Leigh Brackett

Leigh Douglass Brackett (December 7, 1915 – March 24, 1978) was an American science fiction writer known as "the Queen of Space Opera." She was also a screenwriter, known for ''The Big Sleep'' (1946), ''Rio Bravo'' (1959), and ''The Long Goodbye'' (1973). She worked on an early draft of ''The Empire Strikes Back'' (1980), elements of which remained in the film; she died before it went into production. In 1956, her book ''The Long Tomorrow'' made her the first woman ever shortlisted for the Hugo Award for Best Novel, and, along with C. L. Moore, one of the first two women ever nominated for a Hugo Award. In 2020, she posthumously won a Retro Hugo for her novel ''The Nemesis From Terra'', originally published as "Shadow Over Mars" (''Startling Stories'', Fall 1944). Provided by Wikipedia