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Space on My Hands
Nine startling adventures of humans and other beings, by the first master of science fiction and fantasy, Fredric Brown.
“Brown really is the best mid-century science fiction writer you don't know you've read.” io9
THE LAST MAN ON EARTH SAT ALONE IN A ROOM. THERE WAS A KNOCK ON THE DOOR …
The Zans had descended upon Earth in. their spaceship mountain, sending out vibratory waves that had destroyed everything instantly. Now, Walter Phelan, the only man to survive, sat alone in a room … and someone was trying to get in …
Stories of the sudden, revealing and unforgettable flash of imagination — a choice collection of outrageous characters who inhabit Fredric Brown’s futuristic world, including:
The man who lost thirty years but would settle for something — anything — green. Will McGarry and Dorothy ever return home?
The man who learned how to beat the lie detector — once and for all. The Chicago underworld appears transformed, but there is no accounting for the new crime rate. Cops, judges and juries have a lot of catching up to do…
Roger Jerome Phlutter — a young man has been working tirelessly to fulfil his dream of becoming an astronaut, but a sudden disturbance sends the world of astrology into overdrive. Are the stars trying to send an urgent message?
George Vine visits the asylum — an apparent diagnosis of amnesia and a strange affinity with Napoleon, forces Vine into revealing a dangerous secret. How mad must patients really be to die in the asylum?
Space on My Hands is a gripping collection of science fiction stories from master of the genre, Fredric Brown.
Further praise for Fredric Brown:
“One of the most durable writers of sf's golden age” Booklist
“a distinctive and unique voice in the sf community” Library Journal
“Brown is possibly at his best in these shorter forms” The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction
FREDRIC BROWN was born in Cincinnati in 1906, and was educated in the public schools of that city, and at Hanover College. Among his numerous successful novels are: The Screaming Mimi, The Far Cry and Night of the Jabberwock. He is also well known for his short story collections, among them Nightmares and Geezenstacks and Space on My Hands. He died in 1972 in Tucson, Arizona.
Venture Press is a science fiction and fantasy imprint of Endeavour Press, the UK’s leading independent digital publisher. We are committed to the discovery and rediscovery of immensely talented authors in the SFF genre, and continue to push boundaries in search of great literature. Join us as we venture across universes and unknown landscapes – past, present and future.
“Brown really is the best mid-century science fiction writer you don't know you've read.” io9
THE LAST MAN ON EARTH SAT ALONE IN A ROOM. THERE WAS A KNOCK ON THE DOOR …
The Zans had descended upon Earth in. their spaceship mountain, sending out vibratory waves that had destroyed everything instantly. Now, Walter Phelan, the only man to survive, sat alone in a room … and someone was trying to get in …
Stories of the sudden, revealing and unforgettable flash of imagination — a choice collection of outrageous characters who inhabit Fredric Brown’s futuristic world, including:
The man who lost thirty years but would settle for something — anything — green. Will McGarry and Dorothy ever return home?
The man who learned how to beat the lie detector — once and for all. The Chicago underworld appears transformed, but there is no accounting for the new crime rate. Cops, judges and juries have a lot of catching up to do…
Roger Jerome Phlutter — a young man has been working tirelessly to fulfil his dream of becoming an astronaut, but a sudden disturbance sends the world of astrology into overdrive. Are the stars trying to send an urgent message?
George Vine visits the asylum — an apparent diagnosis of amnesia and a strange affinity with Napoleon, forces Vine into revealing a dangerous secret. How mad must patients really be to die in the asylum?
Space on My Hands is a gripping collection of science fiction stories from master of the genre, Fredric Brown.
Further praise for Fredric Brown:
“One of the most durable writers of sf's golden age” Booklist
“a distinctive and unique voice in the sf community” Library Journal
“Brown is possibly at his best in these shorter forms” The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction
FREDRIC BROWN was born in Cincinnati in 1906, and was educated in the public schools of that city, and at Hanover College. Among his numerous successful novels are: The Screaming Mimi, The Far Cry and Night of the Jabberwock. He is also well known for his short story collections, among them Nightmares and Geezenstacks and Space on My Hands. He died in 1972 in Tucson, Arizona.
Venture Press is a science fiction and fantasy imprint of Endeavour Press, the UK’s leading independent digital publisher. We are committed to the discovery and rediscovery of immensely talented authors in the SFF genre, and continue to push boundaries in search of great literature. Join us as we venture across universes and unknown landscapes – past, present and future.
256 pages, Hardcover
First published July 1, 1951
30 people are currently reading
204 people want to read
About the author
Fredric Brown
784 books352 followersFredric Brown was an American science fiction and mystery writer. He was one of the boldest early writers in genre fiction in his use of narrative experimentation. While never in the front rank of popularity in his lifetime, Brown has developed a considerable cult following in the almost half century since he last wrote. His works have been periodically reprinted and he has a worldwide fan base, most notably in the U.S. and Europe, and especially in France, where there have been several recent movie adaptations of his work. He also remains popular in Japan.
Never financially secure, Brown - like many other pulp writers - often wrote at a furious pace in order to pay bills. This accounts, at least in part, for the uneven quality of his work. A newspaperman by profession, Brown was only able to devote 14 years of his life as a full-time fiction writer. Brown was also a heavy drinker, and this at times doubtless affected his productivity. A cultured man and omnivorous reader whose interests ranged far beyond those of most pulp writers, Brown had a lifelong interest in the flute, chess, poker, and the works of Lewis Carroll. Brown married twice and was the father of two sons.
Never financially secure, Brown - like many other pulp writers - often wrote at a furious pace in order to pay bills. This accounts, at least in part, for the uneven quality of his work. A newspaperman by profession, Brown was only able to devote 14 years of his life as a full-time fiction writer. Brown was also a heavy drinker, and this at times doubtless affected his productivity. A cultured man and omnivorous reader whose interests ranged far beyond those of most pulp writers, Brown had a lifelong interest in the flute, chess, poker, and the works of Lewis Carroll. Brown married twice and was the father of two sons.
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Displaying 1 - 24 of 24 reviews
September 29, 2021
This was Brown's first collection of short science fiction stories, and all of the pieces included first appeared in the genre magazines of the 1940's. He's best remembered for his mysteries and science fiction novels, but his short sf work was superb. His work is by turns wry and satiric and amusing, yet always entertaining. I particularly remember enjoying Something Green, Nothing Sirius, All Good Bems, and the classic Knock, though my sentimental favorite will always be the charming Star Mouse. I have the 1980 Bantam paperback with a very scary sexy John Holmes cover.
October 27, 2018
A compilation of 9 short stories, I found the stories nice but not as engaging or as innovative as I'd like.
Something Green - short, succinct and to the sad, unexpected point.
Crisis, 1999 - An old school detective story that is less interesting than it initially seems.
PI int the Sky - Much Ado about Nothing. With added astronomy.
Knock - an interesting predicament as a premise that has a somewhat silly solution.
All Good BEMS - A self referential bit that's not taking itself too seriously.
Daymare - An involved murder mystery that is a bit too quickly solved once certain facts are known. OK.
Nothing Sirius - A nice, quirky little SF story about capitalism.
Star Mouse - This somewhat comedic story has an ending that made me think "all of *that* was for *this*?"
Come and Go Mad - A long, involved mystery that is ultimately upended by its too-weird-to-be frightening ending.
Something Green - short, succinct and to the sad, unexpected point.
Crisis, 1999 - An old school detective story that is less interesting than it initially seems.
PI int the Sky - Much Ado about Nothing. With added astronomy.
Knock - an interesting predicament as a premise that has a somewhat silly solution.
All Good BEMS - A self referential bit that's not taking itself too seriously.
Daymare - An involved murder mystery that is a bit too quickly solved once certain facts are known. OK.
Nothing Sirius - A nice, quirky little SF story about capitalism.
Star Mouse - This somewhat comedic story has an ending that made me think "all of *that* was for *this*?"
Come and Go Mad - A long, involved mystery that is ultimately upended by its too-weird-to-be frightening ending.
May 19, 2024
La première nouvelle du livre est bonne mais le reste tombe dans la catégorie du tolérable tout au mieux.
November 14, 2018
CONTENTS
Introduction
Fiction:
"Something Green" (first publication)
"Crisis, 1999" (Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine, August, 1949)
"Pi in the Sky" (Thrilling Wonder Stories, Winter, 1945)
"Knock" (Thrilling Wonder Stories, December, 1948)
"All Good Bems" (Thrilling Wonder Stories, April, 1949)
"Daymare" (Thrilling Wonder Stories, Fall, 1943)
"Nothing Sirius" (Captain Future , Spring, 1944)
"Star Mouse" (Planet Stories, Spring, 1942)
"Come and Go Mad" (Weird Tales, July, 1949)
I can't give this an objective review. This was one of the first books of science fiction short stories that I fell in love with as a child. I am not sure how old I was when I first read this - probably no more than nine or ten. This and Robert Heinlein's The Green Hills of Earth will always be quite special to me.
Space on My Hands (an excellent title!) was Fredric Brown's first collection. All the stories are science fiction (although "Come and Go Mad" might be considered fantasy). Brown was known for both his science fiction and his mysteries; a couple of these stories, "Crisis, 1999" and "Daymare," are both.
"Crisis, 1999" is the only story in the book that I don't like. In what in 1949 was envisioned as the world of 1999, lie detectors are so accurate that they are used (and trusted) in most criminal cases. But defendants who authorities are positive are guilty have begun consistently beating the lie detectors. Bela Joad, "the greatest detective in the world," investigates.
The other mystery, "Daymare," is much better. In this story too, inexplicable things are occurring, but these are much stranger. Rod Caquer, Lieutenant of Police in Sector Three of Callisto, is asked to investigate a murder. People who have seen the body report the cause of death variously as a gunshot, a shot from a blaster, a crushed skull, and being beheaded in two different ways. A second body is found, this one with no apparent cause of death; it is the same man as the previous corpse. Then things get even weirder.
There are four stories in the book that are comic, like much of Brown's writing. These are "All Good Bems," "Nothing Sirius," "Pi in the Sky," and "Star Mouse."
In "All Good Bems," science fiction author Elmo Scott and his wife Dorothy are visited by five beings from space, who temporarily take over the bodies of animals so that they can communicate with the humans while they repair their spaceship. The Scotts find themselves entertaining the consciousnesses of self-described "bug-eyed monsters" in the forms of a hen, a squirrel, a rattlesnake, a cow, and the Scotts' Doberman pinscher, Rex.
The Wherry family - husband, wife, and daughter - and their pilot make up an interplanetary touring group providing entertainment to remote worlds in "Nothing Sirius." They come across a previously unknown planet with an Earthlike atmosphere circling the star Sirius and land there. The first thing that they encounter "looked like an ostrich, only it must have been bigger than an elephant. Also there was a collar and a blue polka-dot bow tie around the thin neck of the critter, and it wore a hat. The hat was bright yellow and had a long purple feather."
They come across birds with propellers, what appears to be an Earth street, and some things that look like cockroaches. This all seems...well, odd.
In "Pi in the Sky," many stars suddenly appear to be moving across space at impossible speeds. Scientists are baffled. The evil genius behind the plot lives in Boston, as I do. This is a very funny story. It finished in second place for what is called a "Retro Hugo" award for best novelette of 1945.
The following comments about "Star Mouse" are taken from an earlier review I wrote about another book in which the story appeared, The Best of Planet Stories #1
It's a small world, but I wouldn't want to have to paint it.
--Comedian Steven Wright
Prxl is a very small world - a small asteroid, in fact. But the inhabitants did paint it, with a black, light-absorbing pigment. Prxl is now not visible from any substantial distance, and can not be seen from Earth. So when the rocket sent out by Professor Oberburger, a scientist working alone, lands on Prxl, Oberburger knows only that it has disappeared from sight - the rocket and its passenger, a mouse that the Professor has named Mickey, which he pronounces as "Mitkey."
This is the beginning of "Star Mouse" by Fredric Brown. It finished in fourth place for a "Retro Hugo Award" for best science fiction novelette of 1942. Planet Stories published a sequel, "Mitkey Rides Again," in November, 1950.
"Knock" is a "Last Man on Earth" story. Aliens have taken over the planet, leaving alive only one man, one woman, and some animals. But there are things about life on Earth that the aliens don't know. I don't think that this is one of the better stories in the book, but it was chosen for a "best of the year" anthology and has been reprinted many times, so obviously lots of people don't share my opinion.
Robert Heinlein wrote a famous science fiction story titled "The Green Hills of Earth." McGarry, the main character in the story "Something Green" longs for those hills - "the green hills, the green valleys, the green fields." But the planet on which his ship crashed has nothing green:
The big sun was crimson in a violet sky. At the edge of the brown plain, dotted with brown bushes, lay the red jungle.
Finally someone comes to rescue him. But there is a problem with McGarry returning to Earth...
"Come and Go Mad" is my favorite story in the book. It was originally published in Weird Tales. George Vine is a reporter asked by his editor to go undercover as a patient in a mental hospital. It is suggested that he claims that he believes that he is Napoleon, the cliché symptom of fictional madmen. This is not inappropriate in this case, because Vine does believe that he is Napoleon.
Vine knows that he is taking a risk in accepting the assignment. He is assured that he will have no problem getting out of the asylum when he wants to, but he is not positive that this is true. And in his mind, beside his belief about his true identity, there are two misty, unclear thoughts: a battle of some sort between forces he knows only as the red and the black, and the phrase "the brightly shining."
I said above that "Pi in the Sky" is a very funny story. "Come and Go Mad" is the opposite - a very bleak story indeed.
Years after I first read this book, I still think that it is quite good. I recommend it, even for readers well over nine years old.
Introduction
Fiction:
"Something Green" (first publication)
"Crisis, 1999" (Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine, August, 1949)
"Pi in the Sky" (Thrilling Wonder Stories, Winter, 1945)
"Knock" (Thrilling Wonder Stories, December, 1948)
"All Good Bems" (Thrilling Wonder Stories, April, 1949)
"Daymare" (Thrilling Wonder Stories, Fall, 1943)
"Nothing Sirius" (Captain Future , Spring, 1944)
"Star Mouse" (Planet Stories, Spring, 1942)
"Come and Go Mad" (Weird Tales, July, 1949)
I can't give this an objective review. This was one of the first books of science fiction short stories that I fell in love with as a child. I am not sure how old I was when I first read this - probably no more than nine or ten. This and Robert Heinlein's The Green Hills of Earth will always be quite special to me.
Space on My Hands (an excellent title!) was Fredric Brown's first collection. All the stories are science fiction (although "Come and Go Mad" might be considered fantasy). Brown was known for both his science fiction and his mysteries; a couple of these stories, "Crisis, 1999" and "Daymare," are both.
"Crisis, 1999" is the only story in the book that I don't like. In what in 1949 was envisioned as the world of 1999, lie detectors are so accurate that they are used (and trusted) in most criminal cases. But defendants who authorities are positive are guilty have begun consistently beating the lie detectors. Bela Joad, "the greatest detective in the world," investigates.
The other mystery, "Daymare," is much better. In this story too, inexplicable things are occurring, but these are much stranger. Rod Caquer, Lieutenant of Police in Sector Three of Callisto, is asked to investigate a murder. People who have seen the body report the cause of death variously as a gunshot, a shot from a blaster, a crushed skull, and being beheaded in two different ways. A second body is found, this one with no apparent cause of death; it is the same man as the previous corpse. Then things get even weirder.
There are four stories in the book that are comic, like much of Brown's writing. These are "All Good Bems," "Nothing Sirius," "Pi in the Sky," and "Star Mouse."
In "All Good Bems," science fiction author Elmo Scott and his wife Dorothy are visited by five beings from space, who temporarily take over the bodies of animals so that they can communicate with the humans while they repair their spaceship. The Scotts find themselves entertaining the consciousnesses of self-described "bug-eyed monsters" in the forms of a hen, a squirrel, a rattlesnake, a cow, and the Scotts' Doberman pinscher, Rex.
The Wherry family - husband, wife, and daughter - and their pilot make up an interplanetary touring group providing entertainment to remote worlds in "Nothing Sirius." They come across a previously unknown planet with an Earthlike atmosphere circling the star Sirius and land there. The first thing that they encounter "looked like an ostrich, only it must have been bigger than an elephant. Also there was a collar and a blue polka-dot bow tie around the thin neck of the critter, and it wore a hat. The hat was bright yellow and had a long purple feather."
They come across birds with propellers, what appears to be an Earth street, and some things that look like cockroaches. This all seems...well, odd.
In "Pi in the Sky," many stars suddenly appear to be moving across space at impossible speeds. Scientists are baffled. The evil genius behind the plot lives in Boston, as I do. This is a very funny story. It finished in second place for what is called a "Retro Hugo" award for best novelette of 1945.
The following comments about "Star Mouse" are taken from an earlier review I wrote about another book in which the story appeared, The Best of Planet Stories #1
It's a small world, but I wouldn't want to have to paint it.
--Comedian Steven Wright
Prxl is a very small world - a small asteroid, in fact. But the inhabitants did paint it, with a black, light-absorbing pigment. Prxl is now not visible from any substantial distance, and can not be seen from Earth. So when the rocket sent out by Professor Oberburger, a scientist working alone, lands on Prxl, Oberburger knows only that it has disappeared from sight - the rocket and its passenger, a mouse that the Professor has named Mickey, which he pronounces as "Mitkey."
This is the beginning of "Star Mouse" by Fredric Brown. It finished in fourth place for a "Retro Hugo Award" for best science fiction novelette of 1942. Planet Stories published a sequel, "Mitkey Rides Again," in November, 1950.
"Knock" is a "Last Man on Earth" story. Aliens have taken over the planet, leaving alive only one man, one woman, and some animals. But there are things about life on Earth that the aliens don't know. I don't think that this is one of the better stories in the book, but it was chosen for a "best of the year" anthology and has been reprinted many times, so obviously lots of people don't share my opinion.
Robert Heinlein wrote a famous science fiction story titled "The Green Hills of Earth." McGarry, the main character in the story "Something Green" longs for those hills - "the green hills, the green valleys, the green fields." But the planet on which his ship crashed has nothing green:
The big sun was crimson in a violet sky. At the edge of the brown plain, dotted with brown bushes, lay the red jungle.
Finally someone comes to rescue him. But there is a problem with McGarry returning to Earth...
"Come and Go Mad" is my favorite story in the book. It was originally published in Weird Tales. George Vine is a reporter asked by his editor to go undercover as a patient in a mental hospital. It is suggested that he claims that he believes that he is Napoleon, the cliché symptom of fictional madmen. This is not inappropriate in this case, because Vine does believe that he is Napoleon.
Vine knows that he is taking a risk in accepting the assignment. He is assured that he will have no problem getting out of the asylum when he wants to, but he is not positive that this is true. And in his mind, beside his belief about his true identity, there are two misty, unclear thoughts: a battle of some sort between forces he knows only as the red and the black, and the phrase "the brightly shining."
I said above that "Pi in the Sky" is a very funny story. "Come and Go Mad" is the opposite - a very bleak story indeed.
Years after I first read this book, I still think that it is quite good. I recommend it, even for readers well over nine years old.
April 5, 2016
Space On My Hands by Fredric Brown- This is a collection of early Fredric Brown short stories from the 40's and very early 50's, first published in 1951. Nine stories, most of them science fiction with some mysteries, and some a combination of the two. Famous for his short fiction, Brown wrote over a hundred stories that centered mostly on peoples foibles and the encroachment of future times. "Pi in the Sky" describes the havoc caused when the stars send US signals. "Knock" finds the last man on Earth, sitting in a room with someone knocking at the door-but who? "Something Green" tells the tale of a ship wrecked man searching blindly for another crashed ship on a planet filled with violet skies and red jungles and beings that don't exist. All of these stories belong in the pulp category and are a good representation of the best from that era. Now mostly guilty pleasures, but still fun and rewarding to read, from one of the best mid-century practitioners.
February 9, 2022
Étrangement, ce livre qui regroupe plusieurs nouvelles est centré sur deux éléments : la perception et la critique sociale. La première nouvelle se matérialise autour d'un voyage dans un monde étrange où un homme cherche des repères connus à travers la couleur. Dans une autre, le rêve vient jouer sur la réalité des personnages. La critique sociale est plus subtile, car elle se joue dans les détails du récit, dans les criminels abolissant par leurs actions le crime, par les scientifiques qui demeurent figés devant la science de la publicité, etc. Ce livre est vraiment un voyage au pays d'Alice version aliens. Une autre belle découverte reliée à cet auteur.
December 5, 2019
Gelesen als Sehnsucht nach der grünen Erde
Die deutsche Ausgabe enthält nur 5 der ursprünglich 9 Kurzgeschichten
Sehnsucht nach der grünen Erde (Something Green)
Die Welt des Todes (Knock)
Alle braven Bems (All Good Bems)
Nichts-Sirius (Nothing Sirius)
Napoleon 1964 (Come and Go Mad)
Alle Kurzgeschichten gehören zur humoresken Sci-Fi und haben bis auf die letzte einen sehr guten Unterhaltungswert. Napoleon 1964 ist auch nicht schlecht, wirkt aber im Vergleich zu den anderen vier Kurzgeschichten wie ein Fremdkörper.
Die deutsche Ausgabe enthält nur 5 der ursprünglich 9 Kurzgeschichten
Sehnsucht nach der grünen Erde (Something Green)
Die Welt des Todes (Knock)
Alle braven Bems (All Good Bems)
Nichts-Sirius (Nothing Sirius)
Napoleon 1964 (Come and Go Mad)
Alle Kurzgeschichten gehören zur humoresken Sci-Fi und haben bis auf die letzte einen sehr guten Unterhaltungswert. Napoleon 1964 ist auch nicht schlecht, wirkt aber im Vergleich zu den anderen vier Kurzgeschichten wie ein Fremdkörper.
May 20, 2018
The ironic thing about this book is the introduction, where Brown talks about how science fiction is the only literature that is able to tell the truth about things. I'd just finished reading two of his crime novels, both of which were remarkable, and seemed to get at deeper truths than anything in this cute but badly dated imaginative fiction. Two stories focus on hypnotism, for instance, as a means to world domination.
January 25, 2018
This is a series of short stories, some of them are very strange, some are very interesting.
If you like the very different and sci-fi you may like these short stories. They are well written, and come from way out in left field, varying from a look at one man's psychosis to strange new worlds. Enjoy.
If you like the very different and sci-fi you may like these short stories. They are well written, and come from way out in left field, varying from a look at one man's psychosis to strange new worlds. Enjoy.
February 3, 2020
Una buena selección de relatos.
Verde Tierra [Something Green] 1951
Policía 1999 [Crisis, 1999] 1949
Pi en el cielo [Pi in the Sky] 1945
Llamada [Knock] 1948
Los monstruos sonrientes [All Good Bems] 1949
Pesadilla despierto [Daymare] 1943
Sirio Cero [Nothing Sirius] 1944
Ratón estelar [The Star-Mouse] 1942
Ven y enloquece [Come and Go Mad] 1949
Verde Tierra [Something Green] 1951
Policía 1999 [Crisis, 1999] 1949
Pi en el cielo [Pi in the Sky] 1945
Llamada [Knock] 1948
Los monstruos sonrientes [All Good Bems] 1949
Pesadilla despierto [Daymare] 1943
Sirio Cero [Nothing Sirius] 1944
Ratón estelar [The Star-Mouse] 1942
Ven y enloquece [Come and Go Mad] 1949
April 3, 2019
Overall not as good as his other short stories collections, still enjoyable though (and some of the stories are great).
May 28, 2020
Fredric Brown siempre entretiene.
Read
April 4, 2021respect the writing for money attitude. stories were fun enough. enjoyed them more before the bit where things started being wrapped up, the answers weren't as satisfying as the questions
July 3, 2024
3.5* overall
July 25, 2024
Recueil de 9 histoires parfois inegales mais toujours surprenantes.
September 17, 2022
I read a 1952 Bantam paperback edition of this 1951 collection of science fiction stories by Fredric Brown.
The cover price is 25 cents. It has a great cover painting of a sleek space ship ready to take off from a cool looking planet. I can't tell that it is based on any of the particular stories in the book.
The stories have little in common. Brown has a wonderful gag story about the stars in the universe. He has a crime story, set in the future, about beating a lie detector, with a great twist at the end. We get a few space explorer stories, a space carney show, a mouse in space and a few semi-horror. stories.
Brown was a solid professional writer. He was usually not at his best in science fiction but these stories would have been worth 25 cents in 1952 and are worth reading if you come across them today.
The cover price is 25 cents. It has a great cover painting of a sleek space ship ready to take off from a cool looking planet. I can't tell that it is based on any of the particular stories in the book.
The stories have little in common. Brown has a wonderful gag story about the stars in the universe. He has a crime story, set in the future, about beating a lie detector, with a great twist at the end. We get a few space explorer stories, a space carney show, a mouse in space and a few semi-horror. stories.
Brown was a solid professional writer. He was usually not at his best in science fiction but these stories would have been worth 25 cents in 1952 and are worth reading if you come across them today.
June 6, 2016
Fredric Brown is noted for his acerbic often dark short stories. Here we have a mixed bag of (mainly)'science fiction stories. At least one, "Crisis, 1999", is badly dated as Brown every so often quite unsuccessfully attempts to predict future technology.
Others, such as "Something Green", "Knock",' "Star Mouse" and "All Good Bems" still have some entertainment value. "Pi In the Sky" is a bit of outrageous humour but works as a once-off joke.
The three best, in my opinion are "Daymare", "Nothing Serius" and the concluding novelette, "Come and Go Mad" The last mentioned is really something of a psychological thriller rather than science fiction.
The stories give a idea of the sort of things that were popular with readers of pulp science fiction in the thirties and forties.
Others, such as "Something Green", "Knock",' "Star Mouse" and "All Good Bems" still have some entertainment value. "Pi In the Sky" is a bit of outrageous humour but works as a once-off joke.
The three best, in my opinion are "Daymare", "Nothing Serius" and the concluding novelette, "Come and Go Mad" The last mentioned is really something of a psychological thriller rather than science fiction.
The stories give a idea of the sort of things that were popular with readers of pulp science fiction in the thirties and forties.
August 1, 2016
Read this long ago
Read it again. Still liked it. Growing up in the fifties I loved science fiction. Fred Brown was one of my favorites. Martians Go Home, and What Mad Universe were two of his best novels. One of his best short stories was The Waveries. Glad younger readers are getting to read him. I hope more of his work appears here!
Read it again. Still liked it. Growing up in the fifties I loved science fiction. Fred Brown was one of my favorites. Martians Go Home, and What Mad Universe were two of his best novels. One of his best short stories was The Waveries. Glad younger readers are getting to read him. I hope more of his work appears here!
November 4, 2008
Fredric Brown is among my favorite authors. I love everything he has written.
Read
April 9, 2010it s so cool
September 28, 2012
Lo mejor que he leído de Brown después de 'Marciano, vete a casa'.
November 8, 2012
I'm not a huge science fiction fan by any stretch, but I found this a witty and intriguing book. Never quite sure where the stories were going, but enjoyed getting there. Good, fun read.
May 30, 2018
Playful and fun - reminds me of a mildly emotional episode of Futurama. Worth a read!
dnf
July 2, 2018This is my comment on the original story, from Planet Stories, Spring 1942.
Could not finish due to "humorous" stage German accent when character is *talking to himself*.
Could not finish due to "humorous" stage German accent when character is *talking to himself*.
Displaying 1 - 24 of 24 reviews