Fredric Brown was born on October 29th, 1906 in Cincinnati.

With one of the most recognisable names in science fiction his short stories can be very short ―sometimes only a page. They are also usually suffused with a wonderful humor.

Strange then that according to his wife, Brown hated to write. Absolutely hated it. He would do anything he could to avoid it; he'd play his flute, play chess, or tease Ming Tah, his Siamese cat. If he had trouble working something out he would hop on a long bus trip and just sit and think and plot, sometimes for days on end.

When Brown finally returned home and sat himself in front of the typewriter, magic happened. Mystery, Science Fiction, short fantasy, black comedy. Sometimes, all of the above.

Brown began to be published in 1936. However, his first science fiction story, ‘Not Yet the End’, would only arrive in the Winter 1941 issue of Captain Future magazine.

Perhaps Brown’s greatest attribute is the way he experiments with different forms and structures and which almost always work and bring something very special to each story.

His science fiction novel ‘What Mad Universe’ (1949) is a parody of pulp SF story conventions. ‘Martians, Go Home’ (1955) is 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.

‘The Lights in the Sky Are Stars’ (1952) tells of an aging astronaut who is trying to get his beloved space program back on track after Congress has cut off the funds for it.

Brown's first mystery novel, ‘The Fabulous Clipjoint’, won the Edgar Award for outstanding first mystery novel. This led to a series of Ed and Ambrose Hunter works and depicts how a young man gradually matures into a detective under the guidance of his uncle, an ex–private eye now working as a carnival concessionaire.

Many of his books make use of the threat of the supernatural or occult before the ‘straight’ explanation at the end. This is beautifully exemplified in ‘Night of the Jabberwock’ a humorous narrative of an extraordinary day in the life of a small-town newspaper editor.

‘The Screaming Mimi’ and ‘The Far Cry’ are noir suspense novels. ‘The Lenient Beast’ experiments with multiple first-person viewpoints, among them a gentle, deeply religious serial killer, and examines racial tensions between whites and Latinos in Arizona. ‘Here Comes a Candle’ is told in straight narrative sections alternating with a radio script, a screenplay, a sportscast, a teleplay, a stage play, and a newspaper article.

His short story ‘Arena’ was voted by Science Fiction Writers of America as one of the top 20 SF 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 SF has yet produced.»

The opening of ‘Knock’ is a complete two-sentence short-short story in itself.

Fredric Brown died on March 11th, 1972.

Frederic Brown

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