<span class="SFPTagline"> From SCIFIPEDIA </span>

C. L. Moore (Catherine L. Moore) (1911-1987) The readers' response to Catherine Moore's first story, "Shambleau", in a 1933 issue of Weird Tales was overwhelmingly positive. The story of a kind of extraterrestrial vampire, "Shambleau" was seen as ground-breaking, although few at the time admitted it was because of "Shambleau's" subtle eroticism. In all of Moore's early work there is a constant erotic tension, particularly her series of stories about a medieval adventuress, Jirel of Joiry -- the first heroine in a sword-and-sorcery setting. However repressed, the sexuality of the Jirel story "The Black God's Kiss" (Weird Tales, 1936) is still remarkable today. These early stories of Moore's were collected as Shambleau and Others (1953) and Northwest of Earth (1954).

In 1940 Moore married Henry Kuttner, and thereafter they formed one of the most remarkable writing partnerships of the 20th century. They wrote hundreds of stories and dozens of novels under a myriad of pseudonyms. Most of their work was in the field of mystery.

Moore and Kuttner became regular contributors to John W. Campbell's Astounding in the 1940's, mostly under the pen-names Lewis Padgett (primarily Kuttner) and Lawrence O'Donnell (primarily Moore). Although they collaborated on almost everything they wrote, two of Moore's greatest stories were published under her own name during this period, a sign that she had written them without the direct participation of Kuttner: "No Woman Born" (1944), the story of a woman injured in a fire and reconstructed as a cyborg, and "Vintage Season" (1946), which is her best story and one of the most beloved tales ever published in Astounding. "Vintage Season" is a story of great charm and mystery about tourists from the future who have come to visit the present before it is somehow destroyed. It was made into a film in 1991 as Timescape. In 1950 Moore and Kuttner decided to reduce their writing output and to attend the University of Southern California. Both completed bachelor's degrees there. Kuttner died in 1958 of a heart attack, and following his death, Moore wrote for several television series. She gave up writing completely when she re-married in 1963.