There’s a few versions of this story, but the one I read was originally published in Planet Stories in 1946 and reprinted in a collection by Leigh Brackett and Ballentine Books in 1975. This short story version was well-known as a vehicle Brackett and Bradbury famously teamed up on, to produce one of the best-reviewed stories from the magazine.
As a quick reminder, Leigh Brackett was the famous science fiction author who wrote the original Empire Strikes Back script as well as several fantastic stories. It was later said that the original script was “discarded”, but her script remains online to this day and it bears great similarity to what was eventually shot on film. Of her work, I think I’ve only ever reviewed Black Amazon of Mars. She was a staple of science fiction in the early days of the genre.
Then, to follow suit, Ray Bradbury was a science fiction author who made the transition into the Campbell age with grace and dignity. He wrote some pulp adventure work in the past, but made sure to write what the editors wanted in the 50’s and 60’s, offering works like the Martian Chronicles and Fahrenheit 451. I must admit I’m a little more partial to Brackett than Bradbury, but that’s not to say he’s a bad author.
The story is remarkable, and bears some resemblance to James Cameron’s Avatar. A man named Hugh Starke is on the run from the law when he crashes on Venus. There, he awakens in a new body by a beautiful sorceress named Rann. She tasks him with killing off a leader who caused her great trouble in the past named Faolan. There’s some romance involving the shield-maiden Beudag and lots of violence, all leading to a satisfying conclusion.
The writing is great. Let me quote from the story the part when Hugh wakes in the new body:
The rest of it came fast, then. The T-V Mines job, the getaway that didn’t get, the Mountains of White Cloud. The crash…
The woman.
That did it. His brain leaped shatteringly. Light, feeling, a naked sense of reality swept over him. He lay perfectly still with his eyes shut, and his mind clawed at the picture of the shining woman with sea-green hair and the sound of her voice saying, You will not die, you will wake in a strange body, don’t be afraid…
He was afraid. His skin pricked and ran cold with it. His stomach knotted with it. His skin, like a new coat that hasn’t shaped to you…
He opened his eyes, a cautious crack.
As mentioned, this story was a collaboration, and I’m not quite sure where Brackett was involved and Bradbury took over, but it all sounds like it fits with her other stories. Ultimately, if you haven’t read it, I can’t recommend it enough. If you’re a Bradbury fanboy and want to see where his writing started, this one was before several of his more famous works and is worth a look, and if you love Brackett, this is one of her more critically acclaimed stories.
Some minor complaints: in my version of the story, the body Hugh ends up in belongs to a warrior named Conan, and that can get a little distracting. Another issue was a battle scene that involved sons killing grieving mothers and brothers killing brothers. It wasn’t pleasant and didn’t fit the rest of the story.
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You may like some of my other reviews:
- Book Review: The Skylark of Space by E. E. “Doc” Smith
- Book Review: The High Crusade by Poul Anderson
- Book Review: Stormbringer by Michael Moorcock
- Book Review: A Princess of Mars by Edgar Rice Burroughs
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