I’ve been a fan of Fredric Brown for nearly 60 years. Brown is one of those unique writers who can write superbly in TWO genres. This collection includes mystery/noir stories and Science Fiction stories.
Fredric Brown’s most famous story, “Arena,” is included in Daymare and Other Tales from the Pulps. A “modified” version of “Arena” became a famous episode of the original Star Trek series. In Brown’s story, a human space pilot is part of a space armada facing an alien space armada. A war is about to begin. The pilot wakes up in a strange area with blue sand and 130 degree heat. Across the room an alien being waits. The two beings are separated by a force field and told by an ultra-powerful force that only one race will survive this competition. Both the human and the alien try various schemes to win the competition. Brown creates plenty of tension and suspense in this classic SF tale.
I’m also a fan of “The Geezenstacks” where a father gives his daughter some strange dolls and discovers what happens to the dolls also happens to the people around the dolls. The title story, “Daymare,” has Philip K. Dick elements of mind control and conspiracy. If you’re looking for a handy introduction to one of the most versatile SF/Mystery writers of the 20th Century, give Daymare and Other Tales from the Pulps a try. GRADE: B+
TABLE OF CONTENTS:
Introduction – by John Gregory Betancourt — 7
“Daymare” (Thrilling Wonder Stories, Fall, 1943) — 9
“The Little Lamb” (Manhunt, August, 1953) — 55
“The Geezenstacks” (Weird Tales, September, 1943) — 68
“The Hat Trick” (Unknown, February, 1942) — 79
“Arena” (Astounding, June, 1942) — 86
“Don’t Look Behind You” (Ellery Queen’s Mystery Magazine, May, 1947) — 114
I have From these Ashes which contains most of his sf stories. I also had his 60’s pb collection Nightmares and Geezenstacks. I have read both Arena and Geezenstacks. Don’t recall the other stories. I still remember the first 2 SF books I ever bought. I was probably 13 and I bought Asimov’s I, Robot and Brown’s The Mind Thing. I ended up reading all of SF novels and a few of his mysteries.
Steve, you certainly got off to a good start reading SF with Asimov and Brown! I can’t remember the first SF paperback I bought but I’m sure it was an ACE Double.
A great writer who is always entertaining. The story that has stuck with me most from this collection is “Don’t Look Behind You.”
IMHO, Brown’s best mystery novel was THE FAR CRY and his best SF novel was THE LIGHTS IN THE SKY ARE STARS.
Jerry, “Don’t Look Behind You” is one of the few short stories told in the Second Person that I like. I need to reread THE FAR CRY and THE LIGHTS IN THE SKY ARE STARS.
Fond memories of Nightmares and Geezenstacks too!
For me it was a totally different type of story after I had started with Asimo which I also loved of course.
Is it it a sign of really getting old when you remember all those things from your youth?
Btw some of his stories appeared in German translation (he had some big fans …) already in the late 50s when I was a teenager still at school. I’ve probably written about this before:
A relative of ours had a bookstore and I was allowed to look into those books – just handle them carefully so they can still be sold as new …
Wolf, I’m always impressed that you had access to so much quality Science Fiction!
A bit OT:
There were many SF fans who translated from English into German (in Hungary too so my wife could read Asimov rather early under the communist regime), as a kind of hobby, some started writing stories themselves. I met several of them at a small SF convention in a little castle (!!!) in Bavaria – the owner also was an SF fan.One I’ll never forget:
One of the writers and translators was an engineering student – Jesco von Puttkamer, from a famous aristocrat family, a very intelligent and friendly guy.
The next time I saw him was several years later when he gave a speech on Space exploration at the university – after his engineering exam he went to NASA! He had quite a career for a German guy there – maybe Wernher von Braun liked him too?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jesco_von_Puttkamer
A really fantastic career, he also worked on Startrek and had an asteroid named after him – and such a nice guy!
Wolf, it’s great when the Good Guys win!
Looks like fun. I have odd stories of his here and there in anthologies but nothing that is just from him.
Patti, Fredric Brown was prolific in both the SF and Mystery field. Many of his stories are favorites of anthologists.
I’m a big fan of Brown’s short stories. I think I’ve read all these in various collections, include NIGHTMARES AND GEEZENSTACKS and a couple of collected editions.
Just checked to refresh my memory – there are TWO Fredric Brown Megapacks available on Kindle for 99 cents each for a total of 60 stories, an easy way to start,
Jeff, I have a dozen MEGAPACKS by different writers on my iPad. Amazing bargains for 99 cents!
I have Megapacks of Lovecraft, R.A. Lafferty, Harry Harrison, Robert Silverberg, Arthur Train, plus Weird Fiction, Cthulhu Mythos, Spicy Adventure, and Occult Detective stories.
Jeff, you and I share the same reading interests…and Megapacks!
Jeff, I think DAYMARE AND OTHER TALES FROM THE PULPS would be the ideal introduction to Fredric Brown for a new reader.
Steve’s comment got me to thinking about the first SF books I bought. I’m pretty sure they were Matheson’s “I Am Legend” and a Lovecraft collection with a really gruesome cover called “Cry Horror!”, which I’ve since learned was a reprint of “The Lurking Fear”. I don’t recall whether I bought them at the same time, although I got both from a drugstore paperback rack. And I guess that neither is, strictly speaking, SF. This would have been in the mid-fifties when I was 12 or 13. Probably both were bought because of the covers since I’m sure I’d never heard of either author at the time. I loved both books and went on the read quite a few other books by Matheson. But it would be years before I read any other Lovecraft, whose books weren’t widely available at the time.
Michael, I remember I AM LEGEND and CRY HORROR! very well! I bought them, too. And, I also bought Richard Matheson’s 1956 novel The Shrinking Man after I saw the movie. I mostly bought paperbacks at a local drug store that Had a spinner rack (remember them?) in the front of the store. A couple years later, I discovered a used bookstore in downtown Niagara Falls and really started buying SF paperbacks there in volume!
As far as “first books” bought, I remember getting books in school from Scholastic and others. I know I bought BEN-HUR by General Lew Wallace after seeing the 1959 movie. (They took us by bus on a class trip to Midtown Manhattan, and I remember driving past The Bowery on the way back and seeing the “bums” on the street.) Also the novelization of WEST SIDE STORY by Irving Shulman. And OLD YELLER by Fred Gipson.
Jeff, I remember buying a lot of SCHOLASTIC BOOKS from the classroom order sheet. The teachers also got free books based on how big their book order was. Diane supplemented her classroom library with dozens of free books from SCHOLASTIC.
Since Jackie was always bad at math, I had to do all her paperwork for her on her Scholastic orders for her class. Easy for me, hard for her,
Jeff, Diane was a whiz at those SCHOLASTIC BOOK orders. I sometimes had to carry boxes of books from her classroom home for the Summer.
ARENA was also an episode of THE OUTER LIMITS. I think Nick Adams was the star.
Ray, I had forgotten all about THE OUTER LIMITS episode of “Arena.” I’ll have to rewatch it soon! Thanks for jogging my memory!
The first SF paperback I bought may have been Arthur C. Clarke’s CHILDHOOD’S END, a fine novel. I also got NIGHTMARES AND GEEZENSTACKS early on (still have that copy) and have read many of his short stories.
Rick, you got off to a great start reading SF! I read Arthur C. Clarke in the early 1960s, too.
I like Brown a lot! I’ll be getting those 99 cent Kindle books from Amazon! Thanks for the tip, Jeff! The Fabulous Clipjoint blew me away when I read it!
Bob, you can’t go wrong with the AMAZON 99 cent Megapacks!