Honeymoon in Hell

by Fredric Brown

Contents:

1 · Honeymoon in Hell · nv Galaxy Nov ’50
36 · Too Far · vi F&SF Sep ’55
38 · Man of Distinction · ss Thrilling Wonder Stories Feb ’51
47 · Millennium · vi F&SF Mar ’55
49 · The Dome · ss Thrilling Wonder Stories Aug ’51
58 · Blood · vi F&SF Feb ’55
60 · Hall of Mirrors · ss Galaxy Dec ’53
67 · Experiment · vi Galaxy Feb ’54; Two Timer, gp
69 · The Last Martian · ss Galaxy Oct ’50
78 · Sentry · vi Galaxy Feb ’54; Two Timer, gp
80 · Mouse · ss Thrilling Wonder Stories Jun ’49
91 · Naturally · vi Beyond Fantasy Fiction Sep ’54; Double Whammy, gp
93 · Voodoo · vi Beyond Fantasy Fiction Sep ’54; Double Whammy, gp
95 · “Arena” · nv Astounding Jun ’44
124 · Keep Out · ss Amazing Mar ’54
128 · First Time Machine · vi EQMM Sep ’55; Killers Three, gp
130 · And the Gods Laughed · ss Planet Stories Spr ’44
144 · The Weapon · ss Astounding Apr ’51
148 · A Word from Our Sponsor · ss Other Worlds Sep ’51
164 · Rustle of Wings · ss F&SF Aug ’53
170 · Imagine · pp F&SF May ’55

Genres: Science Fiction, Short Stories, Fantasy, Fiction, Horror, Speculative Fiction, Pulp

150 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published January 1, 1958

About the author

Fredric Brown was an American science fiction and mystery writer. He was one of the boldest early writers in genre fiction in his use of narrative experimentation. While never in the front rank of popularity in his lifetime, Brown has developed a considerable cult following in the almost half century since he last wrote. His works have been periodically reprinted and he has a worldwide fan base, most notably in the U.S. and Europe, and especially in France, where there have been several recent movie adaptations of his work. He also remains popular in Japan.

Never financially secure, Brown - like many other pulp writers - often wrote at a furious pace in order to pay bills. This accounts, at least in part, for the uneven quality of his work. A newspaperman by profession, Brown was only able to devote 14 years of his life as a full-time fiction writer. Brown was also a heavy drinker, and this at times doubtless affected his productivity. A cultured man and omnivorous reader whose interests ranged far beyond those of most pulp writers, Brown had a lifelong interest in the flute, chess, poker, and the works of Lewis Carroll. Brown married twice and was the father of two sons.

Reviews

[Craig · Rating 4 out of 5]

Honeymoon in Hell was Brown's third collection of science fiction and fantasy stories, and contains a lot of his best work in the field. Many of the stories date from the middle of the McCarthy era and show a resigned acceptance of political pessimism and potential nuclear doom. Brown was a master satirist, and his quirky plots and twisty endings were always a delight. Among my favorites in the one is his classic "Arena"...which I doubt that anyone can read anymore without picturing William Shatner heaving Styrofoam rocks at a giant lizard with that clangorous soundtrack blaring. (Note that the story Mouse in this book is not the same story as his famous The Star Mouse.) The cover of my edition is part of Hieronymus Bosch's Garden of Earthly Delights which almost got my copy confiscated because it was assumed I was reading pornography at school.

[Still · Rating 4 out of 5]

Enjoyable if jokey Science Fiction flavored short-shorts. Brown was a brilliantly gifted writer I’m only now rediscovering.

[Alice · Rating 5 out of 5]

5*

So this dude Carson is in an alien space battle when something weird happens and he falls into a planet which is the "Arena". A magical voice enters his mind and pits him to a fight to the death with a member of the alien species he was fighting in space. The alien is a red sphere with tentacles. See it's on the cover. I have no idea what the other thing is though. That creature is not in the book.

Carson and The Sphere are separated by a barrier in the arena so they both have to find out how to kill each other with this wall of separation between them. The sphere only having tentacles puts it at a huge disadvantage in my opinion. The strategies used were very cool. Really entertaining story.

So in the beginning Carson thinks he might be in hell, but everything in the Arena is blue so he's like I can't be in hell everything's blue... Then he notices the enemy RED sphere in the distance... XD

"CARSON OPENED HIS EYES, and found himself looking upwards into a flickering blue dimness.

It was hot, and he was lying on sand, and a rock embedded in the sand was hurting his back. He rolled over to his side, off the rock, and then pushed himself up to a sitting position.

‘I’m crazy,’ he thought. ‘Crazy -- or dead -- or something.’ the sand was blue, bright blue. And there wasn’t any such thing as bright blue sand on Earth or any of the planets. Blue sand under a blue dome that wasn’t the sky nor yet a room, but a circumscribed area -- somehow he knew it was circumscribed and infinite even though he couldn’t see to the top of it."

Short story from 1944, 27 pages officially
Full story: http://www.ucs.louisiana.edu/~jjl5766...

[Tentatively, Convenience · Rating 3 out of 5]

review of Fredric Brown's
Honeymoon in Hell
by tENTATIVELY, a cONVENIENCE - September 30, 2018

This is a collection of Brown short stories. The title story is the 1st one & is copyrighted 1950. It begins:

"On September 16th in the year 1962, things were going along the same as usual, only a little worse. The cold war that had been waxing and waning between the United States and the Eastern Alliance—Russia, Dhina, and their lesser satellites—was warmer than it had ever been. War, hot war, seemed not only inevitable but extremely imminent.

"The race for the Moon was an immediate cause. Each nation had landed a few men on it and each claimed it." - p 1

There's Brown's prediction. He was wrong. Not that I think Brown was really trying to be a prophet. I read another story based around the race for the moon 6 mnths ago: Pierre Boulle's Garden on the Moon ( "Pierre Boulle: Conducts!": https://www.goodreads.com/story/show/... ). Boulle's was more scientifically researched, Brown's was funnier. I liked them both.

W/o giving away too much (I hope), the ending of this story is similar to the ending of Mack Reynolds's novel After Utopia:

""Listen, Junior, why are you telling me this? If what happened is a colossal hoax, why let me in on it?"

""It is to the interests in humanity in general not to know the truth. Believing in the existence of inimical extra-terrestrials, they will attain peace and amity among themselves, and they will reach the planets and then the stars. It is, however, to your personal interest to know the truth. And you will not expose the hoax." - p 34

There's something similar to the ending of Brown's novel Martians, Go Home. Much SF after WWII was understandably preoccupied w/ the possibility of humans blowing ourselves to smithereens w/ our new superweapons & what-the-fuck-can-be-done-about-it?! Ideas of how to get humans to stop hating each other by getting us all to hate an imaginary ET were as practical as any.

The next story, "The Dome", takes another common theme: post-apocalyptic-war conditions & puts a positive spin on it:

"The gray wall was gone—what lay beyond it was sheerly incredible.

"Not the Cleveland he'd known but a beautiful city, a new city. What had been a narrow street was a wide boulevard. The houses, the buildings, were clean and beautiful, the style of architecture strange to him. Grass, trees, everything well kept. What had happened—how could it be? After atomic war mankind couldn't possibly have come back this far, this quickly." - p 55

What if, insteasd of an atomic war, we just tear each other part at a more local level? Over petty disagreements at work or in the line at a supermarket? That might be more of a J.G.Ballard prediction. That might bring us into a "Hall of Mirrors":

"The 'closet' from which you have just stepped is, as you have now realized, a time machine. From it you stepped into the world of 2004. The date is April 7th, just fifty years from the time you last remember." - p 62

That story was copyrighted 1953, the year I was born. I've already lived thru 2004, it's in my past. I have yet to read a story that predicts accurately all the things that have caused paradigm shifts around me: most notably home computers, the internet, & smart-phones. Unfortunately, religious wars still plague us, the war between the sexes still plagues us, delusions of ethnic & racial superiority still plague us. Even smart-phones haven't conquered those mental illnesses. Brown, like any good SF short story writer, is expert at putting a new spin on something in just a few pages:

""Do you see how our previous theories of time travel have been wrong? We expected to be able to step into a time machine in, say, 2004, set it for fifty years back, and then step out in the year 1954 . . . but it does not work that way. The machine does not move in time. Only whatever is within the machine is affected, and then just with relation to itself and not to the rest of the Universe.

""I confirmed this with guinea pigs by sending one six weeks old five weeks back and it came out a baby.["]" - p 64

In "Mouse" the narrator explains his view from his window of a spaceship being investigated to his cat:

""A metallurgist, Beautiful," Bill Wheeler explained to the Siamese, who wasn't watching at all. "And I'll bet you ten pounds of liver to one miaouw he finds that's an alloy that's brand new to him.["]" - p 83

Why I was just having a conversation like that w/ Harvey t'other day. In fact, I was telling Harvey that "Naturally" has the perfect short story premise:

"Mathematics in general had always been difficult for him and now he was finding that geometry was impossible for him to learn.

"And if he flunked it, he was through with college; he'd flunked three other courses in his first two years and another failure this year would, under college rules, cause automatic explulsion.

"He wanted that college degree badly too, since it was indispensable for the career he'd chosen and worked towad. Only a miracle could save him now.

"He sat up suddenly as an idea struck him. Why not try magic?" - p 91

Yep, magic or a pill. Of course, what wd've worked best wd've been for him to be at a rich person's university. Then there's no way they'd flunk him, the tuition wd be too big to lose.

"And the Gods Laughed": It seems to me that I've run across the idea of a "Liar's Club" in other bks, probably even in at least one other SF bk:

"With most of the day to do nothing else, you listen to some real whoppers, stories that would make the old-time Liar's Club back on Earth seem like Sunday-school meetings." - p 130

So I looked for Liar's Club online & didn't find any immediate historical references. Instead, there's the Perfect Liar's Club in Washington, DC — that seems like an appropriate locale; & another bar called simply Liar's Club in Chicago. Then there's "The Liars' Club", "a memoir by American author Mary Karr. Published in 1995, it tells the story of Karr's childhood in the 1960s in a small industrial town" ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Lia... ) & "The Liars Club — A Blog by People Who Lie for a Living". That latter's more like it. Lying isn't usually just tall-tale telling, it's tall-tale telling w/ an ulterior motive. Like the kind of ulterior motive you'd have if you were an earing-like creature wanting to take over a host body:

""You're crazy," Charlie said, "Sure, I know you were on that expedition and I wasn't, but you're still crazy, because I had a quick look at some of the pictures they brought back. The natives wore earrings."

""No," I said. "Earrings wore them." - p 131

Think about that the next time you date someone w/ a genital or tongue or nipple piercing. Maybe the people are nothing more than "A Word from Our Sponsor":

"Eight-thirty o'clock continued its way around the world. Mostly in jumps of an even hour from time-zone to time-zone, but not always; some time-zones vary for that system—as Singapore, on the half hour; as Calcutta, seven minutes short of the hour." - p 151

Do you mean the world hasn't been standardized yet? Well, yes, it has.. but it hadn't been as of the time of this story:

"As part of British Malaya, Singapore originally adopted the Malayan time, which was 7 hours 30 minutes ahead of GMT in 1941.

"Following the Japanese occupation, Malaya adopted Tokyo time of GMT+9 on 15 February 1942. Although official appointments were made according to Tokyo time it was common practice to keep two separate times: the pre-Occupation time at home and Tokyo time on personal watches.

"At the end of World War II and the return of Malaya to the British, Singapore reverted to its pre-war timezone.

"Daylight saving time in Singapore

"Although Singapore does not currently observe daylight saving time in the traditional sense due to its tropical location, a form of daylight saving time, using a 20-minute offset, was introduced on an annual basis by the Legislative Council of the Straits Settlements in 1933.

"In 1932, Sir Arnold Robinson raised the idea of 20-minute offset after an earlier attempt was abandoned in 1920 which was first proposed by Sir Laurence Guillemard for a 30-minute offset.The 20-minute offset was formally adopted as standard time in Singapore in 1936, and in 1 September 1941 the offset was increased to 30 minutes, the same as the 1920 proposal.

"Malaysian standardisation

"In 1981, Malaysia decided to standardize the time across its territories to a uniform UTC+08:00. Singapore elected to follow suit, citing business and travel schedules. The change took effect on 1 January 1982, when Singapore moved half an hour forward, on 31 December 1981 at 11:30 pm, creating "Singapore Standard Time" (SST). SST is eight hours ahead of UTC and is synchronized with Hong Kong, Taipei, Beijing, Manila and Perth." - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Singapo...

I declare myself the newest conquerer of Singapore & make it running on Pittsburgh time. That's not too hard, really, no big deal: according to the old system, it's 9:45AM in Singapore while it's 9:45PM in Pittsburgh. We just exchange day-for-night, like they do in the movies, & it's now 9:45PM in Singapore. No prob. In the interest of pre-planned obsolescence I plan to change that next wk so that it's 9:44ZM in Singapore when it's 9:45PM in Pittsburgh. No one will be told what the "Z" stands for. 'But what about Calcutta?' you sputter?

"Calcutta time was one of the two time zones established in British India in 1884. It was established during the International Meridian Conference held at Washington, D.C. in the United States. It was decided that India had two time zones: Calcutta (now Kolkata) would use the 90th meridian east and Bombay (Mumbai) the 75th meridian east.

"Calcutta time was described as being 24 minutes ahead of Indian standard time and one hour and three minutes ahead of Bombay standard time (UTC+5:54). It has also been described as 32 minutes and 20 seconds ahead of Madras time (UTC+5:53:20).

"Even when Indian Standard Time (IST) was adopted on 1 January 1906, Calcutta time remained in effect until 1948 when it was abandoned in favour of IST.

"In the latter part of the nineteenth century, Calcutta time was the dominant time of the Indian part of the British empire with records of astronomical and geological events recorded in it. Willian Strachey, an uncle of Lytton Strachey was said to have visited Calcutta once and then "kept his own watch set resolutely to Calcutta time, organizing the remaining fifty-six years of his life accordingly". James Clavell, in his novel King Rat, refers to news broadcasts as occurring in "Calcutta time"." - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Calcutt...

When I become world dictator I'm going to force Singapore & Calcutta to mate, Britain is going to have Malay as its 1st language, & every day in randomly selected cities is going to have 25 hours that're less than 60 minutes long. But I digress.

Having been birthed in the secret social experiment known as Baltimore, my attn percolates:

""The broadcast, gentlemen, was heard uniformly in all areas of the Eastern Time Zone which have daylight saving, where it is now seven-thirty P.M."

""Impossible," said the Secretary of Defense.

"The Presient nodded slowly. "Exactly. Yet certain reports from borders of time zones in Europe led us to anticipate it, and it was checked carefully. Radio receivers were placed, in pairs, along the borders of certain zones. For example, a pair of receivers were placed at the city limits of Baltimore, one twelve inches within the city limits, the other twelve inches outside. Two feet apart. They were identical sets, identically tuned to the same station, operated from the same power source. One set received 'a word from our sponsor'; the other did not. The set-up is being maintained for another hour. But I do not doubt that—" He glanced at his wrist watch. "—forty-five minutes from now, when it will be eight-thirty o'clock in the non-daylight-saving zones, the situation will be reversed; the broadcast will be received by the set outside the daylight saving zone border and not by the similarly tuned set just inside."" - p 154

I can explain that: It's like this, see, the ants are the Mafia & the Police, they partner to save the daylight so that they can use it in dark seasons; the grasshopper lives in the city, I was a grasshopper, I know, & when it's dying of vitamin D deficiency the cops & robbers will only sell the daylight back at exorbitant prices. Hence, the more foolish grasshoppers try to gamble to make the money — not realizing that you can hear the results on the radio in the city & step into the county & make yr bet. It all gets very complicated but there's no fucking way the ants are going to let the grasshoppers party AND win. They are shit out of luck, the game is fixed, the world is fixed, the daylight is CONTROLLED in a secret government experiment.

"["]And who ever heard of men obeying a command unless they knew—or thoguht they knew—who gave it? If anybody ever learns who gave that command, he can decide whetherto obey it or not. As long as he doesn't know, it's psychologically almost impossible for him to obey it."

"The President nodded slowly. "I see what you mean. Men either obey or disobey commands—even commands they think comes from God—according to their own will. But how can they obey an order, and still be men, when they don't know for sure where the order came from?"" - p 163

Discuss.

"Rustle of Wings": I was raised to call my grandmothers "Gram". Does anybody say that anymore? Most of my younger friends call their grandmothers "Telegram" or "Strip-o-gram" but I don't hear just plain "gram" anymore:

"Gram was a good woman and a Methodist and never touched a card, except occasionally to put away a deck that Gramp had left lying somewhere, and then she'd handle it gingerly, almost as though it might explode." - p 164

I don't kmow whether my grandfathers wd've been called "Gramp" b/c they were dead before I was born — probably worked to death by the Matriarchy.

The End.

[Temucano · Rating 4 out of 5]

Brown es el maestro del cuento corto y en esta antología queda de manifiesto además la fluidez de su prosa y el humor de su pluma.

Dentro de una mayoría de relatos destacables mis favoritos fueron:
"Arena", sobre la lucha entre un hombre y una esfera alienígena que definirá el destino de ambas razas. Imperdible
"Un Hombre distinguido" oda al borracho con un final soñado para cualquier alcohólico.
"Y los dioses rieron", una sutil y efectiva forma de invadirnos.
"Centinela" y un asqueroso extraterrestre.
"Naturalmente" y un fatal error geométrico.

Es una alegría que la obra de Fredric sea tan prolífica. 100% recomendable y divertido. (1.12.2004)

[Jenna · Rating 2 out of 5]

Took me forever to read this because I read it every Sunday with my spouse and we both couldn’t stand it. The plots fizzle out into really corny jokes every time. I think it’s the cover, title, and synopsis’s fault for making us think this would be something more sinister and more thought out than it actually was. Maybe if this was sold to me as kooky sci fi stories with a bad sense of humor I wouldn’t be so annoyed. Glad it’s over lol

[William Zupancic · Rating 5 out of 5]

I LOVE THIS !!!.... I HAVE ALWAYS ENJOYED MR. BROWN'S WONDERFUL WORK 💜📖💜📖💜📖💜

[P.E. · Rating 4 out of 5]

Emblematic short stories from the master of the "short short story" :)
Stupendous inventions, games on focalization, crime, absurd, puns and quirky humour, powerful and often cruel endings, witty asides on the Cold War and gibes at the evils of his time... You can't mistake Fredric Brown's hand for another's :)


THE SHORT STORIES / LISTE DES NOUVELLES :

Honeymoon in Hell / Lune de miel en enfer
Too Far / Il ne faut pas pousser grand-mère
Man of Distinction / Un homme de qualité
Millenium
The Dome / Le Dôme
Blood / Du sang !
Hall of Mirrors / Galerie de glaces
Experiment / Expérience
The Last Martian / Le Dernier Martien
Sentry / En sentinelle => Avec une chute terriblement efficace
Mouse / Une souris
Naturally / Cela va de soi
Voodoo Vaudou
Arena / Arène => l'une de mes préférées du recueil.
Keep Out / Entrée interdite
The First Time Machine / La Première Machine à temps
And the Gods Laughed / Et les dieux rirent
The Weapon / L'Arme
A Word From Our Sponsor / Un mot de la direction
Rustle of Wings / Bruissement d'ailes
Imagine / Imaginons


Des nouvelles bien dans le style de ce maître de la micronouvelle. Inventions imaginaires, jeux sur les points de vue, crime, absurde, humour décalé à base de calembours, regard acerbe sur la guerre froide et sur les maux de son temps, chutes efficaces, souvent cruelles... La patte de cet écrivain farfelu est reconnaissable entre mille.

[Jason · Rating 5 out of 5]

A collection of short stories by a science fiction master. If you can find this book, read it. It includes a great story called "Arena" that was the basis for the Star Trek episode where Kirk and a Giant Lizard Man have a terrbily choreographed fight to the death for the survival of their species.

[Lúcio Pimentel · Rating 3 out of 5]

Depois de muuuuuitos livros de fantasia, resolvi dar uma chance para a ficção científica, afinal essa masmorra também foi construída com tecnologia futurista. De quebra, fui atrás de um autor que não havia lido ainda: Fredric Brown. Não tinha como escolher outro livro se não Honeymoon in Hell (Lua de mel no inferno), que contém o conto Arena que inspirou aquele episódio clássico de Jornada nas Estrelas onde o Capitão Kirk enfrenta um Gorn pelo destino da nave, usando toda sua engenhosidade e golpes de karatê mal coreografados.

  O livro é uma antologia de contos publicados originalmente em revistas pulp nos anos 1940 e 1950. Alguns temas como guerra fria, holocausto nuclear, viagem no tempo e marcianos são recorrentes, mas aparecem também algumas bruxas, diabos e vampiros. O autor ficou consagrado justamente por suas estórias curtas, geralmente com bastante senso de humor e uma reviravolta marcante no final, tornando a leitura bem rápida e agradável.

  A estória que nomeia o livro trata de uma estranha ocorrência que faz com que todos novos recém-nascidos sejam do sexo feminino. Para estudar e tentar resolver o problema, os EUA e a URSS interrompem a guerra fria, casam à distância um astronauta americano e uma técnica/cientista russa e mandam o casal (cada um no seu foguete) para uma lua de mel na Depois de muuuuuitos livros de fantasia, resolvi dar uma chance para a ficção científica, afinal como bem lembrou o Rafael nos comentários de outra resenha, essa masmorra também foi construída com tecnologia futurista. De quebra, fui atrás de um autor que não havia lido ainda: Fredric Brown. Não tinha como escolher outro livro se não Honeymoon in Hell (Lua de mel no inferno), que contém o conto Arena que inspirou aquele episódio clássico de Jornada nas Estrelas onde o Capitão Kirk enfrenta um Gorn pelo destino da nave, usando toda sua engenhosidade e golpes de karatê mal coreografados.

O livro é uma antologia de contos publicados originalmente em revistas pulp nos anos 1940 e 1950. Alguns temas como guerra fria, holocausto nuclear, viagem no tempo e marcianos são recorrentes, mas aparecem também algumas bruxas, diabos e vampiros. O autor ficou consagrado justamente por suas estórias curtas, geralmente com bastante senso de humor e uma reviravolta marcante no final, tornando a leitura bem rápida e agradável.

A estória que nomeia o livro trata de uma estranha ocorrência que faz com que todos novos recém-nascidos sejam do sexo feminino. Para estudar e tentar resolver o problema, os EUA e a URSS interrompem a guerra fria, casam à distância um astronauta americano e uma técnica/cientista russa e mandam o casal (cada um no seu foguete) para uma lua de mel na cratera de Hell na Lua, fora da área de atuação do fenômeno. Um possível filho dos dois pode ser a chave para salvar a humanidade. Além de prever que próxima etapa da guerra fria seria a corrida espacial, esse tema sexual certamente estava a frente do seu tempo, e a personagem feminina é interessante, pena que não existam outras no livro.

São várias estórias de viagem no tempo, cada uma abordando o tema de forma bem distinta. Alienígenas que combinam viagem espacial com temporal para “burlar” a longa duração das viagens. O clássico do paradoxo do avô. Existe também uma ótima onde o protagonista começa nos anos 50, volta no tempo (sim, volta!) e desperta no distante ano de 2004, e com isso possivelmente descobre uma espécie de fórmula da imortalidade, levantando uma série de questões filosóficas. Vampiros, depois de desmascarados, buscam um futuro onde a humanidade os tenha esquecido em outro conto que mostra que as fronteiras da ficção científica e fantasia ainda eram tênues, como podemos ver em várias obras presentes no apêndice N.

A ameaça “marciana” também está bem presente, independente de onde venham os alienígenas. Eles podem pular de corpo em corpo para destruir as defesas da Terra, ou impedir a hecatombe nuclear dependendo da estória. Administram zoológicos interplanetários, transmitem mensagem misteriosas no rádio ou são usados por brincos (sim, a construção da frase está certa).

Meu conto favorito, porém, é mesmo Arena. Uma entidade de grande poder, que se descreve como o topo da evolução quando uma raça inteira é representada por um único ser, intervém no conflito entre os terráqueos e um povo conhecido apenas por forasteiros, ela avalia que mesmo o vencedor sairá tão arrasado da guerra que jamais conseguirá atingir seu verdadeiro potencial no universo. Para sanar isso, seleciona um indivíduo de cada espécie e os transporta nus para uma espécie de planeta hostil onde eles devem duelar até a morte. O perdedor terá toda sua raça exterminada.

Começa um jogo de gato e rato. Os combatentes têm de aprender as regras da arena, estudar as fraquezas do inimigo e improvisar o tempo todo. O alienígena é bem estranho, um ser cheio de tentáculos que podem se retrair para que ele tome a forma uma esfera vermelha. A vitória só é possível com bastante inventividade.

Transportando para o jogo, a entrada no Apêndice cita apenas o nome do autor, sem recomendações de livros, mas Honeymoon in Hell parece um bom palpite dentre as obras que pesquisei de Brown. O conto Arena, além de ter virado um episódio de Jornada nas Estrelas, foi adaptado pela Marvel para os quadrinhos em 1973 e todas as estórias da coletânea vieram de revistas pulp, e sabemos que pulp e quadrinhos estavam na área de interesse de Gygax. Não é possível traçar paralelos com classes ou criaturas do D&D, porém, a necessidade de improvisar, de controlar recursos e de encontrar soluções que não estão na “ficha de personagem” é bem o clima de Arena e isso de alguma forma está presente nos livros da primeira edição e no D&D original.

O livro termina com o conto Imagine que parece ser mais uma ode a imaginação em si. Perfeita para despertar a fagulha da criação em todos os mestres de jogo. Deixo aqui um trecho numa transcrição (e tradução) livre:

Imagine fantasmas, deuses e diabos. Imagine infernos e paraísos. Cidades flutuando no céu e afundadas no mar. Unicórnios e Centauros. Bruxas, feiticeiros, gênios e banshees. Anjos e harpias. Feitiços e encantos. Elementais, familiares, demônios. É fácil de imaginar todas essas coisas. A humanidade as imagina há milhares de anos.  Imagine naves espaciais e o futuro. Fácil de imaginar, o futuro está realmente chegando e haverá naves espaciais nele. Existe algo difícil de imaginar? (...) Imagine um universo, infinito ou não, como você deseja imaginá-lo.

[Angie Boyter · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book (actually a novella) reminded me how much FUN SF used to be. It is certainly far from being hard SF, but who cares?
If, like me, you are hesitant to revisit old classics lest your memory of them be spoiled, do not let that stop you on this one. The technology is certainly dated and the Cold War may be history, but that doesn't spoil the enjoyment at all.

[Mike · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a vintage science fiction novelette, longer than a short story, shorter than a novel. It's humorous, dated, but still fun to read after all these years. It has a twist at the end but no deep philosophical import. It's just a clever little story, well told.

[Keith Gibson · Rating 4 out of 5]

As expected,a good light read

Fredric Brown does not disappoint even after all these decades since original publication. I enjoyed the original from my collection, nonetheless this is a good kindle read.

[Ricardo Portella · Rating 5 out of 5]

Nice cold war story

Honeymoon in Hell is a product of its time, a time in which people believed the end of the world was near. And several stores were written around this subject. This is one of them and its end is surprising. The author is really a master of short stories.

[Blue Ghost · Rating 3 out of 5]

Grabbed it off a shelve of shitty pulp sci-fi. Turns out it's not shitty; it actually has some pretty fun stories in it.

The stories are from the 40s and 50s, so yes, there's a bit of racism/prejudice to huff at. But otherwise, most of it is pretty imaginative.

[Latoya · Rating 4 out of 5]

I found some really poignant stories! For stories written in 50's its still holds up.

[David Schwenker · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Stories

Honeymoon in Hell - 3.75 out of 5

Fun, amusing sci-fi novelette with that old 50s charm.

Too Far - 2.25 out of 5

(A short-short story.) This is just an excuse for word puns ("make a little doe", "save the first buck she ever made", etc.) - no story to be had.

Man of Distinction - 3.5 out of 5

A humorous sci-fi tale - we owe our lives to a drunkard. Fun.

Millennium - 2.5 out of 5

(A short-short story.) I am usually a sucker for Faustian tales, but the punchline is simply weak.

The Dome - 3.0 out of 5

Interesting, but the ending is anticipated long before it gets there.

Blood - 2.0 out of 5

(A short-short story.) Time-traveling vampires with a painfully bad punchline.

Hall of Mirrors - 3.5 out of 5

Second-person perspective is interesting. Good sense of mystery. Premise is intriguing. Solid effort.

Experiment - 2.75 out of 5

(A short-short story.) The punchline is amusing, but that's about it.

The Last Martian - 4.0 out of 5

Simple but clever premise with a nice twist ending - the sort of "classic" short story you love to read in these old collections. Successfully adapted as an episode of Alfred Hitchcock Presents with Steve McQueen (though it would have been more appropriate for The Twilight Zone).

Sentry -3.25 out of 5

(A short-short story.) Predictable, yes, but it plays with perspective to good effect.

Mouse - 3.0 out of 5

Interesting, but overlong and not particularly compelling. This may have been more effective as micro-fiction.

Naturally - 3.5 out of 5

(A short-short story.) Perhaps the best of this type - I wish all Brown's micro-fiction was up to his standard. Still a trifle, but interesting with a clever punch line. Adapted by Guillermo Del Toro as his short film Geometria.

Voodoo - 3.0 out of 5

(A short-short story.) You know the twist almost immediately but the story has a measure of fun to proceedings.

Arena - 4.25 out of 5

One of Brown's more iconic works. A thrilling novelette with a primal quality. The best in this collection. Adapted (loosely and poorly) as an episode of the original Star Trek.

Keep Out - 3.25 out of 5

Not quite micro-fiction, but a quick read with some social commentary and an interesting turn at the end. Too quick to leave much of an impact, but interesting.

First Time Machine - 2.25 out of 5

(A short-short story.) The literal grandfather paradox has been done dozens (if not hundreds) of times - this is probably the most basic and routine of the lot.

And the Gods Laughed - 3.5 out of 5

A fun sci-fi yarn. Certainly is filled with "old-fashioned" details but the plotting remained engaging.

The Weapon - 3.5 out of 5

Brown is more earnest with his messaging here than anywhere else in this collection - mankind with nuclear weapons is like a mentally-disabled child with a loaded gun. Short, makes its point, and leaves. Perhaps not entirely subtle but effective.

A Word from Our Sponsor - 3.25 out of 5

An interesting premise is unfortunately just an excuse for Brown to pontificate through a series of characters on topics of science, politics, and religion. The form was a little repetitive and the lack of explanation, while intentional, was underwhelming.

Rustle of Wings - 3.75 out of 5

A pleasant, Bradbury-esque folk tale. A simple story, but it allowed the characters and themes to shine a bit more as a result. It felt more mature in relationship to Brown's other shorts.

Imagine - 3.5 out of 5

I am ill-equipped to judge poetry. That said, I did find it to have a pleasant flow with grand ideas, it's just doesn't leave a lasting impression.

[Jiří Pavlovský · Rating 3 out of 5]

Sborník krátkých SF povídek klasika žánru Frederica Browna. Dost jich vyšlo i u nás, v různých sbornících (asi nejslavnější je Aréna, která inspirovala jeden díl Star Treku), takže jsem i něco poznával. Jsou tu jednostránkové hříčky (třeba o člověku, co vyvolává démona, aby mu pomohl, protože mu nejde geometrie… a démon se podívá na ochranný pentragram, řekne „no to mi povídej“ a překročí ho) a občas i o něco delší špalek. Na dost příbězích se podepsalo stáří a dneska člověk uhádne pointu už skoro z nadpisu. Nehledě na to, že humor je chvílemi na úrovni Dikobrazu (třeba střet mimozemšťanů s opilcem).

Je tu pár příběhů o ovládnutí Země, voodoo panenkách, démonech, inteligentních počítačích, Marťanech, náušnicích, co nosí lidi (což je sice jednoduchá, ale dobře vystavěná povídka, která se z komedie postupně mění v horor). Přišlo mi, že jsem se buď nalaďoval na autorovu strunu, nebo se fakt kvalita ke konci zlepšuje a objevují se příběhy, které můžou fungovat i dneska. Jak povídka o testování ateismu (Rustle of Wings) s nápadem, který později použil i Bill Willingham ve své komiksové minisérii Proposition Player, nebo pak A Word of Our Sponsor, kdy všechna rádia světa, ve stejný čas, vyšlou lidem zprávu, která spočívá v jediném slově: „Bojujte.“ A lidi začnou dělat pravý opak. A vlády se snaží přijít na to, odkud ta zpráva přišla, jestli je mimozemská nebo mystická, jestli ti, co jí vyslali, tušili, že lidi budou reagovat opačně, nebo ne… a začíná jim docházet, že pokud chtějí, aby ta zpráva fungovala jako dosud, nesmí přijít nikdo na to, kdo jí vyslal. Protože ve chvíli, když člověk zná identitu sponzora, začne se řídit podle ní, nikoliv zprávy.

Celkově fajn vzpomínka na sci-fi autora který se nikdy nestal vyloženou žánrovou ikonou, knížka, ve které se občas objevuje něco, co přežilo bombardování časem.

[useFOSS · Rating 5 out of 5]

• Honeymoon in Hell (1950) 5/5
• Too Far (1955) 3/5
• Man of Distinction (1951) 4/5
• Millennium (1955) 3/5
• The Dome (1951) 4/5
• Blood (1955) 4/5
• Hall of Mirrors (1953) 4/5
• Experiment (1954) 4/5
• The Last Martian (1950) 4/5
• Sentry (1954) 3/5
• Mouse (1949) 4/5
• Naturally (1954) 4/5
• Voodoo (1954) 3/5
• Arena (1944) 5/5
• Keep Out (1954) 3/5
• First Time Machine (1955)
• And the Gods Laughed (1944) 4/5
• The Weapon (1951) 3/5
• A Word from Our Sponsor (1951) 5/5
• Rustle of Wings (1953) 4/5
• Imagine (1955) poem 4/5

[Andy Hickman · Rating 3 out of 5]

Honeymoon in Hell, by Fredric Brown.
Ray Comedy is his name. A couple are selected to have a honeymoon on the moon in order to avoid the infiltration of atomic rays attacking the planet.

"On September 16th in the year 1962, things were going along the same as usual, only a little worse. The cold war that had been waxing and waning between the United States and the Eastern Alliance—Russia, Dhina, and their lesser satellites—was warmer than it had ever been. War, hot war, seemed not only inevitable but extremely imminent."

[Martin · Rating 5 out of 5]

A collection of excellent short stories from the pulp days of SF. Here are several witty (some might say punny) short humorous stories, along with Brown's most famous story: Arena. Arena is often anthologized and best known today because of its adaptation into a Star Trek script in which Kirk takes on a Gorn.

While I list this as horror along with SF, it's not scary. There are a few short stories featuring vampires, witches, etc, but all of these are humorous.

Good narration.

[Wilbur G. Lloyd, Jr. · Rating 5 out of 5]

Good story

Way dated. I know they had TV back when this was written so why was he surprised they could see each other? Any way the military is still trying to get an AI and that might happen before WW3 or we finally over pollute and cause a runaway of heating up of the atmosphere and earth becomes worse then Venus.

[Tracy Poff]

A fairly decent collection of short stories, if you don't mind scifi from the fifties. They're a bit hit and miss, really.

I've got more detailed notes on several of the stories on Barba Non DB.

[haxxy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Povestiri din glorioasa era de aur din anii 40 si 50 ai SF-ului american. Toate fiind excelente.
Dat fiind ca sunt scirse cu mult inainte de era spatiala, unele sunt un pic depasite, dar mi-au placut la fel de mult.
Solid Gold - 4,5*

[Bogdan Neagu · Rating 1 out of 5]

Doar vreo doua povestiri mi-au placut cat de cat. Probabil ca la momentul aparitiei a fost o lectura mai placuta; in 2025 pot spune fara emotii ca n-a imbatrinit prea bine aceasta colectie de povestiri.

[Ace McGee · Rating 3 out of 5]

Collection of short science fiction stories heavy on the extraterrestrials plus that Fredric Brown sense of humor.

[Brent Winslow · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent series of short stories that cross between sci fi, humor, and horror genre. Honeymoon in Hell mixes ultra shorts with Brown's well known stories including the title story and Arena.

[Laurent · Rating 3 out of 5]

Un thème et un style original, une bonne petite nouvelle de SF.

[Brian · Rating 4 out of 5]

Voodoo, demons, vampires, time travelers, time traveling vampires, Martians, conniving artificial intelligence, and psychic sentient turnips. I loved it.

[Robin Webb · Rating 3 out of 5]

You have to remember this was written in the 60s. It was good though