All of 1944 Fredric Brown worked hard on his first novel, The Fabulous Clipjoint. It didn’t appear until 1947. Things were changing for Brown. He had given up his old life, left his wife and kids, and remarried. Living the itinerant lifestyle of an artist, he moved around. Eventually he would land in Taos, New Mexico, far from the world of publishing. During this time he would partner up with Mack Reynolds to produce a number of SF tales.
He also began producing two novels a year in the Mystery field, as well as collecting some of his old stories. This section takes Brown to the end of the Pulps when his work will appear on television. His style of Mystery-Suspense is perfect for Pepsi-Cola Playhouse. Writing Mystery novels, he began to produce more Science Fiction short fiction for the new SF magazines like Galaxy and Fantasy & Science Fiction. Classics like ‘Knock” and “The Weapon” (perennial favorite of the High School text book anthologies) were written during the early 1950s.
His love affair with short-short fiction begins with the publication of Angels and Spaceships, 1954. In the future, most of Brown’s SF work would be shorter.
1947
The Fabulous Clipjont (1947)
“A Voice Behind Him” (Mystery Book, January 1947)
“Don’t Look Behind You” (Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine, May 1947)
“Miss Darkness” (Avon Detective Mysteries #3, 1947)
1948
The Dead Ringer (1948)
The Plot For Murder (aka Murder Can Be Fun) (1948)
“I’ll Cut Your Throat Again, Kathleen” (Mystery Book, Winter 1948)
“The Dead Ringer” (Mystery Book, Spring 1948)
“Four Letter Word (aka “The Greatest Poem Ever Written”) (Adventure, April 1948)
“The Four Blind Men” (Adventure, September 1948)
“What Mad Universe” (Startling Stories, September 1948)
“The Laughing Butcher” (Mystery Book, Fall 1948)
“If Looks Could Kill” (aka “The Joke”) (Detective Tales, October 1948)
“Cry Silence” (Black Mask, November 1948)
“Red-Hot and Hunted” (Detective Tales, November 1948)
“Knock” (Thrilling Wonder Stories, December 1948)
1949
The Bloody Moonlight (1949)
The Screaming Mimi (1949)
What Mad Universe (1949)
“This Way Out” (Dime Mystery, February 1949)
“All Good Bems” (Thrilling Wonder Stories, April 1949)
“Murder and Matilda” (Mystery Book, Summer 1949)
“Mouse” (Thrilling Wonder Stories, June 1949)
“Last Curtain” (aka “Cream of the Jest”) (New Detective, July 1949)
“Come and Go Mad” (Weird Tales, July 1949)
“Each Night He Died” (aka “Cain”) (Dime Mystery, August 1949)
“Crisis, 1999” (Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine, August 1949)
“Letter to a Phoenix” (Astounding Science-Fiction, August 1949)
“The Cat from Siam” (Popular Detective, September 1949)
“The House of Fear” (New Detective, September 1949)
“The Sinister Mr. Dexter” (aka “House of Fear”) (New Detective, September 1949)
“Deadly Weekend” (Mystery Book, Fall 1949)
“Gateway to Darkness” (Super Science Stories, November 1949)
1950
Compliments of a Fiend (1950)
Here Comes a Candle (1950)
Night of the Jabberwock (1950)
“The Bloody Moonlight” (2 Detective Mystery Novels, Winter 1950)
“The Last Train” (Weird Tales, January 1950)
“Death and Nine Lives” (Black Book Detective, Spring 1950)
“Blind Lead” (Detective Tales, June 1950)
“The Case of the Dancing Sandwiches” (Mystery Book, Summer 1950)
“The Nose of Don Aristide” (2 Detective Mystery Novels, Summer 1950)
“Vengeance Unlimited” (Super Science Stories, July 1950)
“From These Ashes” (Amazing Stories, August 1950)
“Walk in the Shadows” (Giant Detective, Fall 1950)
“The Undying Ones” (aka “Obedience”) (Super Science Stories, September 1950)
“The Frownzly Forgels” (Other Worlds, October 1950)
“Gateway to Glory” (Amazing Stories, October 1950)
“The Last Martian” (Galaxy, October 1950)
“Honeymoon in Hell” (Galaxy, November 1950)
“Mitkey Rides Again” (Planet Stories, November 1950)
“Six-Legged Svengali” (with Mack Reynolds) (Worlds Beyond, December 1950)
1951
Death has Many Doors (1951)
The Far Cry (1951)
Space On my Hands (1951)
“Something Green” (Space on My Hands, 1951)
“Dark Interlude” (with Mack Reynolds) (Galaxy, January 1951)
“A Man of Distinction” (Thrilling Wonder Stories, February 1951)
“The Switcheroo” (with Mack Reynolds) (Other Worlds, March 1951)
“Compliments of a Fiend” (2 Complete Detective Books, March 1951)
“The Weapon” (Astounding Science-Fiction, April 1951)
“Garrigan’s Bems” (aka “Cartoonist”) (with Mack Reynolds) (Planet Stories, May 1951)
“The Dome” (Thrilling Wonder Stories, August 1951)
Tales of Tomorrow – “The Last Man on Earth” (August 31, 1951) – based on “Knock”
“A Word From Our Sponsor” (Other Worlds, September 1951)
“The Gamblers” (with Mack Reynolds) (Startling Stories, November 1951)
“The Hatchetman” (with Mack Reynolds) (Amazing Stories, December 1951)
1952
We All Killed Grandma (1952)
“The Robot, the Girl, the Poet and the Android” (with Fritz Leiber and Judith Merrill) (Orb v3 #1, 1952)
“The Gibbering Night” (New Detective, February 1952)
Tales of Tomorrow – “Age of Peril” (February 15, 1952) – based on “Crisis, 1999”
“The Ghostbreakers” (5 Detective Novels Magazine, Summer 1952)
“To Slay a Man About a Dog” (Dime Detective, June 1952)
“Compliments of a Fiend” (5 Detective Novels Magazine, Winter 1952)
“Me and Flapjack and the Martians” (with Mack Reynolds) (Astounding Science-Fiction, December 1952)
1953
The Deep End (1953)
Madball (1953)
Mostly Murder (1953)
The Shaggy Dog and Other Murders (1953)
The Lights in the Sky Are Stars (1953)
Science-Fiction Carnival (1953) (edited with Mack Reynolds)
“See No Murder” (aka “Witness in the Dark”) (New Detective, June 1953)
“The Pickled Punks” (The Saint Mystery Magazine, June-July 1953)
“The Wench is Dead” (Manhunt, July 1953)
“Pi in the Sky” (Fantastic Story, July 1953)
“The Little Lamb” (Manhunt, August 1953)
“Rustle of Wings” (Fantasy & Science Fiction, August 1953)
“The Amazing Dip” (Manhunt, September 1953)
Pepsi-Cola Playhouse – “The House Nobody Wanted” (November 13, 1953)
Pepsi-Cola Playhouse – “The Motive Goes Round and Round” (December 11, 1953)
“Hall of Mirrors” (Galaxy, December 1953)
1954
His Name Was Death (1954)
Angels and Spaceships, 1954
“Answer” (Angels and Spaceships, 1954)
“Daisies” (Angels and Spaceships, 1954)
“Politeness” (Angels and Spaceships, 1954)
“Sentence” (Angels and Spaceships, 1954)
“Preposterous” (Angels and Spaceships, 1954)
“Reconciliation” (Angels and Spaceships, 1954)
“Search” (Angels and Spaceships, 1954)
“Solipsist” (Angels and Spaceships, 1954)
Pepsi-Cola Playhouse – “Miss Darkness” (January 3, 1954)
“Experiment” (Galaxy, February 1954)
“Sentry” (Galaxy, February 1954)
“Two-Timer” (Galaxy, February 1954)
“Keep Out” (Amazing Stories, March 1954)
“Double Whammy” (Beyond Fantasy Fiction, September 1954)
“Naturally” (Beyond Fantasy Fiction, September 1954)
“Voodoo” (Beyond Fantasy Fiction, September 1954)
“Martians, Go Home!” (Astounding Science-Fiction, September 1954)
Studio 57 – “The Traveling Room” (October 12, 1954)
Part 3 will see Brown become more reclusive and his legacy after his death….
