She also extended the series forward, chronicling events set after the reestablishment of communication between Darkover and Earth.
The Darkover books were not written in chronological sequence, and Bradley insisted they could be read in any order. She continued to write novels in the Darkover universe throughout her life -- more than 20 altogether, including Sword of Aldones, the Nebula-nominated The Heritage of Hastur and the Hugo-nominated The Forbidden Tower.
Traitor's Sun, presumably the last in the series, was published this year.
Free Amazons of Darkover
came to play an important part in the ongoing story of Darkover.
Bradley chronicled how the planet's inhabitants, separated from the rest of human culture, developed a patriarchal structure in which women were under the control of male family members.
By creating a clash of cultures when Darkovans and Terrans met again, Bradley was able to show readers how patriarchy remained subtly entrenched even in the supposedly egalitarian society of Terra.
The Darkover novels also introduced the "Free Amazons," an all-woman society pledged to live without attachment to men. Many admirers saw the Free Amazons as the model of how a woman's society might function within a greater mixed-sex society: independent, self-sufficient, sexually liberated, relatively democratic and non-compulsory.
The women in the Darkover novels are strong, rational, capable human beings, who both suffer under oppression and rebel effectively against it. When Bradley began writing the series in the early 1960s, other writers were ascribing such characteristics and behaviors only to male characters.
Beloved by many readers, the Free Amazons, and Darkover in general, inspired a passionate and loyal following of fans. They started "councils" of the Friends of Darkover, a fan club which published the Darkover Newsletter. Many fans wrote their own stories set in the world Marion Zimmer Bradley had created.
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