Gertrude Barrows Bennett

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Painting of Gertrude Barrows Bennett (Francis Stevens) on the cover of her short story collection The Nightmare and Other Tales of Dark Fantasy, University of Nebraska Press, 2004.

Gertrude Barrows Bennett (1883 to 1948) was the first major female writer of fantasy and science fiction in the United States, publishing her stories under the pseudonym Francis Stevens.^[1] Bennett wrote a number of highly acclaimed fantasies between 1917 and 1923.^[2] Among her most famous books are Claimed (which H.P. Lovecraft called "One of the strangest and most compelling science fantasy novels you will every read")^[3] and the lost world novel The Citadel of Fear. Bennett also wrote an early alternate history novel, The Heads of Cerberus (1919).^[4]

1 Life
2 Writing career
3 Influence
4 Bibliography
5 References
6 External links

[edit] Life

Gertrude Mabel Barrows was born in Minneapolis in 1883. She completed school through the eighth grade,^[5] then attended night school in hopes of becoming an illustrator (a goal she never achieved). Instead, she began working as a stenographer, a job she held on and off for the rest of her life.^[6]

In 1909 Bennett married Stewart Bennett, a British journalist and explorer, and moved to Philadelphia. A year later her husband died while on an expedition. With a new-born daughter to raise, Bennett continued working as a stenographer. When her father died in 1916, Bennett assumed care for her invalid mother.^[7]

During this time period Bennett began to write a number of short stories and novels, only stopping when her mother died in 1920. In the mid 1920s, she moved to California. Because Bennett was estranged from her daughter, for a number of years researchers believed Bennett died in 1939 (the date of her final letter to her daughter). However, new research, including her death certificate, shows that she died in 1948.^[8]

[edit] Writing career

Bennett wrote her first short story at age 17. Her first published story, the novella "The Nightmare," appeared in All-Story Weekly in 1917. The story is set on an island separated from the rest of the world, on which evolution has taken a different course. "The Nightmare" resembles Edgar Rice Burroughs' The Land That Time Forgot (itself published a year later) and probably influenced the later story.^[9]

Over the next few years, Bennett wrote a number of short stories and novellas. Her short story "Friend Island" (All-Story Weekly, 1918), for example, is set in a 22nd century ruled by women. Another story is the novella "Serapion" (Argosy, 1920), about a man possessed by a supernatural creature. Many of her short stories have been collected in The Nightmare and Other Tales of Dark Fantasy (University of Nebraska Press, 2004).

In 1918 she published her novel The Citadel of Fear (Argosy, 1918; reprinted in book form in 1970). This lost world story focuses on a forgotten Aztec city, which is "rediscovered" during World War I.

A year later she published her only science fiction novel, The Heads of Cerberus (Thrill Book, 1919; reprinted 1952). One of the first dystopian novels, the book features a "grey dust from a silver phial" which transports anyone who inhales it to a totalitarian Philadelphia of 2118 A.D.^[10]

Bennett's most critically acclaimed novel was Claimed (Argosy, 1920; reprinted 1966 and 2004), in which a supernatural artifact summons an ancient and powerful god to 20th century New Jersey.

[edit] Influence

Bennett's writings influenced both H.P. Lovecraft and A. Merritt,^[11] (with Lovecraft calling her novel Claimed "One of the strangest and most compelling science fantasy novels you will every read").^[12] As for Mettitt, for several decades critics and readers believed "Francis Stevens" was a pseudonym of his. This rumor only ended with the 1952 reprinting of Citadel of Fear, which featured a biographical introduction of Bennett by Lloyd Arthur Eshbach.^[13]

Because Bennett was the first American woman to have her fantasy and science fiction widely published, she has been recognized in recent years as a pioneering female fantasy author.^[14]

[edit] Bibliography

[edit] Novels

The Citadel of Fear (1918)
The Heads of Cerberus (1919)
Claimed (1920)
Sunfire (1923)
Possessed! (2002)

[edit] Collections

Nightmare: And Other Tales of Dark Fantasy (2004)

[edit] Short stories

"The Nightmare," (All-Story Weekly, 1917)
"Friend Island" (All-Story Weekly, 1918)
"Serapion" (Argosy, 1920)

[edit] References

^ http://scifipedia.scifi.com/index.php/Francis_Stevens Francis Stevens entry in Scifipedia, accessed April 2, 2007.
^ The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction, edited by John Chute and Peter Nicholls, St. Martin's Press, 1993, page 1164-65.
^ http://www.rockpublishing.com/claimed.htm Claimed promotional page, James A. Rock and Company Publishers, accessed April 2, 2007.
^ The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction, edited by John Chute and Peter Nicholls, St. Martin's Press, 1993, page 1164-65; and The Cambridge Companion to Science Fiction by Edward James and Farah Mendlesohn, Cambridge University Press, 2003, page 30.
^ http://scifipedia.scifi.com/index.php/Francis_Stevens Francis Stevens entry in Scifipedia, accessed April 2, 2007.
^ "The Woman Who Invented Dark Fantasy" by Gary C. Hoppenstand from Nightmare and Other Tales of Dark Fantasy by Francis Stevens, U of Nebraska Press, 2004, page xvi.
^ http://scifipedia.scifi.com/index.php/Francis_Stevens Francis Stevens entry in Scifipedia, accessed April 2, 2007.
^ "The Woman Who Invented Dark Fantasy" by Gary C. Hoppenstand from Nightmare and Other Tales of Dark Fantasy by Francis Stevens, University of Nebraska Press, 2004, page xvii.
^ http://scifipedia.scifi.com/index.php/Francis_Stevens Francis Stevens entry in Scifipedia, accessed April 2, 2007.
^ The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction, edited by John Chute and Peter Nicholls, St. Martin's Press, 1993, page 1164-65.
^ http://scifipedia.scifi.com/index.php/Francis_Stevens Francis Stevens entry in Scifipedia, accessed April 2, 2007.
^ http://www.rockpublishing.com/claimed.htm Claimed promotional page, James A. Rock and Company Publishers, accessed April 2, 2007.
^ http://scifipedia.scifi.com/index.php/Francis_Stevens Francis Stevens entry in Scifipedia, accessed April 2, 2007.
^ http://www.sfreviews.net/claimed.html Review of Francis Steven's Claimed by T. M. Wagner, SF reviews.net, accessed April 3, 2007.