Renowned science fiction writer Leigh Douglass Brackett broke new ground as a pioneering female author in the traditionally male-dominated genre. In addition to producing a large number of hard-boiled detective tales, Brackett also wrote dozens of science fiction novels and short stories, and later went on to work on screenplays for movies such as The Empire Strikes Back. The tale A World is Born is one of Brackett's most popular science fiction stories. In it, a ragtag group of former prisoners of war work together to establish a community on a remote patch of land on the planet Mercury.