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Sheer happenstance: Jaycee
I was commenting on a question about a supposed virgin birth over on Askville, and was reminded of Fredric Brown's story "Jaycee". It didn't take me long to find the text of the story in someone's blog. I couldn't resist writing a rather lengthy comment. I wouldn't want all that writing to go to waste, so here it is:
It's nice to see another Fredric Brown fan!
He also wrote a lot of mysteries, both short stories and novels. If you haven't read them, you'll be delighted when you do: they have the same wit, humor, and unique Brown flair that make his SF so memorable.
Brown's first mystery novel, The Fabulous Clipjoint, won the Edger award for best first novel (the highest honor that a mystery novel can win). It's startlingly timeless, and has a depth of characterization that's classic Brown: the characters really stay with you, and feel real. He wrote several sequels featuring the same detective team (Ed and Am Hunter, a young man and his uncle).
Brown's mysteries in general are of the hardboiled detective genre, but many feature typical Brown themes: carnival workers ("carnies"), Alice In Wonderland, astronomy, the supernatural (always disproved, of course), humor, and often a surprising twist - although he certainly didn't depend on twist endings to write satisfactory stories.
There have been a number of collections published of Brown's short mysteries, most of them written for the pulp magazines of the time. They're great stuff. Unfortunately pretty much every publisher who has started putting out collections of his stories (small mystery publishers, all) has gone out of business after only a few volumes. I don't think that any of his mysteries are currently in print. But you can usually find at least some of them via inter-library loan, and of course used book stores and websites can be used to find them too.
I should note that some of his short stories are a bit dated. They were written during World War II, many of them, and there are some cultural referents which might go over the heads of young people like "Ibod Catooga" who aren't familiar with the 1940s and 1950s. Although it's worth pointing out that the Junior Chamber of Commerce actually still does exist. The point, Ibod (although there's clearly not much point in explaining this to you) is that members of the Junior Chamber of Commerce were/are called "J.C.'s" or "Jaycees"...and the parthenogenic (i.e. virgin) births in the stories produced a generation of children who, as the story reveals, can perform miracles like turning water into wine and walking on water. Hint: what other famous figure was supposed to be able to perform the same sorts of miracles? What were his initials?
Although nobody writes like Brown, Anthony Boucher was arguably the closest to Brown's style; unfortunately he didn't write much science fiction, only enough for a volume or two (The Compleat Werewolf was in print again fairly recently). He was extremely influential as an editor and reviewer, however, and perhaps not coincidentally also wrote many mysteries; they're as delightful as his SF.
Robert Sheckley had (has) a more modern sensibility than Brown, which is only appropriate since he's from a later era - he started writing in the late 1950s, I believe, and the 1960s influenced him heavily. But he wrote many brilliant and funny short stories with twist endings. His novels are mostly a bit weaker.
Ron Goulart is even quirkier than Sheckley, at times, but he too writes witty and funny short SF. He also has written a fair amount of mystery novels.
Lastly, Robert Arthur was a contemporary of Brown, which may explain the similarities of their writing styles. Arthur did a fair amount of work for Alfred Hitchcock (both as an editor and a writer), and turned out several books of short stories - mystery, horror, and fantasy - mostly aimed at younger readers. He also created the classic "Three Investigators" series for teens.
Oh almost forgot: The Great Explosion by Eric Frank Russell (another contemporary of Brown) is a short, funny SF novel which reminds me strongly of Fredric Brown's style. It's a classic.
Thanks for the text of "Jaycee"!
It's nice to see another Fredric Brown fan!
He also wrote a lot of mysteries, both short stories and novels. If you haven't read them, you'll be delighted when you do: they have the same wit, humor, and unique Brown flair that make his SF so memorable.
Brown's first mystery novel, The Fabulous Clipjoint, won the Edger award for best first novel (the highest honor that a mystery novel can win). It's startlingly timeless, and has a depth of characterization that's classic Brown: the characters really stay with you, and feel real. He wrote several sequels featuring the same detective team (Ed and Am Hunter, a young man and his uncle).
Brown's mysteries in general are of the hardboiled detective genre, but many feature typical Brown themes: carnival workers ("carnies"), Alice In Wonderland, astronomy, the supernatural (always disproved, of course), humor, and often a surprising twist - although he certainly didn't depend on twist endings to write satisfactory stories.
There have been a number of collections published of Brown's short mysteries, most of them written for the pulp magazines of the time. They're great stuff. Unfortunately pretty much every publisher who has started putting out collections of his stories (small mystery publishers, all) has gone out of business after only a few volumes. I don't think that any of his mysteries are currently in print. But you can usually find at least some of them via inter-library loan, and of course used book stores and websites can be used to find them too.
I should note that some of his short stories are a bit dated. They were written during World War II, many of them, and there are some cultural referents which might go over the heads of young people like "Ibod Catooga" who aren't familiar with the 1940s and 1950s. Although it's worth pointing out that the Junior Chamber of Commerce actually still does exist. The point, Ibod (although there's clearly not much point in explaining this to you) is that members of the Junior Chamber of Commerce were/are called "J.C.'s" or "Jaycees"...and the parthenogenic (i.e. virgin) births in the stories produced a generation of children who, as the story reveals, can perform miracles like turning water into wine and walking on water. Hint: what other famous figure was supposed to be able to perform the same sorts of miracles? What were his initials?
Although nobody writes like Brown, Anthony Boucher was arguably the closest to Brown's style; unfortunately he didn't write much science fiction, only enough for a volume or two (The Compleat Werewolf was in print again fairly recently). He was extremely influential as an editor and reviewer, however, and perhaps not coincidentally also wrote many mysteries; they're as delightful as his SF.
Robert Sheckley had (has) a more modern sensibility than Brown, which is only appropriate since he's from a later era - he started writing in the late 1950s, I believe, and the 1960s influenced him heavily. But he wrote many brilliant and funny short stories with twist endings. His novels are mostly a bit weaker.
Ron Goulart is even quirkier than Sheckley, at times, but he too writes witty and funny short SF. He also has written a fair amount of mystery novels.
Lastly, Robert Arthur was a contemporary of Brown, which may explain the similarities of their writing styles. Arthur did a fair amount of work for Alfred Hitchcock (both as an editor and a writer), and turned out several books of short stories - mystery, horror, and fantasy - mostly aimed at younger readers. He also created the classic "Three Investigators" series for teens.
Oh almost forgot: The Great Explosion by Eric Frank Russell (another contemporary of Brown) is a short, funny SF novel which reminds me strongly of Fredric Brown's style. It's a classic.
Thanks for the text of "Jaycee"!