Thursday, February 8, 2018

A new Fredric Brown memoir has been published!

Oh, for the Life of an Author's Wife, a memoir written by Elizabeth Brown in the late 1950s about her life with mystery and science fiction author Fredric Brown, has just been published by Chad Calkins. A portion of the book was published in Dennis McMillan's limited edition volume, Happy Endings, in 1990, but this is the first time the entire book has been published. The book includes three rare photographs of the Browns.

From the back cover:

Fredric Brown (1906-1972) was the author of many classic mystery and science fiction short stories and novels, such as The Screaming Mimi, Night of the Jabberwock, and What Mad Universe. His work has been adapted for such television shows as Alfred Hitchcock Presents, The Outer Limits, and Star Trek.

In this entertaining memoir by his second wife, Elizabeth Charlier Brown (1902-1986), Brown’s life as a Bohemian writer for about a decade, beginning in the late 1940s, is detailed, and Ms. Brown tells many humorous and fascinating stories about her husband and their time together. The Browns met many famous writers while living in cities from New York to California and Ms. Brown writes about her husband’s unusual methods of developing his complex and zany stories.


Oh, for the Life of an Author’s Wife is published here in its entirety for the first time and is an important addition to the growing study of Fredric Brown, as well as to the popular subject of classic American mystery and science fiction literature in general.


The book is available on Amazon here.


10 comments:

Peter Enfantino said...

Congrats, Jack, on landing the intro gig! I'll be ordering this one pronto.

Jack Seabrook said...

Thanks, Peter! I hope Chad sells some books. It looks really nice.

John said...

This is good news! I've always liked his writing.

Jack Seabrook said...

Thanks, John!

George said...

I've just read your fine INTRODUCTION and I'm starting Oh, for the Life of an Author's Wife right now. I'm a big fan of Fredric Brown's works and I'm looking forward to learning more about him.

Jack Seabrook said...

Thanks, George. I hope you enjoy the book.

SteveHL said...

I will be ordering this right away. Of course, it probably won't be as interesting and informative as Martians and Misplaced Clues: The Life and Work of Fredric Brown, published in 1993 by Popular Press. That was written by a very fine writer named Jack Seabrook.

Jack Seabrook said...

Thanks, Steve! I think you’ll enjoy the book.

Brian Durant said...

Congratulations, Jack! You are an authority on Brown's work and I look forward to reading your introduction as well as a memoir from someone who was so close to him. It's been a few years since I've read his stuff and I think I'm ready to dive back into it.

Jack Seabrook said...

Thanks, Brian! Chad did a very nice job with the book.