She was the last person in the world I expected to see.

But she was there, in the moonlight, lying across the porch of my rented cabin. At her throat was a gleam of dim fire that even by moonlight you knew had to be made by nothing less than diamonds. She was very beautiful.

Her name was Marjorie, and once upon a time, a thousand years ago, she had been engaged to me.

Leigh Brackett was the undisputed Queen of Space Opera and the first woman to be nominated for the coveted Hugo Award.

She wrote short stories, novels, and scripts for Hollywood. She wrote the first draft of the Empire Strikes Back shortly before her death in 1978.