Francis Stevens
(September 18, 1884 – February 2, 1948)
Gertrude Mabel Barrows Bennett of Minnesota was the first major female writer of SF and fantasy in the United States, publishing many stories under the pseudonym of Francis Stevens. She wrote a number of highly acclaimed fantasies between 1917 and 1923 and has been called "the woman who invented dark fantasy."
Her first story, "The Curious Experience of Thomas Dunbar," was published when she was 20, in the March 1904 issue of Argosy under the byline "G. M. Barrows." Although the initials disguised her gender, this appears to be the first instance in the U.S. of a female author both publishing science fiction and using her real name.
In Under the Moons of Mars: A History and Anthology of "The Scientific Romance" in the Munsey Magazines, 1912–1920 (1970), Sam Moskowitz wrote:
Francis Stevens was the greatest woman writer of science fiction in the period between Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley and C. L. Moore. She was greatly admired by A. Merritt. She had a flare for creating images of sheer imagination from the printed word, and despite her penchant for horror themes, the ripple of laughter that threads her works discounts the notion of intellectual morbidity.
Francis Stevens was the only woman to rate with the leaders in the art of the scientific romance.
| Person | 1884—1948 |
| This is a biography page. Please extend it by adding more information about the person, such as fanzines and apazines published, awards, clubs, conventions worked on, GoHships, impact on fandom, external links, anecdotes, etc. See Standards for People and The Naming of Names. |
