facsimile Reproduction Of The 1952 First Edition

C. L. Moore

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Editorial Review:

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.

The Best of C L Moore

C L Moore

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 2 Average rating: 5.0 of 5

A Classic of the Genre 5 out of 5 stars.
10 of 10 people found this review helpful.

I cannot believe that this book is out of print. It is a true classic of the genre. Both of Moore's most famous heroes, Jirel and Northwest Smith, are represented here. The two classic tales 'Shambleau' and 'Black God's Kiss' are here, as are the brilliant 'No Woman Born' (one of the first cyborg stories --- the forerunner of the Bionic Woman!) Buy it!

Not Free SF Reader 5 out of 5 stars.
0 of 0 people found this review helpful.

A writer of some style and talent, from planetary romance and sword and sorcery, to standard science fiction, fantasy and moore. An impressive group of stories, as this best of averages an excellent 3.75.

Best of C. L. Moore : Shambleau - C. L. Moore
Best of C. L. Moore : Black Thirst - C. L. Moore
Best of C. L. Moore : The Bright Illusion - C. L. Moore
Best of C. L. Moore : Black God's Kiss - C. L. Moore
Best of C. L. Moore : Tryst in Time - C. L. Moore
Best of C. L. Moore : Greater Than Gods - C. L. Moore
Best of C. L. Moore : Fruit of Knowledge - C. L. Moore
Best of C. L. Moore : No Woman Born - C. L. Moore
Best of C. L. Moore : Daemon - C. L. Moore
Best of C. L. Moore : Vintage Season - C. L. Moore


Shoot vampire gorgon women, don't ask them in for dinner.

4.5 out of 5


"Not even the lowest class of Venusian street-walker dared come along the waterfronts of Ednes on the nights when the space-liners were not in. Yet across the pavement came clearly now the light tapping of a woman's feet."

This leads him to monstrous vampiric alien, and to the aid of one his thralls, above.

""The-Guardians-still rove the halls, and unleashed now -so keep your ray-gun ready, Earthman. . , ."

4 out of 5


High priestess wants to go.

3.5 out of 5


An escape from a captor leads Jirel basically into a Clark Ashton Smith story, and a passionate revenge.

4 out of 5


Adventure volunteer's woman repeats.

3 out of 5


Girl surplus probability plane past contact conquest conflict choices.

3 out of 5


"Why," he stammered, "you...you're the Queen of Air and Darkness."

3.5 out of 5


High performance machine act.

4 out of 5


Captain's plan doesn't Pan out.

4 out of 5


Past holiday.

4 out of 5




4.5 out of 5

Earths Last Citadel

C. L. Moore

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Total reviews: 4 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

Earth's (REAL) Final Conflict! 5 out of 5 stars.
6 of 7 people found this review helpful.

This is classic science-fiction at its best!

An American Intelllgence officer, a Scottish scientist, a renegade American turned NAZI and Karrin, the attractive racially mixed female NAZI agent confront one another, each side adamantly opposing the other when an apparent bolide crashes to earth. The group finds itself drawn toward the unidentified object which opens up and takes them in.

The four slowly come out of stasis and find themselves in what appears to be a vessel which, however, has no obvious machinery or operations console. Managing to open the door, they find themselves in a strange desert world with the oceans flashing by overhead, giant worms and fragile, winged people!

The Carcasilians (the natives to whose city they are led by a high priestess of the Light-Weavers)allow them entrance where they meet and are tricked by Flandy, an ancient human who has harnessed alien technology to give himself demigod-like powers. From Flandy, they learn that the ship from which they had escaped had been the first in a delayed invasion force untold millenia ago (i.e., in the 1940s). Everything in which they believed and for which they had fought was long gone and meaningless!

This relatively short work is astonishingly lively with many unexpected twists - and none more so than the surprising end which combines a strong sense of loss, hope and belief in the human spirit!

This is, undoubtedly, the best classic science-fiction work written and stands out even among such modern works as David Brin's SUNDIVER, Dan Simmons' HYPERION and Timothy Zahn's BLACKCOLLAR.

Galaxy Science Fiction, July 1953 (Volume 6, No. 4)

Clifford D. Simak, James H. Schmitz, Michael Shaara, Fritz Leiber, Henry Kuttner, C. L. Moore

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Editorial Review:

CONTENTS: ~ ~~ ~ NOVELETTES: Kindergarten [Clifford D. Simak]; Soldier Boy [Michael Shaara]; The Weather on Mercury [William Morrison]; SHORT STORIES: A Bad Day for Sales [Fritz Leiber]; Caretaker [James H. Schmitz]; Green Grew the Lasses [Ruth Laura Wainwright ]; Home Is the Hunter [Henry Kuttner & C. L. Moore]; ARTICLES: Second Trip To Venus [Willy Ley]; Old Laws -- New Uses [H. L. Gold]

Shambleau, and others

C. L Moore

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