C. L. Moore

{{Short description|American science fiction & fantasy writer (1911–1987)}} {{Use mdy dates|date=April 2025}} {{Infobox writer | birth_name = Catherine Lucille Moore | image = Catherine Lucille Moore.jpg | caption = Moore  | pseudonym = {{plainlist| * Lawrence O'Donnell * C. H. Liddell * Lewis Padgett }} | birth_date = {{birth date|1911|1|24|mf=y}} | birth_place = Indianapolis, Indiana, US | death_date = {{death date and age|1987|4|4|1911|1|24|mf=y}} | death_place = Hollywood, California, US | occupation = Writer | nationality = American | period = 1933–1963 | genre = Science fiction, fantasy | spouse = {{plainlist| * Henry Kuttner (1940–1958, his death) * Thomas Reggie (1963–1987, her death) }} }}

'''Catherine Lucille Moore''' (January 24, 1911 – April 4, 1987) was an American science fiction and fantasy writer, who first came to prominence in the 1930s writing as '''C. L. Moore'''. She was among the first women to write in the science fiction and fantasy genres (though earlier woman writers in these genres include Clare Winger Harris, Greye La Spina, and Francis Stevens, among others). Moore's work paved the way for many other female speculative fiction writers.

Moore married her first husband Henry Kuttner in 1940, and most of her work from 1940 to 1958 (Kuttner's death) was written by the couple collaboratively. They were prolific co-authors under their own names, although more often under any one of several pseudonyms.

As "Catherine Kuttner", she had a brief career as a television scriptwriter from 1958 to 1962. She retired from writing in 1963.

==Early life== Moore was born on January 24, 1911, in Indianapolis, Indiana, to Maude Estelle Moore, whose father Levi N. Jones had been a Methodist minister, and Otto Newman Moore. Otto "operated a large shop designing and manufacturing tools and machinery"; his own father was the doctor Henry Moore.<ref name=":1">{{Cite journal |last=Hanley |first=Terence E. |date=Summer 2019 |title=Amazing Tales: The Weird and Wondrous Fiction of C. L. Moore |journal=Traces of Indiana and Midwestern History |volume=31 |issue=3 |pages=48–56 |via=Gale Academic OneFile}}</ref> C. L. Moore was chronically ill as a child and spent much of her time reading literature of the fantastic.<ref name=":1" /><ref name="ltclmao">{{cite book|last1=Lovecraft |first1=H.P. |last2=Joshi |first2=S.T.|last3=Schultz|first3=David E. |title=Letters to C. L. Moore and Others| date=2017|publisher=Hippocampus Press|location=New York City|isbn=9781614981961|chapter=Introduction | pages=8-12}}</ref> The young Moore's favourite reading material included ''Alice in Wonderland'', the ''Oz'' books, and the novels of Edgar Rice Burroughs.<ref name="ltclmao" /> She also read the pulp magazines ''Adventure'', ''Amazing Stories'' and ''Weird Tales''. <ref name="ltclmao" /> In 1929,<ref name=":0" /> she began a degree in English at Indiana University's Bloomington campus,<ref name=":1" /> but the financial pressures on her family caused by the Great Depression meant that after three semesters she had to switch to a business college to learn to be a secretary.<ref name=":1" /><ref>{{Cite web |last=Staff |date=2013-02-25 |title=A Pioneer of Science Fiction – C.L. Moore |url=https://blogs.libraries.indiana.edu/iubarchives/2013/02/25/c-l-moore/ |access-date=2025-12-18 |website=blogs.libraries.indiana.edu |language=en-US}}</ref> She gained work as a secretary at the Fletcher Trust Company in Indianapolis.<ref name=":1" />

By 1936, Moore was engaged to one Herbert Ernest Lewis, who also worked at Fletcher Trust.<ref name=":2">{{Cite web |last=greyirish |date=2021-09-29 |title=Her Letters to Robert E. Howard: Catherine Lucille Moore |url=https://deepcuts.blog/2021/09/29/her-letters-to-robert-e-howard-catherine-lucille-moore/ |access-date=2025-11-25 |website=Deep Cuts in a Lovecraftian Vein |language=en}}</ref> However, he died by a gunshot wound on 13 February 1936.<ref>{{Cite news |date=1936-02-14 |title=Death of Ernest Lewis (C. L. Moore's fiance) |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-indianapolis-news-death-of-ernest-le/123877989/ |access-date=2025-11-25 |work=The Indianapolis News |pages=15}}</ref> Moore herself, and the newspapers, reported the death as accidental,<ref name=":3">{{Cite journal |last=Dziemianowicz |first=Stefan |date=2017 |title=Review of Letters to C. L. Moore and Others |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/26868545 |journal=Lovecraft Annual |issue=11 |pages=190–198 |doi=10.2307/26868545 |issn=1935-6102}}</ref> but according to the pulp fiction scholar Bobby Derie, "the death certificate lists it as a suicide".<ref name=":2" />

==Early career== Moore's first publication appears to have been a poem called "Song of the Spirit of St. Louis", published in ''The Indianapolis Star'' on 7 October 1928 and credited to Catherine L. Moore.<ref>{{Cite web |last=greyirish |date=2025-04-23 |title=Deeper Cut: C. L. Moore Before The Pulps |url=https://deepcuts.blog/2025/04/23/deeper-cut-c-l-moore-before-the-pulps/ |access-date=2025-12-01 |website=Deep Cuts in a Lovecraftian Vein |language=en}}</ref> In 1930–31, ''The Vagabond'', a student-run magazine at Indiana University, published three of her stories as Catherine Moore, all in the vein of fantasy:<ref name=":0">{{Cite web|url=https://www.kirkusreviews.com/features/many-names-catherine-lucille-moore/|title=The Many Names of Catherine Lucille Moore|website=Kirkus Reviews}}</ref> "Happily Ever After",<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Moore |first=Catherine |date=1930–1931 |title=Happily Ever After |url=https://archives.iu.edu/catalog/InU-Ar-VAC2229aspace_VAC2229-00596 |journal=The Vagabond |volume=7 |issue=1 |pages=28–30 |via=Indiana University archives}}</ref> "Semira",<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Moore |first=Catherine |date=1930–1931 |title=Semira |url=https://archives.iu.edu/catalog/InU-Ar-VAC2229aspace_VAC2229-00637 |journal=The Vagabond |volume=7 |issue=3 |pages=19–23 |via=Indiana University archives}}</ref> and "Two Fantasies".<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Moore |first=Catherine |date=1930–1931 |title=Two Fantasies |url=https://archives.iu.edu/catalog/InU-Ar-VAC2229aspace_VAC2229-00660 |journal=The Vagabond |volume=7 |issue=4 |pages=15–17 |via=Indiana University archives}}</ref> Her first professional sales appeared in pulp magazines beginning in 1933.<ref name=":1" /> Her decision to publish under the name "C. L. Moore" stemmed not from a desire to hide her gender, but to keep her employers at Fletcher Trust from knowing that she was working as a writer on the side.<ref name="chacal">{{Cite interview |title=C.L. Moore Talks to Chacal: A Conversation With the First Lady of Fantasy |interviewer=Byron Roark |url=https://archive.org/details/chacal-v-01n-01-1976-winter/ |type=Magazine |access-date=October 13, 2023 |work=Chacal |issue=1 |publisher=Nemedian Chronicles |year=1976 |pages=25-31}}</ref>

Her early work included two significant series in ''Weird Tales'', then edited by Farnsworth Wright. One features the rogue and adventurer Northwest Smith wandering through the Solar System; the other features the swordswoman/warrior Jirel of Joiry, one of the first female protagonists in sword-and-sorcery fiction.<ref name=":1" /><ref>{{Cite web |last=Brown |first=Alan |date=2018-01-18 |title=C.L. Moore's Northwest Smith Stories: Pulp Hero vs. Cosmic Horrors |url=https://reactormag.com/c-l-moores-northwest-smith-stories-pulp-hero-vs-cosmic-horrors/ |access-date=2026-03-16 |website=Reactor |language=en-US}}</ref><ref name="gh">{{cite book |last=Wilson |first=Andrew J. |date=2013 |editor-last=Hoppenstand |editor-first=Gary |title=Pulp Fiction of the 1920s and 1930s |publisher=Salem Press |pages=6–18 |chapter=Love Is the Most Dangerous Thing: Gender and Genocide in the Weird Fiction of C. L. Moore |isbn=9781429838436}}</ref> Both series are sometimes named for their lead characters.<ref name=isfdb/> One of the Northwest Smith stories, "Nymph of Darkness", published in 1936, was written in collaboration with Forrest J Ackerman.<ref>''Fantasy Magazine'' (April 1935); expurgated version, ''Weird Tales'' (Dec 1939).</ref><ref>Forrest J. Ackerman, ''Ackermanthology: 65 Astoníshing, Rediscovered SF Shorts''. LA: General Publishing Co, 1997, pp. 255-270.</ref>

The most famous Northwest Smith story is "Shambleau", which was also Moore's first professional sale. It originally appeared in the November 1933 issue of ''Weird Tales'',<ref name=isfdb/> netting her $100, and later becoming a popular anthology reprint.<ref name=":1" />[[File:Weird Tales October 1934.jpg|thumb|left|Cover of ''Weird Tales'', October 1934, featuring "The Black God's Kiss" by Moore (painting by Margaret Brundage)]] Her most famous Jirel story is also the first one, "Black God's Kiss", which was the cover story in the October 1934 issue of ''Weird Tales'', subtitled "the weirdest story ever told" (see figure).<ref name=isfdb/> Moore's early stories were notable for their emphasis on the senses and emotions, which was unusual in genre fiction at the time.<ref name=":1" /><ref name="gh" /> Having encountered Moore's work in ''Weird Tales'', H. P. Lovecraft corresponded with her from March 1935 until February 1937, shortly before his death.<ref name=":3" />

Moore's work also appeared in ''Astounding Science Fiction'' magazine throughout the 1940s. Several stories written for that magazine were later collected in her first published book, ''Judgment Night'' (1952)<ref>{{cite book|author=Moore, C.L.|publisher=Gnome Press|date= 1952|title=Judgment Night}}</ref><ref name=isfdb/>{{efn|In 1951 Gnome had published ''Tomorrow and Tomorrow and the Fairy Chessmen'', the omnibus edition of two short novels by Moore & Kuttner as Lewis Padgett, which had been two-part serials in ''Astounding'' during 1947 and 1946. ''Judgment Night'' comprised five stories by Moore alone—none from the Northwest Smith and Jirel series, which Gnome collected in part one year later.<ref name=isfdb/>}} One of them, the novella "No Woman Born" (1944), was to be included in more than 10 different science fiction anthologies including ''The Best of C. L. Moore''.<ref>{{ISFDB title |47580 |No Woman Born}} ('''ISFDB'''). Retrieved April 20, 2012.</ref>

Included in that collection were "Judgment Night" (first published in August and September 1943), the lush rendering of a future galactic empire with a sober meditation on the nature of power and its inevitable loss; "The Code" (July 1945), an homage to the classic Faust with modern theories and Lovecraftian dread; "Promised Land" (February 1950) and "Heir Apparent" (July 1950), both documenting the grim twisting that mankind must undergo in order to spread into the Solar System; and "Paradise Street" (September 1950), a futuristic take on the Old West conflict between lone hunter and wilderness-taming settlers.

==Marriage to Henry Kuttner and literary collaborations== Moore met Henry Kuttner, also a science fiction writer, in 1936 when he wrote her a fan letter under the impression that "C. L. Moore" was a man.<ref name="chacal" />{{Reference page|page=31}} They soon collaborated on a story that combined Moore's signature characters, Northwest Smith and Jirel of Joiry: "Quest of the Starstone" (1937).

Moore and Kuttner married in 1940 and thereafter wrote many of their stories in collaboration, sometimes under their own names, but more often using the joint pseudonyms C. H. Liddell, Lawrence O'Donnell, or Lewis Padgett — most commonly the latter, a combination of their mothers' maiden names. Moore still occasionally wrote solo work during this period, including the frequently anthologized "No Woman Born" (1944). A selection of Moore's solo short fiction work from 1942 through 1950 was collected in 1952's ''Judgement Night''. Moore's only solo novel, ''Doomsday Morning'', appeared in 1957.

The vast majority of Moore's work in the period, though, was written as part of a very prolific partnership.<ref name=":1" /> Working together, the couple managed to combine Moore's style with Kuttner's more cerebral storytelling. They continued to work in science fiction and fantasy, and their works include two frequently anthologized sci-fi classics: "Mimsy Were the Borogoves" (February 1943), the basis for the film ''The Last Mimzy'' (2007), and ''Vintage Season'' (September 1946), the basis for the film ''Timescape'' (1992).<ref name=":1" /> As "Lewis Padgett" they also penned two mystery novels: ''The Brass Ring'' (1946) and ''The Day He Died'' (1947).

==Later career== From 1950 to 1956, Moore took a BA in English at the University of Southern California, completing a master's degree there in 1964.<ref name=":1" /> After Kuttner's death in 1958, Moore continued teaching his writing course at the University of Southern California until 1961, but permanently retired from writing any further literary fiction.<ref name=":1" /> Instead, working as "Catherine Kuttner", she carved out a short-lived career as a scriptwriter for Warner Bros. television, writing episodes of the westerns ''Sugarfoot'', ''Maverick'', and ''The Alaskans'', as well as the detective series ''77 Sunset Strip'', all between 1958 and 1962.<ref name=":1" /> However, upon marrying Thomas Reggie (who was not a writer) in 1963, she ceased writing fiction entirely.<ref name=":1" />

Moore was the author guest of honor at Kansas City, Missouri's fantasy and science fiction convention BYOB-Con 6, held over the U.S. Memorial Day weekend in May 1976. She was a pro guest of honor at Denvention II (the 39th World Science Fiction Convention) in 1981.

In a 1979 interview, she said that she and a writer friend were collaborating on a fantasy story, and how it could possibly form the basis of a new series. But nothing was ever published.<ref>{{cite book| url = https://books.google.com/books?id=nrHRuUiENFgC&dq=%22I+think+it+would+be+lots+of+fun.+I%27m+not+sure%2C+though%2C+I+have+the+necessary+discipline+to+make+a+comeback+as+a+science-fiction+writer%22&pg=PA50| title = Pulp Voices: Interviews with Pulp Magazine Writers and Editors| isbn = 9780893702571| last1 = Elliot| first1 = Jeffrey M.| date = January 1983| publisher = Wildside Press LLC}}</ref>

In 1981, Moore received two annual awards for her career in fantasy literature: the World Fantasy Award for Life Achievement, chosen by a panel of judges at the World Fantasy Convention, and the Gandalf Grand Master Award, chosen by vote of participants in the World Science Fiction Convention.<ref name=SFAwards/> (Thus she became the eighth and final Grand Master of Fantasy, sponsored by the Swordsmen and Sorcerers' Guild of America, in partial analogy to the Grand Master of Science Fiction sponsored by the Science Fiction Writers of America.)

Moore was an active member of the Tom and Terri Pinckard Science Fiction literary salon and a frequent contributor to literary discussions with the regular membership, including Robert Bloch, George Clayton Johnson, Larry Niven, Jerry Pournelle, Norman Spinrad, A. E. van Vogt, and others, as well as many visiting writers and speakers.

==Later life== Moore developed Alzheimer's disease, but that was not obvious for several years. She had ceased to attend the meetings when she was nominated to be the first woman Grand Master of the Science Fiction Writers of America; the nomination was withdrawn at the request of her husband, Thomas Reggie, who said the award and ceremony would be at best confusing and likely upsetting to her, given the progress of her disease.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.tor.com/2018/08/13/a-survey-of-some-of-the-best-science-fiction-ever-published-thanks-to-judy-lynn-del-rey/|title=A Survey of Some of the Best Science Fiction Ever Published (Thanks to Judy-Lynn Del Rey)|last=Nicoll|first=James Davis|date=August 13, 2018|website=Tor.com|language=en-US|access-date=January 2, 2019}}</ref> She died on April 4, 1987, at her home in Hollywood, California.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.kirkusreviews.com/features/many-names-catherine-lucille-moore/|title=The Many Names of Catherine Lucille Moore {{!}} Kirkus Reviews|newspaper=Kirkus Reviews|language=en-us|access-date=January 29, 2017}}</ref>

==Influence== Moore's work was cited as a influence by several later female writers of science fiction and fantasy, including Leigh Brackett, Marion Zimmer Bradley, Suzy McKee Charnas, C. J. Cherryh and Molly Tanzer.<ref name="gh" /><ref>{{cite web |date=2024-05-06 |title=StarShipSofa Podcast, No 734: Molly Tanzer |url=http://www.starshipsofa.com/blog/2024/06/05/starshipsofa-no-734-molly-tanzer/ |website=StarShipSofa |location=United Kingdom |access-date=2026-05-25}}</ref> Moore's fiction was also an inspiration to male writers such as Jack Vance, Gene Wolfe, and Michael Moorcock.<ref name="gh" />

==Awards== * 1978: Fritz Leiber Award * 1981: Gandalf Grand Master Award, World Fantasy Convention Lifetime Achievement Award<ref>{{cite web |title=World Fantasy Convention List of Award Winners |url=http://www.worldfantasy.org/awards/winners/}}</ref> * 1998: Posthumous induction into the Science Fiction and Fantasy Hall of Fame<ref name=sfhof-old/> * 2004: Cordwainer Smith Rediscovery Award<ref>{{cite web |title=Henry Kuttner and C.L. Moore: Winners of the 2004 Cordwainer Smith Foundation 'Rediscovery' Award |url=http://www.cordwainer-smith.com/kuttnermoore.htm}}</ref> * 2019: Retro Hugo Award for best Novelette for the year 1944<ref>{{cite web |title=1944 Retro-Hugo Awards Announced |date=August 15, 2019 |url=http://www.thehugoawards.org/2019/08/1944-retro-hugo-awards-announced/}}</ref>

== Selected works == [[File:Fantastic Novels cover July 1950.JPG|thumb|upright|''Earth's Last Citadel'' was reprinted in the July 1950 edition of ''Fantastic Novels''.]] * ''Scarlet Dream'' (short story, 1934) * "There Shall be Darkness" (short story, 1942) * ''Earth's Last Citadel'' (with Henry Kuttner; 1943) * ''The Dark World'' (credited to Henry Kuttner, but believed by many critics to be a collaboration, 1946)<ref name="Moore, C. L.">{{cite encyclopedia | url = http://sf-encyclopedia.co.uk/fe.php?nm=moore_c_l| title = Moore, C. L. | encyclopedia = The Encyclopedia of Fantasy| access-date=February 16, 2013}}</ref> * ''Vintage Season'' (novella written with Henry Kuttner, as "Lawrence O'Donnell"; 1946). It was filmed in 1992 as ''Timescape''.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0104362/|title=Grand Tour: Disaster in Time|via=www.imdb.com}}</ref> * ''The Mask of Circe'' (with Henry Kuttner; 1948, Illustrated by Alicia Austin; 1971) * ''Beyond Earth's Gates'' (1949) * ''Judgment Night'' (stories, 1952) * ''Shambleau and Others'' (stories, 1953) * ''Northwest of Earth'' (stories, 1954) * ''No Boundaries'' (with Henry Kuttner; stories, 1955) * ''Doomsday Morning'' (1957) * ''Jirel of Joiry'' (Paperback Library, 1969); ''Black God's Shadow'' (Donald M. Grant, 1977)—the five Jirel stories collected; the latter a limited edition with color plates, signed, numbered, and boxed * ''The Best of C. L. Moore'', edited by Lester Del Rey (Nelson Doubleday, 1975)—includes a biographical introduction by Lester Del Rey, which is carefully noncommittal about the influence of her personal life on her writing, and an autobiographical afterword by Moore * ''Black God's Kiss'' (Paizo Publishing, 2007; {{ISBN|978-1-60125-045-2}})—the five Jirel stories collected * ''Northwest of Earth: The Complete Northwest Smith'' (Paizo Publishing, 2008; {{ISBN|978-1-60125-081-0}})—the thirteen Northwest Smith stories collected

== Explanatory notes == {{notelist}}

== References == {{Reflist |35em |refs= <ref name=isfdb> {{ISFDB name |453}} (ISFDB). Retrieved April 20, 2013.</ref>

<ref name=SFAwards> [http://www.locusmag.com/SFAwards/Db/NomLit93.html#3689 "Moore, C. L."] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121016200030/http://locusmag.com/SFAwards/Db/NomLit93.html |date=October 16, 2012 }}. ''The Locus Index to SF Awards: Index of Literary Nominees''. Locus Publications. Retrieved March 26, 2013.</ref>

<ref name=sfhof-old> [http://www.midamericon.org/halloffame/ "Science Fiction and Fantasy Hall of Fame"] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130521070009/http://www.midamericon.org/halloffame/ |date=May 21, 2013 }}. Mid American Science Fiction and Fantasy Conventions, Inc. Retrieved March 26, 2013. This was the official website of the hall of fame to 2004.</ref> }}

==Further reading== {{Library resources box|by=yes|onlinebooksby=yes|viaf=86946787}} * Bleiler, Everett F. "Fantasy, Horror...and Sex: The Early Stories of C. L. Moore". ''The Scream Factory'' (Spring 1994): 41–47. * {{Cite book |last=Lovecraft |first=H. P. |title=Letters to C. L. Moore and Others |publisher=Hippocampus Press |year=2017 |isbn=9781614981961}} (Contains all known surviving correspondence between Moore and Lovecraft.) {{Clear}}

== External links == {{wikiquote}} {{commons category|Catherine Lucille Moore}} {{wikisource|works=or}} * {{Gutenberg author | id=33397}} *{{IMDb name|0600987}} * {{Internet Archive author |sname=Catherine Lucille Moore}} * {{Librivox author |id=1520}} * {{sfhof |947 | C. L. Moore }} * [http://www.fantasticfiction.co.uk/m/c-l-moore/ Moore] and [http://www.fantasticfiction.co.uk/p/lewis-padgett/ Lewis Padgett] at Fantastic Fiction * {{ISFDB name |453}} * {{IMDb name|0600987}} * [https://web.archive.org/web/20160401035148/http://depauw.edu/sfs/birs/bir35.htm Rosemarie Arbur: Literary Descendants of C. L. Moore] * [http://www.philsp.com/articles/pastmasters_12.html Past Masters - A Kuttner Above the Rest (But Wait! There's Moore!)] by Bud Webster, at Galactic Central * [https://sites.google.com/site/jeffgilleland/catherine_lucille_moore ''Shambleau'' read by the author, C. L. Moore] * {{LCAuth|n50028286|C. L. Moore|12|}} * [https://lccn.loc.gov/n84026029 Lewis Padgett] at LC Authorities, with eight records, and [https://www.worldcat.org/identities/lccn-n84-026029 at WorldCat] * [https://repository.library.brown.edu/studio/search/?q=Moore%2C+Catherine+L.&selected_facets=contributor_display%3AMoore%2C+C.+L.+%28Catherine+Lucile%29%2C+1911-1987+%28creator%29 Letters by C. L. Moore held by Brown University]

{{DEFAULTSORT:Moore, C.L.}} Category:1911 births Category:1987 deaths Category:20th-century American novelists Category:20th-century American women novelists Category:American fantasy writers Category:American science fiction writers Category:American weird fiction writers Category:American women science fiction and fantasy writers Category:Deaths from Alzheimer's disease in California Category:Hugo Award–winning writers Category:Novelists from Indiana Category:Science Fiction Hall of Fame inductees Category:University of Southern California faculty Category:Writers from Indianapolis Category:Writers from Los Angeles Category:World Fantasy Award–winning writers Category:20th-century American women academics Category:Writers from Hollywood, Los Angeles