Le Guin, Ursula K - [Ekumen 01] Rocannon's World [v1,shtml].html
scanned and proofed by binwiped
released in #bookz by MollyKate for the Prooflist Group
10/12/2002


This is Ursula K LeGuin's first novel ever, sold to Donald A Wollhein in 1966. The Introduction now seems inevitable, even amusing....as "Mrs. Le Guin" strode confidently from this beginning into the ranks of undisputed literary masters of the 20th Century.

"We once wrote that while only a few women wrote science-fiction they made up in quality what they lacked in numbers. Certainly among the ranks of the most highly esteemed artisans of fantasy fiction will be found the names of Andre Norton, Leigh Brackett, C. L. Moore, Margaret St. Clair, and Marion Zimmer Bradley. Rocannon's World introduces the first book by another of that select group, Ursula K. Le Guin.  Mrs. Le Guin lives in Portland, Oregon, and has made her first sales to the magazines. That she has talent will be evident on reading, for the s-f reader will find in this vivid interplanetary fantasy elements reminiscent not only of the soaring imagery of the above-mentioned but hints of the fantasy of the Tolkien or Merritt type. This may seem extravagant praise for a beginner, but we hope that the reader will sense this for himself and wait, hopefully, for her next novel."

—D. A. W.