Editing Fredric Brown

{{Short description|American novelist and short story author}}
{{About|the science fiction and mystery writer|others named Fred Brown|Fred Brown (disambiguation)}}

{{Infobox writer <!-- for more information see [[:Template:Infobox writer/doc]] -->
| name        = Fredric Brown
| image       = Fredricbrown.jpg
| imagesize   = 200px
| caption     = Fredric Brown, date unknown
| pseudonym   =
| birth_date  = {{birth date|1906|10|29|mf=y}}
| birth_place = [[Cincinnati]], [[Ohio]], U.S.
| death_date  = {{death date and age|1972|3|11|1906|10|29|mf=y}}
| death_place = [[Tucson]], [[Arizona]], U.S.
| occupation  = Novelist, short story author
| genre       = [[Mystery fiction|Mystery]], [[science fiction]], [[fantasy]], [[horror fiction|horror]]
| movement    =
| notableworks = {{Plainlist|
* ''[[The Fabulous Clipjoint]]''
* "[[Arena (short story)|Arena]]"}}
| influences  =
| influenced  =
| website     =
}}

[[File:Galaxy 195011.jpg|thumb|Brown's "Honeymoon in Hell" was the cover story in the second issue of ''[[Galaxy Science Fiction]]'' in 1950]]
'''Fredric Brown''' (October 29, 1906 – March 11, 1972)<ref name="Obit">{{cite news |title=Death Claims Mystery Writer |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/springfield-leader-and-press-fredric-bro/173246797/ |work=Springfield Leader and Press |date=March 13, 1972 |location=Springfield, MO |page=20 |access-date=May 27, 2025 |via=[[Newspapers.com]]}} {{Open access}}</ref><ref name=ATuttascuola/> was an American [[science fiction]], [[fantasy fiction|fantasy]], and [[mystery fiction|mystery]] writer.<ref name="djm">D. J. McReynolds, "The Short Fiction of Fredric Brown" in Frank N. Magill, (ed.) ''Survey of Science Fiction Literature'', Vol. 4. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Salem Press, 1979. (pp. 1954–1957). {{ISBN|9780893561949}}</ref> 
He is  known for his use of humor and for his mastery of the "[[short short story|short short]]" form—stories of one to three pages, often with ingenious plotting devices and surprise endings. Humor and a postmodern outlook carried over into his novels as well. One of his stories, "[[Arena (short story)|Arena]]", was adapted into to a [[Arena (Star Trek: The Original Series)|1967 episode]] of the American [[television series]] [[Star Trek: The Original Series|''Star Trek'']].

==Life and works==
Fredric Brown was born in [[Cincinnati]].<ref name=ATuttascuola>{{cite web| url = http://www.atuttascuola.it/liceo/deciechi/la_sentinella_di_fredric_brown.htm| title = Italian short bio at Tuttascuola.net| access-date = 2016-07-19| archive-date = 2018-12-29| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20181229112949/http://www.atuttascuola.it/liceo/deciechi/la_sentinella_di_fredric_brown.htm| url-status = dead}}</ref><ref name =BlogUrania>[http://blog.librimondadori.it/blogs/urania/2014/05/01/fredric-brown-vagabondo-nello-spazio-della-mente/ Introduction to ''Rogue in Space''], Italian edition,  [[Urania (magazine)|''Urania Collezione'']] n. 135, by [[Giuseppe Lippi]]</ref> He spent a year at Hanover College, Indiana, before returning to Cincinnati. In 1929 he married and relocated to [[Milwaukee]], working various jobs before settling into a career as a proofreader.<ref name=":0">''Mystery Book Magazine'', Winter 1948, pages 8, 10.</ref>

According to his wife, Brown hated to write, and did whatever he could to put it off: play his flute, challenge a friend to a game of chess, or tease Ming Tah, his Siamese cat.  When Brown would have trouble with a certain story, he would take a long bus trip in order to sit and think for days on end.  When he would finally return home to sit himself in front of the typewriter, he produced work in a variety of genres: mystery, science fiction, short fantasy, black comedy.

Many of his books make use of the threat of the supernatural or occult before the "straight" explanation comes at the end. For example, "Night of the Jabberwock" is a humorous narrative of an extraordinary day in the life of a small-town newspaper editor.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Brown |first=Fredric |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-RjLYgEACAAJ |title=Night of the Jabberwock |date=December 2010 |publisher=Langtail Press |isbn=978-1-78002-000-6 |language=en}}</ref>

Brown began to sell mystery short stories to American magazines in 1936.<ref name="BlogUrania" /> His first science fiction story, "Not Yet the End", was published in the Winter 1941 issue of ''Captain Future'' magazine.<ref name="djm" /><ref>{{cite web| url = http://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/title.cgi?61748| title = Bibliography page at isfdb.org}}</ref>

The 1944 [[short story]] "[[Arena (short story)|Arena]]" bore similarities to the [[Arena (TOS episode)|episode of the same name]] in the [[Star Trek: The Original Series|original ''Star Trek'']] series. In order to avoid legal problems, it was agreed that Brown would receive payment and a story credit.<ref>{{cite book|last=Cushman|first=Marc| first2 = Susan | last2 = Osborn|title=These are the Voyages – TOS: Season One|location=[[San Diego, California]] |publisher= Jacobs/Brown Press|year=2013|isbn=978-0-98923811-3|lccn=2013940946|pages=399–400}}</ref> 

It was also adapted in 1973 for issue 4 of the [[Marvel Comics]] title ''[[Worlds Unknown]].''

Brown's first mystery novel, 1947's ''[[The Fabulous Clipjoint]]'', began a series starring Ed and Ambrose Hunter depicting how a young man gradually ripens into a detective under the tutelage of his uncle, an ex–private eye now working as a carnival concessionaire.<ref name="BlogUrania" />

His science fiction novel ''[[What Mad Universe]]'' (1949) is a parody of [[Pulp magazine|pulp]] science fiction story conventions.

''The Lights in the Sky Are Stars'' (1952) tells the story of an aging astronaut who is trying to get his beloved [[space program]] back on track after Congress has cut its funding.

The short story "Answer" (1954) is thought to be the earliest representation of the "Yes, ''now'' there is a God" science fiction trope of a supercomputer that releases itself from human control.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Fredric Brown - "Answer" |url=https://www.roma1.infn.it/~anzel/answer.html |access-date=2023-01-25 |website=www.roma1.infn.it}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Thomas Anderson |date=2017-10-01 |title="Answer" |url=https://schlock-value.com/2017/10/01/answer/ |access-date=2023-01-25 |website=Schlock Value |language=en}}</ref> The story was originally published in ''Angels and Spaceships'' and the entire collection was later re-published as ''Star Shine'' for paperback adaptation''.''

''[[Martians, Go Home]]'' (1955) is both a broad farce and a satire on human frailties as seen through the eyes of a billion jeering, invulnerable Martians who arrive not to conquer the world but to drive it crazy.

== Popularity and influence ==
Brown's first mystery novel, ''[[The Fabulous Clipjoint]]'', won the [[Edgar Award]] for outstanding first mystery novel.<ref name="Obit"/><ref name="BlogUrania" /> His short story "[[Arena (short story)|Arena]]" was voted by [[Science Fiction Writers of America]] as one of the top 20 science fiction stories written before 1965.

His 1945 short story "[[The Waveries]]" was described by [[Philip K. Dick]] as "what may be the most significant—startlingly so—story sci-fi has yet produced".<ref>{{Cite book|last=May|first=Andrew|title=Pseudoscience and Science Fiction|year=2016|pages=77|bibcode=2017psf..book.....M }}</ref> Brown was one of three dedicatees of [[Robert A. Heinlein]]'s 1961 novel ''[[Stranger in a Strange Land]]'' (the other two being [[Robert Cornog]] and [[Philip José Farmer]]).<ref>{{cite web|website=Nitrosyncretic.com|url=http://www.nitrosyncretic.com/rah/dedications.html |title=Heinlein's Dedications}}</ref> Philosopher and novelist [[Umberto Eco]] in his book ''[[On Ugliness]]'' describes Brown's short story "Sentry" as, "one of the finest short stories produced by contemporary science fiction" and uses its twist ending as an example of how ugliness and aesthetics are relative to different cultures.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Eco |first1=Umberto |title=On Ugliness |date=2011 |publisher=Rizzoli |isbn=978-0847837236 |page=12}}</ref>

In ''[[The Annotated Alice]]'' (1960), [[Martin Gardner]] refers to Brown's ''Night of the Jabberwock'' as a "magnificently funny mystery novel ... an outstanding work of fiction that has close ties to the ''[[Alice's Adventures in Wonderland|Alice]]'' books."<ref>{{cite book|title=The Annotated Alice|first=Martin|last=Gardner|year=1960|publisher=Clarkson N. Potter|isbn=0-517-02962-6}}</ref>

In his non-fiction book ''[[Danse Macabre (King book)|Danse Macabre]]'' (1981), a survey of the horror genre since 1950, writer [[Stephen King]] includes an appendix of "roughly one hundred" influential books of the period: Fredric Brown's short-story collection ''Nightmares and Geezenstacks'' is included, and is, moreover, asterisked as being among those select works King regards as "particularly important".

Brown's 1943 short story, "Madman's Holiday", was adapted into the 1946 [[RKO Pictures|RKO]] film [[Crack-Up (1946 film)|''Crack-Up'']].<ref name=":0" /> His novel ''[[The Screaming Mimi (novel)|The Screaming Mimi]]'' became a [[Screaming Mimi (film)|1958 film]] starring [[Anita Ekberg]] and [[Gypsy Rose Lee]] and directed by [[Gerd Oswald]].

Brown's 1950 short story, "The Last Martian", was adapted as "Human Interest Story", a 1959 episode of ''[[Alfred Hitchcock Presents]]''. In Spain, his 1961 short story "Nightmare in Yellow" was adapted as ''El cumpleaños'' (The Birthday), the 1966 debut episode of ''[[Historias para no dormir]]''. Another shorty story, 1954's "Naturally", was adapted as ''[[Geometria (film)|Geometria]]'', a 1987 short film by director [[Guillermo del Toro]]. 

In the third episode of the third season of Amazon's adaptation of Philip K. Dick's ''[[The Man in the High Castle (TV series)|The Man In The High Castle]]'' Oberstgruppenführer Smith remarks, when told of the possibility of travel between worlds, that "this is like something out of Fredric Brown", implying that Brown's work is known in the German-occupied areas of the former United States.<ref>{{YouTube|VP9wkTEgORI|title="The Man in the High Castle Season 3 – Exclusive: New York Comic Con Sneak Peek"}}</ref>

His novel ''The Lights in the Sky Are Stars'' gives its name to the final episode of 2007 anime ''[[Gurren Lagann]]''.<ref>{{cite web|website=imdb.com|url=https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1785142/?ref_=ttep_ep27 |title=Tengen toppa gurren lagann (2007) – The Lights in the Sky Are Stars}}</ref> It is also referred to in Taishi Tsutsui's manga ''[[We Never Learn]]'', at the end of Chapter 39.<ref>{{cite web|website=tumblr.com|url=https://infredricbrownsshadow.tumblr.com/post/638144880893378560/we-never-learn-about-fredric-brown|title=We Never Learn about Fredric Brown}}</ref>

Celebrated crime novelist [[Lawrence Block]] published ''The Burglar Who Met Fredric Brown'' in 2022.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2023-03-23 |title=The Burglar Who Met Fredric Brown—a preview! |url=https://lawrenceblock.com/the-burglar-who-met-fredric-brown-a-preview/ |access-date=2024-08-22 |website=Lawrence Block |language=en-US}}</ref>

== Bibliography ==
{{main|Fredric Brown bibliography}}

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==Sources==
* {{cite book|title=Martians and Misplaced Clues: The Life and Work of Fredric Brown|url=https://archive.org/details/martiansmisplace00seab|url-access=registration|author=Seabrook, Jack |publisher= Bowling Green University Popular Press|date= 1993|isbn=978-0-87972-591-4}}

==External links==
{{Wikiquote}}
* {{Gutenberg author | id=32063 | name=Fredric Brown}}
* {{Internet Archive author |sname=Fredric Brown |sopt=t}}
* {{Librivox author |id=953}}
* {{cite news|url=http://www.flashfictiononline.com/fpublic0013-earthmen-bearing-gifts-fredric-brown.html|title= Earthmen Bearing Gifts|author=Brown, Fredric|date=1960|website=FlashFictionOnline}} A short science fiction story.
* {{cite news|author= Brown, Fredric|url= https://archive.org/download/Mindwebs_230/Mindwebs-771014_TheWeaponANDTheCastaway.mp3|title= The Weapon|work= Mind Webs|publisher= WHA radio|date= 1977}}
* {{LCAuth|n79056291|Fredric Brown|56|}}
* {{isfdb name|id=Fredric_Brown|name=Fredric Brown}}
* {{IBList|type=author|id=2434|name=Fredric Brown}}
{{Memoryalpha}}
* {{IMDb name|0113582|Fredric Brown}}
* {{cite web|website=TopMystery.com|url=http://www.topmystery.com/authors/biography/Fredric-William-Brown|title=Fredric William Brown: Career as a mystery writer|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101224004747/http://www.topmystery.com/authors/biography/Fredric-William-Brown|archive-date=2010-12-24}} Includes a photo.
* {{cite web|website=Galactic Central|url=http://www.philsp.com/articles/pastmasters_09.htm|title= Past Masters – It's Not the Length, It's What You Do With It|author=Webster, Bud }}
* {{cite news|url=http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xe16jq_knock-fredric-brown_creation|title= A short animation of 'Knock'|work=Daily Motion}} Video.
* {{cite news|url=http://www.pulp-serenade.com/2011/06/first-lines-fredric-brown.html |title=First Lines: Fredric Brown|work= Pulp Serenade|date=June 2011}}

{{Fredric Brown}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Brown, Fredric}}
[[Category:1906 births]]
[[Category:1972 deaths]]
[[Category:American atheists]]
[[Category:American mystery writers]]
[[Category:American science fiction writers]]
[[Category:20th-century American novelists]]
[[Category:Crime novelists]]
[[Category:Edgar Award winners]]
[[Category:Pulp fiction writers]]
[[Category:Writers from Cincinnati]]
[[Category:Writers of the Golden Age of Detective Fiction]]
[[Category:American male novelists]]
[[Category:20th-century American male writers]]
[[Category:Novelists from Ohio]]
[[Category:American humorists]]