This was just great, guys - he’s my second favourite writer after Wodehouse, and to see the Best of book generally go over well with all of you was fun, especially when we get a discussion that covers things so comprehensively. I prefer Fredric Brown’s Crime and Mystery output over the SF offerings, and on top of that, I tend to be totally unimpressed by “flash” fiction, or “short short” stories. One and two page stories just seem like gimmicky sugar snacks…and when it comes to Fredric Brown, much as I love him, the real shorties - like in the two very popular books, Nightmares and Geezenstacks, plus this book you guys read - are not my thing, overall. But for many, this is the entry point to Fredric Brown’s work - and I have to respect the fact that a lot of readers: (a) only get to know Brown via the SF, and (b) only get to know Brown via the much raved-about short, and short short, SF…with maybe a detour to Martians Go Home, or What Mad Universe. I enjoyed all this stuff. I really did. It definitely gives you a clear idea of: the Imagination and Inventiveness, leaning heavily to the offbeat and unique choice on what to do with any given premise; and the succinct writing style that effortlessly gets things done without a needless word or purple turn. It’s probably also fair to say that Brown’s SF output has generally been made more available in reprints, over the years - whereas some of the best Crime & Mystery books by him are a little hard to come by, certainly since the late 1980s. The first thing I read by Fredric Brown was The Far Cry, back in the mid-1980s. It’s one of the few Mystery novels that gave me a physical, probably measurable, chill through my body, as the final reveal - or twist - came about…the other being The Murder of Roger Ackroyd by Agatha Christie. Then it was off to the races - or rather off to His Name Was Death, The Screaming Mimi, Murder Can Be Fun. Of course I went over to his SF, but I found Martians Go Home to be somewhat overrated - cute, impish, but not spectacular. Minor? When I happened on ‘Arena’, in The Science Fiction Hall of Fame Vol. 1, I felt that here was more MY Fredric Brown: the offbeat genius with compact flair and a talent for suspense…and not too short so as to be fun but disposable. ‘Arena’ is one of my fave short stories, certainly in SF…and though, when it comes to the novels I am yet again the troublemaker who finds gold in the neglected and forgotten stuff, I much prefer The Mind Thing over Martians Go Home, or even the fairly entertaining What Mad Universe. BUT, I would say, if you end up only reading the Science Fiction - the short stories, or a novel or two - you have experienced what makes him tick. The feel, the way the mind works, you’re not stuck with some alternate, or even lesser, version of Fredric Brown. I just…I dunno…I just think the major contributions to a crowded genre that come from Fredric Brown, occur in the realm Crime & Mystery, not SF. But, y’know, there is a lot of love out there for Martians Go Home, What Mad Universe, The Best of Fredric Brown, and all those one or two page stories. I know a lot of SF fans do not read Crime & Mystery, and vice versa. I guess the one Fredric Brown Mystery novel I recommend to SF fans is actually more for Fantasy fans: try out Night of the Jabberwock, if you ever spot a copy; it was re-issued enough times that it is not the most expensive Fredric Brown Mystery novel to pursue. There’s The Bloody Moonlight - which definitely has SF elements attached to the seeming “impossible” craziness of the bizarre Mystery plot on offer; it’s his most “Science Fictional” of his whodunits…but I only like that one, I don’t love it. I mean, if you’re willing to say goodbye to any SF or Fantasy nods from Brown, I just think you’d go to The Far Cry, or His Names Was Death, or Madball, or Knock 3-1-2, or The Screaming Mimi. Just a few ideas, for those who do read both Mysteries and SF, or those willing to chance one Crime novel from this author. Recently, I have collected all the volumes in the ‘Fredric Brown in the Detective Pulps’ series, that came out in the 1980s and finished up in the early 1990s with the re-issue of his rare, ‘mainstream’ novel, The Office (unedited version, as originally envisioned by Brown, and not ‘cleaned up’ for a more general and potentially offended audience). Do not do this. The cheapest of the volumes average between one hundred and three hundred dollars (Canadian). The softcovers are generally cheaper than the hardcovers, but not all the volumes made it to softcover. The hardcovers are gorgeous - beautiful products, inside and out…numbered editions from limited runs, and usually signed by whoever did the Introduction. I saw that Sex Life on the Planet Mars sells on Alibris for around $1300, which means I would make a little profit. My reaction to reading all the short stories in all the volumes, is kind of like John Travolta in Pulp Fiction, when it comes to Uma Thurman’s milkshake: …..”Can I try that? I gotta know what a Five Dollar Milkshake tastes like…” …….”that’s a f&#@ing good milkshake! I don’t know if it’s worth five dollars, but it’s a f&#@ing good milkshake!!”. I don’t know if Sex Life on the Planet Mars is worth a thousand dollars…but it’s damn good Fredric Brown! In fact, after saturating myself with virtually every Crime & Mystery short story by Fredric Brown, I would say that I love him more than I ever did; anything by Brown in the Crime & Mystery genre by him, 15-80 pages long, is paradise for me. I would say keep an eye out for Happy Ending, by Fredric Brown and Mack Reynolds, just to pull it back over to SF. Brother Monster - Fredric Brown’s unfinished Science Fiction novel is, I think, only available as a volume in the ‘Detective Pulps’ series…which is a shame, because I agree with the assessment that it may have turned out to be some of the best SF he ever wrote. If you’re an SF fan willing to collect one book from the Fredric Brown in the Detective Pulps series, look to Brother Monster (and, y’know, at least you get to salt it away and watch it go up in value as an investment for profit later, like many Brown rarities.). That’s it. Thank you, Ira, for taking the trio to Fredric Brown, and a very entertaining book. I’ve read the Best of John W. Campbell, and enjoyed it, so I’m anxious for reaction to that one, too! Thanks to all you guys for doing this video!
Thank you for a tour of Fredric Brown's work! I definitely have an appetite for his mystery and crime stories after reading 'The Best of ...'. One of the short shorts was actually a crime story, 'Nightmare in Yellow'. Great fun.
i have to buy this book. the humor in it sounds amazing. i had the laugh when you described the yeti story :D i am like matt, i usually dont like humor in sci fi at all. but the humor in this book is something that i could like.
Interesting discussion. I agree Arena is a top-notch short story, suspenseful and satisfying to read. Another of my favourites by Brown is Honeymoon in Hell, although I don't think it's included in this collection.
Pi in the Sky! My favorite Come and Go Mad Knock Arena - 🙂, the Star Trek Original Series adaptation of the same name, Brown is credited. OK, I see Richard mentions this... Brown was very present back in the 1960s when I started reading. I have 2 hardbound copies of this collection!
![Ranking Barry Malzberg's Picks for Top 10 Literary SF Short Stories [Board of Judgment]](/img/1.gif)
I enjoyed this show. I’ve not ever really explored science fiction that much, preferring other genres. Now I’m wanting to read much more. Thank you.
That is great, I hope you find some good SF to read. Brown adds a lot of humor and is pretty easy to read. Thanks for watching.
Woo Hoo, That cover stuck with me as soon as I saw it. I must have saw it sometime in the mid 80's, 40 years later I have it on the TBR shelf
It's a good one.
What a fun discussion! I have From These Ashes on my bookshelf, need to move it to the TBR pile.
Thanks for watching, it was fun. Hope you enjoy it as much as I did.
Fun chat! I think this talk was my favorite of the videos you guys have done together. Pleasure to watch!
Thanks Bart, it was a fun one.
This was just great, guys - he’s my second favourite writer after Wodehouse, and to see the Best of book generally go over well with all of you was fun, especially when we get a discussion that covers things so comprehensively.
I prefer Fredric Brown’s Crime and Mystery output over the SF offerings, and on top of that, I tend to be totally unimpressed by “flash” fiction, or “short short” stories. One and two page stories just seem like gimmicky sugar snacks…and when it comes to Fredric Brown, much as I love him, the real shorties - like in the two very popular books, Nightmares and Geezenstacks, plus this book you guys read - are not my thing, overall. But for many, this is the entry point to Fredric Brown’s work - and I have to respect the fact that a lot of readers: (a) only get to know Brown via the SF, and (b) only get to know Brown via the much raved-about short, and short short, SF…with maybe a detour to Martians Go Home, or What Mad Universe. I enjoyed all this stuff. I really did. It definitely gives you a clear idea of: the Imagination and Inventiveness, leaning heavily to the offbeat and unique choice on what to do with any given premise; and the succinct writing style that effortlessly gets things done without a needless word or purple turn. It’s probably also fair to say that Brown’s SF output has generally been made more available in reprints, over the years - whereas some of the best Crime & Mystery books by him are a little hard to come by, certainly since the late 1980s.
The first thing I read by Fredric Brown was The Far Cry, back in the mid-1980s. It’s one of the few Mystery novels that gave me a physical, probably measurable, chill through my body, as the final reveal - or twist - came about…the other being The Murder of Roger Ackroyd by Agatha Christie. Then it was off to the races - or rather off to His Name Was Death, The Screaming Mimi, Murder Can Be Fun. Of course I went over to his SF, but I found Martians Go Home to be somewhat overrated - cute, impish, but not spectacular. Minor? When I happened on ‘Arena’, in The Science Fiction Hall of Fame Vol. 1, I felt that here was more MY Fredric Brown: the offbeat genius with compact flair and a talent for suspense…and not too short so as to be fun but disposable. ‘Arena’ is one of my fave short stories, certainly in SF…and though, when it comes to the novels I am yet again the troublemaker who finds gold in the neglected and forgotten stuff, I much prefer The Mind Thing over Martians Go Home, or even the fairly entertaining What Mad Universe. BUT, I would say, if you end up only reading the Science Fiction - the short stories, or a novel or two - you have experienced what makes him tick. The feel, the way the mind works, you’re not stuck with some alternate, or even lesser, version of Fredric Brown. I just…I dunno…I just think the major contributions to a crowded genre that come from Fredric Brown, occur in the realm Crime & Mystery, not SF. But, y’know, there is a lot of love out there for Martians Go Home, What Mad Universe, The Best of Fredric Brown, and all those one or two page stories.
I know a lot of SF fans do not read Crime & Mystery, and vice versa. I guess the one Fredric Brown Mystery novel I recommend to SF fans is actually more for Fantasy fans: try out Night of the Jabberwock, if you ever spot a copy; it was re-issued enough times that it is not the most expensive Fredric Brown Mystery novel to pursue. There’s The Bloody Moonlight - which definitely has SF elements attached to the seeming “impossible” craziness of the bizarre Mystery plot on offer; it’s his most “Science Fictional” of his whodunits…but I only like that one, I don’t love it. I mean, if you’re willing to say goodbye to any SF or Fantasy nods from Brown, I just think you’d go to The Far Cry, or His Names Was Death, or Madball, or Knock 3-1-2, or The Screaming Mimi. Just a few ideas, for those who do read both Mysteries and SF, or those willing to chance one Crime novel from this author.
Recently, I have collected all the volumes in the ‘Fredric Brown in the Detective Pulps’ series, that came out in the 1980s and finished up in the early 1990s with the re-issue of his rare, ‘mainstream’ novel, The Office (unedited version, as originally envisioned by Brown, and not ‘cleaned up’ for a more general and potentially offended audience). Do not do this. The cheapest of the volumes average between one hundred and three hundred dollars (Canadian). The softcovers are generally cheaper than the hardcovers, but not all the volumes made it to softcover. The hardcovers are gorgeous - beautiful products, inside and out…numbered editions from limited runs, and usually signed by whoever did the Introduction. I saw that Sex Life on the Planet Mars sells on Alibris for around $1300, which means I would make a little profit. My reaction to reading all the short stories in all the volumes, is kind of like John Travolta in Pulp Fiction, when it comes to Uma Thurman’s milkshake: …..”Can I try that? I gotta know what a Five Dollar Milkshake tastes like…” …….”that’s a f&#@ing good milkshake! I don’t know if it’s worth five dollars, but it’s a f&#@ing good milkshake!!”. I don’t know if Sex Life on the Planet Mars is worth a thousand dollars…but it’s damn good Fredric Brown!
In fact, after saturating myself with virtually every Crime & Mystery short story by Fredric Brown, I would say that I love him more than I ever did; anything by Brown in the Crime & Mystery genre by him, 15-80 pages long, is paradise for me.
I would say keep an eye out for Happy Ending, by Fredric Brown and Mack Reynolds, just to pull it back over to SF. Brother Monster - Fredric Brown’s unfinished Science Fiction novel is, I think, only available as a volume in the ‘Detective Pulps’ series…which is a shame, because I agree with the assessment that it may have turned out to be some of the best SF he ever wrote. If you’re an SF fan willing to collect one book from the Fredric Brown in the Detective Pulps series, look to Brother Monster (and, y’know, at least you get to salt it away and watch it go up in value as an investment for profit later, like many Brown rarities.).
That’s it. Thank you, Ira, for taking the trio to Fredric Brown, and a very entertaining book. I’ve read the Best of John W. Campbell, and enjoyed it, so I’m anxious for reaction to that one, too! Thanks to all you guys for doing this video!
Thank you for a tour of Fredric Brown's work! I definitely have an appetite for his mystery and crime stories after reading 'The Best of ...'. One of the short shorts was actually a crime story, 'Nightmare in Yellow'. Great fun.
Wow, thanks for all of this. I definitely want to read his crime/mystery, I will use this post as my roadmap.
i have to buy this book. the humor in it sounds amazing. i had the laugh when you described the yeti story :D
i am like matt, i usually dont like humor in sci fi at all. but the humor in this book is something that i could like.
Give it a try Brown is a great writer.
Interesting discussion. I agree Arena is a top-notch short story, suspenseful and satisfying to read. Another of my favourites by Brown is Honeymoon in Hell, although I don't think it's included in this collection.
Thanks for the suggestion Robin, it's in the NESFA press collection I have so I'll look out for it.
Pi in the Sky! My favorite
Come and Go Mad
Knock
Arena - 🙂, the Star Trek Original Series adaptation of the same name, Brown is credited. OK, I see Richard mentions this...
Brown was very present back in the 1960s when I started reading. I have 2 hardbound copies of this collection!
Richard catches all kinds of things, love it. Thanks for watching.
There was a sequel to "The Star Mouse"; I have a not read it so I cannot comment on it.
Woah, I'll have to look for it.
Cordwainer smith is funny...i got his best of book.
I can't wait for that one, we are going to read through them all.