Angels and Spaceships

by Fredric Brown

Contents:

Pattern
Placet Is a Crazy Place
Answer
Etaoin Shrdlu
Preposterous
Armageddon
Politeness
The Waveries
Reconciliation
The Hat Trick
Search
Letter to a Phoenix
Daisies
The Angelic Angleworm
Sentence
The Yehudi Principle
Solipsist

Genres: Science Fiction, Fiction, Short Stories, Fantasy, Collections

224 pages, Hardcover

First published September 1, 1954

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]

This is a very good collection of Brown's short work, most from John Campbell's Unknown and/or Astounding SF magazine in the 1940's. I like how the title makes it clear that there are stories from both the fantasy and science fiction genres included. There are also a number of short-short stories, what would now be called flash-fiction, a sub-genre that was practically invented by Brown. Brown was always entertaining and amusing, and the stories here are no exception. My favorites were Placet Is a Crazy Place, Etaoin Shrdlu, The Angelic Angleworm, and especially The Waveries.

[Stephen · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5 stars. Fredric Brown is one of my favorites when it comes to classic SF short stories. They mostly have a very "Twilight Zone" feel to them with a great build up then a "zinger" ending. I love that many of the stories are only a few paragraphs long and yet can still leave you thinking about the story long after you finish. This collection includes the following (my favorites, of which there are many, are noted as Highlights):

*Pattern
*Placet is a crazy place (Highlight)
*Answer (Highlight)
*Etaoin shrdlu
*Preposterous
*Armageddon (Highlight)
*Politeness
*The waveries
*Reconciliation (Highlight)
*The Hat Trick
*Search (Highlight)
*Letter to a Phoenix (Highlight)
*Daisies
*The Angelic Angleworm
*Sentence (Highlight)
*The Yehudi Principle
*Solipsist

RECOMMENDED!!!!!!!!!!!

[Ian · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.8⭐
I can't remember how long ago I read this but I can remember thinking it was a pretty good collection of stories. In particular I recall 'Placet is a Crazy Place' and 'The Waveries '.

[Steve · Rating 3 out of 5]

Angels and Spaceships is a good title for this collection, since it includes both science fiction and fantasy stories by Fredric Brown. There are seventeen items. Eight of them were originally published in either Astounding Science Fiction or Unknown Worlds (both edited at that time by John Campbell, Jr.) in the years 1941-1949.

The other nine items are all new to this book. They are all quite short, none of them more than two pages. Stories of this type, especially when written by Brown, later became known as "vignettes." Many vignettes were intended to be humorous; some of them featured endings built around puns, of varying degrees of quality. (None of the very short stories here end with puns.)

I think one of the vignettes included here, "Answer," is brilliant. It is about the future of computer development, and might have been the inspiration for many subsequent tales.

The only other one of these in this collection that I really like is "Daisies." This is purely a joke but I do find it funny. I suspect that many people will not be familiar with the old saying that this is based on, "Daisies don't tell." A friend of mine has taught me a poem that she learned as a child:

"Daisies don't tell," the saying goes.
The reason is easy to find;
A daisy is carefree, as everyone knows.
And hasn't a thing on her mind.

Three of the vignettes are about the nature of God. "Pattern," "Preposterous," "Politeness," "Sentence," and "Solipsist" are all, like "Daisies," intended to be comic. "Reconciliation" is definitely not.

Most of the eight longer stories seem to me not to show Brown at his best. "Placet Is a Crazy Place" is another tale intended to be comic. Placet is a planet with conditions found nowhere else. A lot of this is due to a phenomenon called the Blakeslee Field, which affects people for four hours out of every twenty-four. "The field does something to the optic nerve centers, or to the part of the brain to which the optic nerves connect, something similar to the effect of certain drugs. You have - you can't call them hallucinations exactly, because you don't ordinarily see things that aren't there, but you get an illusory picture of what is there." You might, for example, see your assistant as a two-headed monster or a yellow ape. This story builds to an unlikely pun.

I like "The Yehudi Principle," but this requires more esoteric knowledge than "Daisies." According to the science fiction and fantasy website ISFDb, this is the only one of the regular-length stories here that has never been chosen for inclusion in an English language anthology; my guess is that that isn't due to it being a bad story, but because it requires knowledge from the 1940s to make sense. Brown also referred to Yehudi, the little man who wasn't there, in his novel Night of the Jabberwock. The following is information from my review of that book:

From World Wide Words:

The most common story ties it to the Pepsodent-sponsored Bob Hope radio show on NBC, which started in 1938. There was a running gag on the show, a catchphrase of supporting player Jerry Colonna, who would regularly ask: “Who’s Yehudi?”. This became extremely popular and provoked a song in 1941. (These were simpler days.) The earliest example in print of Yehudi, in a sense of something that isn’t there, is from the Science News Letter of September 1940: “The machine has not received a nickname as yet. Since it deals with imaginary numbers, it may answer to the name of ‘Yehudi’.” In 1942, a film entitled Crazy Cruise featured an invisible battleship, the SS Yehudi. The following year, one of the very earliest US military stealth projects was called Project Yehudi.

I haven’t been able to find any earlier references, so the word really may have its origin in Jerry Colonna’s catchphrase. If it does, then there may well be a connection with Yehudi Menuhin. The story claims that Menuhin was engaged to play on one of the early shows, but that Jerry Colonna didn’t know who he was, and went around asking the cast. This is supposed to have led to the running gag of his trying to identify Yehudi.
Part of the popularity of Yehudi as a term for an invisible entity may lie in a linkage in people’s minds with a rhyme by Hughes Mearns that was set to music as The Little Man Who Wasn’t There in 1939 — just when the Colonna catchphrase was becoming known:

As I was walking up the stair
I met a man who wasn't there.
He wasn't there again today.
I wish, I wish he'd stay away.

"Armageddon" is a fantasy about a little boy in Cincinnati who saves the world from Satan, using a secret weapon. This is clever, but it may be cheating. Does Holy Water stolen from a church, especially with mischievous intent, remain holy? This is touched on in John Ruskin's great fairy tale "The King of the Golden River."

"The Angelic Angleworm" has annoyed me for years. In most respects, it is a fine fantasy, but I think it has major flaws. One is that the protagonist, while in the hospital, takes an action which makes him a much less sympathetic figure to me, because I don't feel that his action is warranted at that point. Another is that I don't believe that anyone, not even a printer, could have put the clues together to find a solution. Lastly, the solution cheats. The thing that moves one step to the left some times shouldn't move two, three, or four steps other times. (I realize thats this will make no sense to anyone who hasn't read the story.)

"Letter to a Phoenix" is a science fiction story about almost-immortality, both of an individual and of a species. What revitalizes the human race, says the 180,000 year old narrator, is war - war so terrible and devastating that mankind must begin again. "In all the universe only the human race has ever reached a high level of intelligence without reaching a high level of sanity." And that is what preserves humanity. I know that this is a highly regarded, frequently reprinted story; I think it's just silly.

"The Hat Trick" is presented as a science fiction story, but it feels like fantasy, bordering on horror. I discussed this story in an earlier review:

At a small party, Walter Beekman does his hat trick, something so shocking that the minds of all those present blot it out. Weeks later, one of the people who had been at the party asks Beekman to recommend a book. Beekman offers him one "about beings from another world, living here in disguise, pretending they're people." The man turns it down. In the original appearance of this story in Unknown, it was illustrated with a most unpleasant picture by Edd Cartier.

In "The Waveries," mankind is forced to adopt a simpler life style because unseen entities have come to Earth and have brought about the end of electricity. This means all electricity; not only are there no functioning cars, planes, electric lights, telephones, televisions, motion pictures, or radios, there are no sparks, no lightning. This results in a world portrayed as better, less dangerous, in which lives are more fulfilling. This is another highly praised story. And no wonder - all the people in it have simpler but more satisfying lives after the change. I think that is nonsense. Is there something inherently superior about not having air conditioning, automatic elevators, x-rays? In fact, picture all modern medicine without electricity. This is a well told story, but I strongly disagree with the basic premise.

"Etaoin Shrdlu" is the name given to a Linotype typesetting and printing machine by the printer who owns it after a mysterious visitor endows the machine with intelligence and strange abilities. ("ETAOIN SHRDLU" is evidently the equivalent of "QWERTYUIOP" on a standard typewriter or computer keyboard.) At first this seems wonderful. The Linotype can function twenty-four hours a day and can manufacture its own type out of dirt if need be. But the Linotype reads and learns from everything it prints. After it prints a book on labor relations, it decides that it will only work a forty hour week. Then it prints something involving sex and demands a second Linotype. It won't let itself be turned off, but something must be done! The solution is ingenious and funny.

There are some fine stories here, but not much of Brown at his best. I would not recommend this collection as a starting point for anyone new to the work of Fredric Brown.

[Steve Gutin · Rating 5 out of 5]

The best of the best.

[Sina Homayooni · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a collection of sci-fi short stories and like any other collection, has its ups and downs. Brown's stories are easy-reading and fun. Perfect choice for reading over a cup of coffee, if you are a sci-fi fan.

[Josef · Rating 4 out of 5]

Frederic Brown invented Flash Fiction over fifty years ago and the stories are still great. I would love to know the source of his fascination with linotype machines, though.

[Steve Weatherbe · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read this 60 years ago, age 11. I can still remember several stories. Many had a theological slant, but also reflected Brown's early working years in the newsroom of the Milwaukee Journal. Angelic angleworms is one that does both, suggesting heaven is like a newspaper publishing firm, subject to occasional typos.

[Rachel · Rating 4 out of 5]

These were better than the novel I read of his a few years ago. Some could be movies. There were a couple in the back that were sacrilegious, but I survived the experience, lol.

[Bev · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fredric Brown was a master of the science fiction short story form...and even more so of the short short form. Angels and Spaceships is a fantastic collection of stories--over half of which were published in Astounding & Unknown between 1941 and 1949. The book starts out with an absolute stunner--a work of supreme science fiction irony that does its magic in a page and a half. Brown does more with that page and a half than a lot of writers could do with an entire novel. He goes on to tell us about the linotype machine (a printing line casting machine used until the 60s/70s) that comes alive and makes a slave of the printer. And how the earth was surrounded by aliens that fed off of electricity and forced everyone to go back to the horse and buggy and steam-powered engines. And the little boy who defeated Satan with a water pistol--and some very special water. And the spaceman who kills an alien and finds that the death sentence isn't quite as bad as he first thought. Oh...and the heavenly typesetter who missed a typo or two and made things difficult for Charlie Wills. All this and more in one place!

The stories range from screwball fantasy to hardball science fiction and everything in between. Brown's writing is delightfully straightforward until the clever curve ball that he manages to throw at the end of every story. A fun and intriguing collection. Four stars.

First posted on my blog My Reader's Block. Please request permission before reposting. Thanks.

[Kadja Draenor · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is one of my favorites. It is by far my favorite book of short stories. Almost every one is interesting and memorable, and at least three of which were distinctly amazing. I cannot recommend highly enough to read this book, if you can get a hold of it.

[Brett]

Science Fiction

[RC · Rating 4 out of 5]

A nice collection of fantasy and science fiction short stories from the 1940s.