Honeymoon in Hell [Paperback]

Fredric Brown (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: 1982

About the Story: HONEYMOON IN HELL appeared in the second issue of GALAXY dated November 1950. (Browns THE LAST MARTIAN had appeared in the first issue a month previous.) Browns name on the table of contents of the first two issues, along with the names of other major contributors to ASTOUNDING - Clifford Simak, Isaac Asimov, Theodore Sturgeon, Fritz Leiber, Anthony Boucher - made clear that Gold was going directly after John W. Campbells audience and the stories which he had printed were of a different order from what these writers had sold ASTOUNDING. They were darker, more socially aware, in cases (Richard Mathesons COMING ATTRACTION) sexually frank in a fashion inconceivable in Campbells magazine. This novelette, dealing frankly with copulation and its desired consequences, was managed in a way far less euphemistic than had been the Campbellian norm and Brown, as he was to do often in the stories to follow, used a satirical attack which if it did not question magazine taboos certainly parodied them. The covers of pulp magazines such as PLANET or STARTLING depicted monsters putting near-naked females in peril, but the narratives under the cover by design offered no equivalent. Browns hastily married couple, sent to the Moon to see if they could breed a male child (all births on Earth over recent months have been female), encounter problems emotional as well as practical. Difficult as it may be to understand sixty years later, the employment of the word hell in a magazine cover title was also an act of provocation. The story was a provocation in its entirety, although, of course - and as Paul di Filippo suggests in his introduction - perhaps you had to be there. About the Author: Fredric Brown (1906-1972) was the only writer to achieve equal prominence in the mystery and science fiction. NIGHT OF THE JABBERWOCKY (1947) won the first MWA Edgar for first novel and all of his mysteries remain much in demand overseas where he has always been very popular. Several of those mysteries (THE SCREAMING MIMI, 1958) were adapted for film. Browns science fiction includes novels (WHAT MAD UNIVERSE, MARTIANS GO HOME!) and shorter work regarded as classics of the form (ARENA, THE STAR MOUSE, PLACET IS A CRAZY PLACE). He was also the acknowledged master of the short-short story; a famous collection, NIGHTMARES AND GEEZENSTACKS (1954) demonstrates his consistent mastery of a form self-limited to a top wordage of 500. ARENA (1944) was the basis of a famed Star Trek episode, MARTIANS GO HOME! was adapted for a 1992 film; THE LAST MARTIAN was adapted for Serlings THE TWILIGHT ZONE and starred Steve McQueen at the start of his career. Poor health (weak lungs) forced Brown into Arizona retirement in 1963 and he published only one short story in collaboration in his last eight years. His work, forty years after his death, is increasingly prominent. About The Galaxy Project: Horace Gold led GALAXY magazine from its first issue dated October 1950 to science fictions most admired, widely circulated and influential magazine throughout its initial decade. Its legendary importance came from publication of full length novels, novellas and novelettes. GALAXY published nearly every giant in the science fiction field. The Galaxy Project is a selection of the best of GALAXY with new forewords by some of todays best science fiction writers. The initial selections in alphabetical order include work by Ray Bradbury, Frederic Brown, Lester del Rey, Robert A. Heinlein, Damon Knight, C. M. Kornbluth, Walter M. Miller, Jr., Frederik Pohl, Robert Sheckley, Robert Silverberg, William Tenn (Phillip Klass) and Kurt Vonnegut with new Forewords by Paul di Filippo, David Drake, John Lutz, Barry Malzberg and Robert Silverberg. The Galaxy Project is committed to publishing new work in the spirit GALAXY magazine and its founding editor Horace Gold.

--This text refers to the Kindle Edition edition.

Product Details

• Paperback: 150 pages
• Publisher: Bantam Books (1982)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0553207520
• ISBN-13: 978-0553207521
• Product Dimensions: 7.8 x 5.1 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,131,326 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars This is real nightmare material..., February 3, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: Honeymoon in Hell (Paperback)

It's easy to slice, dice, slash, and bash; much harder to take the subtle approach and write something that worms its way into the subconscious and refuses to go away. I couldn't have been more than ten when I first read "The Arena"; thirty-five years later, I still remember it vividly (vividly enough that, whenever I look at a sandbox, I recall the story. How's that for persistence of memory?). It didn't frighten me in the way a horror movie might; it did, however, give me a huge case of the creeps. Bravo to Fredric Brown... and get this book back into print!

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars One of our great writers, March 8, 2003

By A Customer

This review is from: Honeymoon in Hell (Paperback)

I remember reading this collection about ten years ago and how
much i enjoyed Fredric Brown's worlds. I think that "The Weapon", a short story in this collection, is one of the greatest short stories ever written by anyone, anywhere and a startling anti-war statement. "The Arena" is also a classic and the use of this story for the original episode of the first Star Trek series never really did it justice. I give "Honeymoon in Hell" my highest recommendation.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great mind-benders from the master of short-short stories, July 9, 2008

By 

David F. Nolan (Tucson, AZ United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Honeymoon in Hell (Paperback)

Fredric Brown was the acknowledged master of "short-shorts" - stories that typically ran only 5-10 pages in length, sometimes only a page or two. "Honeymoon in Hell" collects 21 of these stories into a slim volume, and you'd be hard-put to come up with a better collection of imaginative, evocative, and sometimes frightening vignettes. Worth seeking out - or you can get all of Brown's short stories in one volume if you purchase the NESFA anthology "From These Ashes." (A companion volume, "Martians and Madness," anthologizes Brown's five SF novels.)