Sunday, April 6, 2014

Free Science Fiction Classic - Leigh Brackett's Last Call From Sector 9G


Grab It Right
HERE
Published in Planet Stories Last Call From Sector 9G has a much darker tone then other later Brackett stories. Set during a weird time peirod of her Galactic history. Last call has all the ear marks of a Brackett story with some additional writing elements that she would later drop from her planetary adventures. This is the story of the lamenting of a passing alien way of life. There is potential here for old school adventure.
Leigh Brackett 1941.JPG

According to wiki Brackett began the transition from planetary and interstellar adventure to this approach in her writing. 
Brackett's stories thereafter adopted a more elegiac tone. They no longer celebrated the conflicts of frontier worlds, but lamented the passing away of civilizations. The stories now concentrated more upon mood than on plot. The reflective, retrospective nature of these stories is indicated in the titles: "The Last Days of Shandakor"; "Shannach — the Last"; "Last Call from Sector 9G".
You can find more information right over HERE
The approach of this style of story telling and writing in science fiction would later be adopted by Mrs.Brackett's husband Edward Hamilton.
For old school adventuring many of these stories set a tone for archaeological and xeno alien expeditions for the recovery of artifacts and the politics that surround such objects. A tone that was adopted with more then a measure of success by television shows such as Star Trek The Next Generation. Given it's captain's passion for archaeology and alien history it's not impossible to connect the dots here from Last Call from Sector 9G to something like a roving band of historical preservationists and archaeologists roaming the galaxy saving treasures across the face of the universe for future generations.
There is a lot of room and space to take stories like 
The Last Days of Shandakor"; "Shannach — the Last"; "Last Call from Sector 9G" and turn them on their ear to allow a DM to set up and use such stories as a backdrop for interstellar intrigue and adventure. 
 There are lots of room to explore the further reaches of the galaxy and dealing with the various pirates, relic sellers, black markets, and tomb plunders that seem to arise around such articles of history. 
 To further bring this back to a track of interstellar adventure what happens to all those post apocalyptic buildings, historical artifacts, and more. Does the fashion of having 'original Earth artifacts' suddenly come into vogue? 
 Suddenly that gang of post apocalyptic mutant scum might become art dealers and treasure smugglers.
This is a pretty unknown story to many contemporary science fiction fans and players most certainly wouldn't think to take a story such as this and the above as source material. But there's lots of potential here for adventure writing.
 More to come. 

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