Fredric Brown
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- For the cricketer, see Freddie Brown
| Born: | October 29, 1906 Cincinnati, Ohio |
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| Died: | March 11, 1972 |
| Occupation(s): | Novelist, short story author |
| Genre(s): | Science fiction, Fantasy |
| Debut work(s): | "The Moon for a Nickel" |
| Website: | http://devernay.free.fr/paradoxlost/html/paradox.html |
Fredric Brown (October 29, 1906, Cincinnati – March 11, 1972) was a science fiction and mystery author. He was one of the boldest early writers in genre fiction in his use of narrative experimentation. While never in the front rank of popularity in his lifetime, Brown has developed a considerable cult following in the almost half century since he last wrote. His works have been periodically reprinted and he has a world-wide fan base most notably in the U.S. and Europe, especially in France where there have been several recent movie adaptations of his work. He also remains popular in Japan.
He is perhaps best known for his use of humor and for his mastery of the "Short Short" form— stories of 1 to 3 pages often with ingenious plotting devices and surprise endings. The culmination of this was Knock, widely considered the shortest science-fiction short-story ever created. Humor and a somewhat post-modern outlook carried over into his novels as well. His science fiction novel What Mad Universe (1949) plays with the clichéd conventions of the genre by throwing a pulp magazine editor into a parallel world based, not on the adventure stories he published, but rather on a naive fan's image of those stories and the man who published them. Similarly, Martians, Go Home (1955) looks at a Martian invasion through the eyes of a science fiction author.
One of his most famous short stories, "Arena", was used as the basis for an episode of Star Trek of the same name. It was also the basis of a 1964 Outer Limits episode entitled "Fun and Games."
Brown's mystery stories are well above the usual standard for pulp publications. His first mystery novel The Fabulous Clipjoint won the Edgar Award for outstanding first mystery novel. The series concerning Ed and Ambrose Hunter is an excellent depiction of how a young man gradually ripens into a detective under the tutelage of his uncle, an ex-private eye now working as a carnival barker. The books make good use of the threat of the supernatural or occult before the 'straight' explanation at the end. Night of the Jabberwock is a bizarre and sometimes hilarious, but ultimately satisfying, narrative of an extraordinary day in the life of a small-town newspaper editor.
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[edit] Popularity and Influence
Brown was very much a "writer's writer" who was always more esteemed by fellow practitioners than the general public. His short story "Arena" was once selected by fellow SF writers as one of the top 20 science fiction stories ever written. His short story, "The Waveries", was described by SF legend Philip K. Dick as "what may be the most significant — startlingly so — story SF has yet produced."
Ayn Rand also singled out Brown for high praise in her book The Romantic Manifesto. Famous pulp writer Mickey Spillane called Brown "My favorite writer of all time".
Brown also had the honor of being one of three dedicatees of one of the most famous of all SF Novels, Robert A. Heinlein's Stranger in a Strange Land.
[edit] Bibliography
[edit] General Fiction
- The Office (1958)
[edit] Mysteries
- The Fabulous Clipjoint (1947), Edgar Award winner for best first novel
- The Dead Ringer (1948)
- A Plot for Murder (1948)
- The Bloody Moonlight (1949)
- The Screaming Mimi (1949)
- Compliments of a Fiend (1950)
- Here Comes a Candle (1950)
- Night of the Jabberwock (1951)
- Death Has Many Doors (1951)
- The Far Cry (1951)
- We All Killed Grandma (1952)
- The Deep End (1953)
- Madball (1953)
- Murder Can Be Fun (1954)
- His Name Was Death (1954)
- The Wench Is Dead (1955)
- The Lenient Beast (1956), ISBN 0-88184-444-6
- One for the Road (1958)
- Knock Three-One-Two (1959)
- The Late Lamented (1959)
- The Murderers (1961)
- Five-Day Nightmare (1962)
- Mrs. Murphy's Underpants (1963)
[edit] Science Fiction
His first science fiction story, "Not Yet the End", was published in Captain Future in 1941.
- What Mad Universe (1949)
- Space on My Hands (1953), ISBN 0-89968-332-0 (collection)
- The Lights in the Sky are Stars (1953), also published as Project Jupiter
- Angels & Spaceships (1954) (collection) also published as Star Shine
- Martians, Go Home (1955), which was the basis for an arguably below-par 1990 movie of the same name, starring Randy Quaid and Margaret Colin
- Experiment (1954) (not a book, this is just a very short story)
- Rogue in Space (1957)
- The Mind Thing (1961)
A more recent collection of his short science fiction and fantasy is:
- From These Ashes: The Complete Short SF of Fredric Brown (2001), ISBN 1-886778-18-3
His science fiction novels are collected in:
- Martians and Madness (2002), ISBN 1-886778-17-5
A more recent collection of his mystery fiction is Hunter and Hunted: The Ed and Am Hunter Novels, Part One (2002), ISBN 0-9718185-1-7, published by Stewart Masters Publishing. It includes his Edgar Award-winning novel The Fabulous Clipjoint.
A more obscure and diverse collection of Brown's science fiction, mystery, and general fiction stories is titled:
- "Nightmares and Geezenstacks" (1961)
[edit] Personal
Never financially secure, Brown – like many pulp writers – often wrote at a furious pace in order to pay bills. This accounts, at least in part, for the uneven quality of his work. A newspaperman by profession, Brown was only able to devote 14 years of his life as a full-time fiction writer. Brown was also a heavy drinker and this at times doubtless affected his productivity. A cultured man and omnivorous reader whose interests ranged far beyond those of most pulp writers, Brown had a lifelong interest in the flute. Brown married twice and was the father of two sons.
