Editing Marion Zimmer Bradley (section)

=== Early work ===

Bradley stated that when she was a child she enjoyed reading adventure fantasy authors such as [[Henry Kuttner]], [[Edmond Hamilton]], [[C.L. Moore]], and [[Leigh Brackett]],<ref>[[Edward James (historian) |Edward James]], "Bradley, Marion Zimmer", ''St. James Guide To Fantasy Writers'', ed. [[David Pringle]], St. James Press, 1996, {{ISBN |1-55862-205-5}}, p. 68-71.</ref> especially when they wrote about "the glint of strange suns on worlds that never were and never would be". Her first novel and much of her subsequent work show their influence strongly. At 17, she began her first novel ''[[The Forest House]]'', her retelling of ''[[Norma (opera) |Norma]]''; she finished it before her death.<ref name=":2" />

Bradley made her first sale as an adjunct to an amateur fiction contest in ''[[Amazing Stories]]'' in 1949 with the short story "Outpost". "Outpost" was published in ''Amazing Stories'' Vol. 23, No. 12, the December 1949 issue; it had previously appeared in the fanzine ''Spacewarp'' Vol. 4, No. 3, in December 1948. Her first professional publication was a short story "Women Only", which appeared in the second (and final) issue of ''Vortex Science Fiction'' in 1953.<ref>[http://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/pl.cgi?VRTXSCNCFC21953 Publication Listing – Title: Vortex Science Fiction Vol. 1, No. 2], Internet Speculative Fiction Database</ref> Her first published novel-length work was ''[[Falcons of Narabedla]]'', first published in the May 1957 issue of ''[[Other Worlds (magazine) |Other Worlds]]''.