Sci-fi author Marion Bradley dead at 69

Tuesday, Sept. 28, 1999 | 10:14 a.m.

Ms. Bradley, born in Albany, N.Y., in 1930, died Saturday at Alta Bates Medical Center.

She began writing science fiction for pulp magazines in the 1950s.

"The Mists of Avalon," published in 1982, was a retelling of the King Arthur legend from a woman's viewpoint. Her "Darkover" series of novels, about a planet colonized by Earth, also was a top science-fiction seller.

"She had a very humble start as a writer," said Robert Silverberg, one of science fiction's top authors. "She wrote whatever she had to in order to sell, and back in the 1950s, the pay was extremely low."

"What is impressive about Marion Zimmer Bradley is how she came out of that grimy world of low pay, turn-'em-out-fast to write major material like "Mists of Avalon and a lot of other very good stuff."

No information on survivors was available. Private services were being planned.

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