The Fredric Brown Megapack

A Note from the Publisher

Fredric Brown (1906-1972) is perhaps best remembered for his use of humor and his mastery of the “short-short” form (these days called flash fiction)—stories of one to three pages, often with ingenious plotting devices and surprise endings. He was just as accomplished in the mystery field as in science fiction, and he won an Edgar Award from the Mystery Writers of America for his first novel, The Fabulous Clipjoint.

I discovered Fredric Brown’s work in the mid 1970s through the wonderful Science Fiction Hall of Fame anthology series. The concept of the series was that each volume contained some of the greatest science fiction stories published before 1965, as voted on by the membership of the Science Fiction Writers of America (and then winnowed down by each volume’s editor). The theory being, of course, that science fiction writers ought to know the best of the best.

SFWA members selected Fredric Brown’s story “Arena,” which is in this collection, as one of the top 20 science fiction stories. (“Arena” was also adapted as an episode of the original Star Trek TV series—you will probably recognize it as soon as you start reading.) I have chosen to lead off The Fredric Brown Megapack with “Arena” because, for anyone new to Fredric Brown’s fantastic work, this story is an ideal starting point.

But if you are already familiar with Brown’s work, I hope you will find a few tales new to you here. For the others, you will doubtless enjoy revisiting the work of one of science fiction’s masters.

Enjoy!