 = Gertrude Barrows Bennett = 
 
 Gertrude Barrows Bennett ( 1883 – 1948 ) was the first major female writer of fantasy and science fiction in the United States , publishing her stories under the pseudonym Francis Stevens . Bennett wrote a number of highly acclaimed fantasies between 1917 and 1923 and has been called " the woman who invented dark fantasy " . 
 Her most famous books include Claimed ( which Augustus T. Swift , in a letter to The Argosy called " One of the strangest and most compelling science fantasy novels you will ever read " ) and the lost world novel The Citadel of Fear . 
 Bennett also wrote an early dystopian novel , The Heads of Cerberus ( 1919 ) . 
 
 = = Life = = 
 
 Gertrude Mabel Barrows was born in Minneapolis in 1883 . She completed school through the eighth grade , then attended night school in hopes of becoming an illustrator ( a goal she never achieved ) . Instead , she began working as a stenographer , a job she held on and off for the rest of her life . 
 In 1909 Barrows married Stewart Bennett , a British journalist and explorer , and moved to Philadelphia . A year later her husband died while on an expedition . With a new @-@ born daughter to raise , Bennett continued working as a stenographer . When her father died toward the end of World War I , Bennett assumed care for her invalid mother . 
 During this time period Bennett began to write a number of short stories and novels , only stopping when her mother died in 1920 . In the mid @-@ 1920s , she moved to California . Because Bennett was estranged from her daughter , for a number of years researchers believed Bennett died in 1939 ( the date of her final letter to her daughter ) . However , new research , including her death certificate , shows that she died in 1948 . 
 
 = = Writing career = = 
 
 Bennett wrote her first short story at age 17 , a science fiction story titled " The Curious Experience of Thomas Dunbar " . She mailed the story to Argosy , then one of the top pulp magazines . The story was accepted and published in the March 1904 issue . 
 Once Bennett began to take care of her mother , she decided to return to fiction writing as a means of supporting her family . The first story she completed after her return to writing was the novella " The Nightmare , " which appeared in All @-@ Story Weekly in 1917 . The story is set on an island separated from the rest of the world , on which evolution has taken a different course . " The Nightmare " resembles Edgar Rice Burroughs ' The Land That Time Forgot , itself published a year later . While Bennett had submitted " The Nightmare " under her own name , she had asked to use a pseudonym if it was published . The magazine 's editor chose not to use the pseudonym Bennett suggested ( Jean Vail ) and instead credited the story to Francis Stevens . When readers responded positively to the story , Bennett chose to continue writing under the name . 
 Over the next few years , Bennett wrote a number of short stories and novellas . Her short story " Friend Island " ( All @-@ Story Weekly , 1918 ) , for example , is set in a 22nd @-@ century ruled by women . Another story is the novella " Serapion " ( Argosy , 1920 ) , about a man possessed by a supernatural creature . This story has been released in an electronic book entitled Possessed : A Tale of the Demon Serapion , with three other stories by her . Many of her short stories have been collected in The Nightmare and Other Tales of Dark Fantasy ( University of Nebraska Press , 2004 ) . 
 In 1918 she published her first , and perhaps best , novel The Citadel of Fear ( Argosy , 1918 ) . This lost world story focuses on a forgotten Aztec city , which is " rediscovered " during World War I. It was in the introduction to a 1952 reprint edition of the novel which revealed for the first time that " Francis Stevens " was Bennett 's pen @-@ name . 
 A year later she published her only science fiction novel , The Heads of Cerberus ( The Thrill Book , 1919 ) . One of the first dystopian novels , the book features a " grey dust from a silver phial " which transports anyone who inhales it to a totalitarian Philadelphia of 2118 AD 
 One of Bennett 's most famous novels was Claimed ( Argosy , 1920 ; reprinted 1966 and 2004 ) , in which a supernatural artifact summons an ancient and powerful god to 20th century New Jersey . Augustus T. Swift called the novel , " One of the strangest and most compelling science fantasy novels you will ever read " ) . 
 
 = = Influence = = 
 
 Bennett has been credited as having " the best claim at creating the new genre of dark fantasy " . It has been said that Bennett 's writings influenced both H. P. Lovecraft and A. Merritt , both of whom " emulated Bennett 's earlier style and themes " . Lovecraft was even said to have praised Bennett 's work . However , there is controversy about whether or not this actually happened and the praise appears to have resulted from letters wrongly attributed to Lovecraft . 
 As for Merritt , for several decades critics and readers believed " Francis Stevens " was a pseudonym of his . This rumor only ended with the 1952 reprinting of Citadel of Fear , which featured a biographical introduction of Bennett by Lloyd Arthur Eshbach . 
 Critic Sam Moskowitz said she was the " greatest woman writer of science fiction in the period between Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley and C.L. Moore " . 
 Because Bennett was the first American woman to have her fantasy and science fiction widely published , she has been recognized in recent years as a pioneering female fantasy author . 
 
 = = = Novels = = = 
 
 The Citadel of Fear ( 1918 ; reprinted in Famous Fantastic Mysteries , February 1942 , and in paperback form in 1970 , [ NY : Paperback Library ] and 1984 [ NY : Carroll & Graf ] ) 
 The Labyrinth ( serialized in All @-@ Story Weekly , July 27 , August 3 , and August 10 , 1918 ; later reprinted as a paperback novel ) 
 The Heads of Cerberus 1st book edition . 1952 , Cloth , also leather backed , Reading , PA . Polaris Press ( Subsidiary of Fantasy Fress , Inc . ) ill . Ric Binkley . Intro by Lloyd Arthur Eshbach ( Thrill Book , 15 August 1919 ; reprinted as a paperback novel in 1952 and 1984 ) 
 Avalon ( serialized in Argosy , August 16 to September 6 , 1919 ; not reprinted ) 
 Claimed ( 1920 ; reprinted in 1985 , 1996 , and 2004 ) 192pp , cloth and paper , Sense of Wonder Press , James A. Rock & Co . , Publishers in trade paperback and hard cover . 
 
 = = = Short stories and novellas = = = 
 
 " The Curious Experience of Thomas Dunbar " ( Argosy , March , 1904 ; as by G. M. Barrows ) 
 " The Nightmare , " ( All @-@ Story Weekly , April 14 , 1917 ) 
 " Friend Island " ( All @-@ Story Weekly , September 7 , 1918 ; reprinted in Under the Moons of Mars , edited by Sam Moskowitz , 1970 ) 
 " Behind the Curtain " ( All @-@ Story Weekly , September 21 , 1918 , reprinted in Famous Fantastic Mysteries , January 1940 ) 
 " Unseen @-@ Unfeared " ( People 's Favorite Magazine Feb. 10 , 1919 ; reprinted in Horrors Unknown , edited by Sam Moskowitz , 1971 ) 
 " The Elf @-@ Trap " ( Argosy , July 5 , 1919 ) 
 " Serapion " ( serialized in Argosy Weekly , June 19 , June 26 , and July 3 , 1920 ; reprinted in Famous Fantastic Mysteries , July 1942 ) 
 " Sunfire " ( 1923 ; original printed in two parts in Weird Tales , July – August 1923 , and Weird Tales , September 1923 ; also reprinted as trade paperback in 1996 by Apex International ) 
 
 = = = Collections = = = 
 
 Possessed : A Tale of the Demon Serapion ( 2002 ; contains the novella " Serapion " , retitled , and the short stories " Behind the Curtain " , " Elf @-@ Trap " and " Unseen @-@ Unfeared " ) 
 Nightmare : And Other Tales of Dark Fantasy ( University of Nebraska Press , 2004 ; contains all Stevens ' known short fiction except " The Curious Experience of Thomas Dunbar " , i.e. " The Nightmare " , " The Labyrinth " , " Friend Island " , " Behind the Curtain " , " " Unseen @-@ Unfeared " , " The Elf @-@ Trap " , " Serapion " and " Sunfire " ) 
 
 