C.L. Moore's literary career neatly divides into two major phases. From 1933 to 1940, she wrote a series of novellas and short stories for Weird Tales and other pulp magazines. Innovative in style and theme, this work established Moore's reputation as a leading figure in the fields of science fiction and fantasy. Her writing won both popular and critical acclaim and was compared favorably with that of Algernon Blackwood, Robert E. Howard, and H. P. Lovecraft. At the peak of her career, however, Moore met and married Henry Kuttner, a writer of some promise whose short stories had appeared in a wide range of science-fiction, detective, and adventure magazines. From the time of their marriage in 1940 until Kuttner's death in 1958, Moore served as her husband's collaborator, largely subordinating her own career to the couple's collective projects.

To a considerable degree, their arrangement was mutually beneficial. Moore's imagination far outstripped...