Fredric Brown

Fredric Brown (October 29, 1906 – March 11, 1972) was an American science fiction and mystery writer. He is known for his use of humor and for his mastery of the "short short" form—stories of 1 to 3 pages, often with ingenious plotting devices and surprise endings, such as the masterpiece "Sentry". Humor and a somewhat postmodern outlook carried over into his novels as well. One of his stories, "Arena", is officially credited for an adaptation as an episode of the American television series Star Trek. 2Works Brown was born in Cincinnati. He began to sell mystery short stories to American magazines from 1936. His first science fiction story, "Not Yet the End", was published in the Winter 1941 issue of the magazine Captain Future. His science fiction novel What Mad Universe (1949) is a parody of pulp SF story conventions. Martians, Go Home (1955) is both 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 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 i