Her early work included two significant series in "Weird Tales", then edited by Farnsworth Wright. One features the rogue and adventurer Northwest Smith wandering through the Solar System; the other features the swordswoman/warrior Jirel of Joiry, one of the first female protagonists in sword-and-sorcery fiction. Both series are sometimes named for their lead characters. One of the Northwest Smith stories, "Nymph of Darkness" ("Fantasy Magazine" (April 1935); expurgated version, "Weird Tales" (Dec 1939)), was written in collaboration with Forrest J Ackerman.