[Martians and Madness 01] • Martians and Madness

From Booklist

One of the best pulp writers, Brown (1906-72) wrote much sf and more mysteries (he was better at mysteries: see his Ed and Am capers, collected in Hunter and Hunted, 2002). His good sf--all faulty as prophecy--includes two fine, quirky novels; since he wrote just five sf novels, that gives him Ted Williams' batting average. The five as well as two stories he combined to make up one of the novels are in this companion to From These Ashes: The Complete Short SF of Fredric Brown (2001). The classics are What Mad Universe (1949), an alternate-reality romp featuring some great scary scenes and lots of laughs, and Martians, Go Home (1955), in which the little green men are all lethal wisecrackers. Less impressive but worthwhile are Rogue in Space (1957), in which the disillusioned tough-guy hero gets his own world, and The Mind Thing (1961), a deliciously low-key variation on the alien-invasion theme. The Lights in the Sky Are Stars (1953) is a snooze because, whereas Brown always tacked on a happy ending, it's all happy ending. Ray Olson

Contents

9 • Introduction (Martians and Madness) • essay by William Tenn (variant of Introduction (What Mad Universe) 1978) [as by Philip Klass ]

19 • What Mad Universe • (1949) • novel by Fredric Brown

145 • The Lights in the Sky Are Stars • (1953) • novel by Fredric Brown

245 • Martians, Go Home • (1955) • novel by Fredric Brown

347 • Rogue in Space • (1957) • novel by Fredric Brown

453 • The Mind Thing • (1961) • novel by Fredric Brown

573 • Gateway to Darkness • (1949) • novelette by Fredric Brown

607 • Gateway to Glory • (1950) • novelette by Fredric Brown

[637] • Editor's Notes and Acknowledgements (Martians and Madness) • essay by Ben Yalow