Fredric Brown
(Did you mean the British fan Fred Brown?)
(October 29, 1906 – March 11, 1972)
Fredric William Brown was an SF and mystery writer who was born in Cincinnati, Ohio. He was the original GoH choice of Detention, but declined due to ill health.
He is perhaps best known for his use of humor and for his mastery of the "short, short" form. Humor carried over into his novels as well. One of his stories, "Arena," was adapted as an episode of the Star Trek TV series.
His classic SF novel What Mad Universe (1949) is a parody of pulp SF story conventions. The novel functions both as a critique of its genre and a superior example of it. 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 off the funds for it. His other genre books included Space On My Hands (1951), Angels and Spaceships (1954), Martians, Go Home (1955), Star Shine (1956), Rogue in Space (1957), The Mind Thing (1961), Nightmares and Geezanstacks (1961), and The Best of Fredric Brown (1977). He occasionally used the pseudonym of Felix Graham.
NESFA Press collected Brown's complete short SF and an omnibus of novels.
Awards, Honors and GoHships:
- 1958 -- Southwestercon VI (could not attend)
- 1996 -- 1946 Best Short Story Retro Hugo nominee, 1946 Best Novelette Retro Hugo nominee
- 2012 -- Cordwainer Smith Rediscovery Award
- Brown's mystery novel, The Fabulous Clipjoint, won an Edgar Award for outstanding first mystery novel.
What Mad Universe[edit]
What Mad Universe is an SF novel by Brown originally published in the September 1948 issue of Startling Stories and later in hardcover by E. P. Dutton in 1949.
The novel is a satire on SF in which the protagonist finds himself on an alternate Earth in which some aspects of SF pulp literature are real. The protagonist is a science fiction editor from our world who has been trapped in the sort of universe that only an especially annoying SF fan would dream up.
The fan, Joe Doppleburg, is the hero Dopelle in this pulpish world. Who Doppleburg was modeled on is an open question. Some have suggested that Walt Dunkleberger was one of the prototypes. New York fan Joe Schaumburger has also been suggested. (There was apparently a discussion of this in the letter column of a 1949 issue of Startling Stories.
| Person | 1906—1972 |
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