Fredric Brown

Fredric Brown's 1954 book, Martians, Go Home is a clever novel that treads on the fine line between serious fiction and absurdity as it has an important message to deliver about humanity while at the same time tormenting the readers with nasty Martians who want nothing more than annoy us. On the other hand, we are introduced to Luke Devereaux struggling with his life, wife, and writing career. We also have the Martians who force our character and the rest of the Earth's population to reconsider how they treat each other.

The best place to start is The Phantom Detective series, the earliest of Fredric Brown's multi-book series: it opens with The Emperor of Death (1933) and runs to 87 books across 1933–1966, ending with The Forty Thieves (1966). Fredric Brown's other series stand alone, so they can be read in any order.

Fredric Brown has 398 books catalogued in this guide, published between 1933 and 2025. 266 of them belong to 6 named series — the largest being The Phantom Detective series with 87 books — and 132 are standalone titles, collections or anthologies.

Read each series in publication order — the numbered entries in each series follow the year each book first appeared. Fredric Brown's series do not depend on one another, so they can be started in any order; by start date they are The Phantom Detective (1933–1966, 87 books), Black Gat (1945–2001, 23 books) and Ed & Am Hunter (1947–1963, 8 books), plus 2 more.

This guide splits Fredric Brown's 398 books into 6 named series and 132 titles that stand alone or appear only in collections: The Phantom Detective (87 books, 1933–1966); Isaac Asimov Presents The Great SF Stories (24 books, 1979–1992); Black Gat (23 books, 1945–2001); Ed & Am Hunter (8 books, 1947–1963); The Outer Limits Collections (3 books, 1996–1998), plus 1 further series.