Rosel George Brown (March 15, 1926 – November 26, 1967) was an American

science fiction author This is a list of notable science-fiction authors, in alphabetical order: A *Dafydd ab Hugh (born 1960) * Alexander Abasheli (1884–1954) *Edwin Abbott Abbott (1838–1926) *Kōbō Abe (1924–1993) * Robert Abernathy (1924–1990) *Dan ...

Biography

Born in

New Orleans, Louisiana New Orleans (commonly known as NOLA or The Big Easy among other nicknames) is a Consolidated city-county, consolidated city-parish located along the Mississippi River in the U.S. state of Louisiana. With a population of 383,997 at the 2020 ...

, she lived in the city of her birth with her husband after concluding her formal education at

Sophie Newcomb College H. Sophie Newcomb Memorial College was the coordinate women's college of Tulane University, located in New Orleans, in the U.S. state of Louisiana. It was founded by Josephine Louise Newcomb in 1886 in memory of her daughter. Newcomb was the fir ...

, where she majored in ancient

Greek Greek may refer to: Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor of all kno ...

, and at the

University of Minnesota The University of Minnesota Twin Cities (historically known as University of Minnesota) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in the Minneapolis–Saint Paul, Twin Cities of Minneapolis and Saint ...

where she received her M.A. in Greek. Several of her books were dedicated to her husband W. Burlie Brown, who was a history professor at

Tulane University The Tulane University of Louisiana (commonly referred to as Tulane University) is a private research university in New Orleans, Louisiana, United States. Founded as the Medical College of Louisiana in 1834 by a cohort of medical doctors, it b ...

. The couple had two children, a son born in 1954 and a daughter born in 1959. In addition to writing, she worked as a teacher and a welfare visitor in Louisiana. In 1959, she was nominated for the

Hugo Award The Hugo Award is an annual literary award for the best science fiction or fantasy works and achievements of the previous year, given at the World Science Fiction Convention (Worldcon) and chosen by its members. The award is administered by th ...

for best new author. Her life and career were cut short when she died of

lymphoma Lymphoma is a group of blood and lymph tumors that develop from lymphocytes (a type of white blood cell). The name typically refers to just the cancerous versions rather than all such tumours. Signs and symptoms may include enlarged lymph node ...

at the age of 41 in 1967. The fourth ''

Nebula Award The Nebula Awards annually recognize the best works of science fiction or fantasy published in the United States. The awards are organized and awarded by the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers Association (SFWA), a nonprofit association of pr ...

Anthology'' contains an obituary written by Daniel F. Galouye, and

Anne McCaffrey Anne Inez McCaffrey (1 April 1926 – 21 November 2011) was an American writer known for the ''Dragonriders of Pern'' science fiction series. She was the first woman to win a Hugo Award for fiction (Best Novella, ''Weyr Search'', 1968) an ...

dedicated her 1970 anthology ''Alchemy & Academe'' to Brown, along with several other people. Brown and McCaffrey had met at a

Milford Writer's Workshop The Milford Writer's Workshop, or more properly Milford Writers' Conference, is an annual science fiction writer's event founded by Damon Knight, among others, in the mid-1950s, in Milford, Pennsylvania. It was so named because Knight, Judith Me ...

Works

Brown's works were mainly written in the late 1950s to the mid-1960s and generally were favorably received by critics and readers. Her main novels are '' Sibyl Sue Blue'' a.k.a. ''Galactic Sibyl Sue Blue'', and its sequel, ''The Waters of Centaurus'', which chronicle the life of Sybil Sue Blue, a female detective. ''The Waters of Centaurus'' was published after her death and was copyrighted by her husband in 1970. She also collaborated on the novel ''Earthblood'' (1966) with

Keith Laumer John Keith Laumer ( – ) was an American science fiction author. Prior to becoming a full-time writer, he was an officer in the United States Air Force and a diplomat in the United States Foreign Service. His older brother March Laumer was ...

Rob Latham Rob Latham is a former professor of English at the University of California, Riverside and a science fiction critic. Career Latham was an English professor at the University of Iowa and the University of California, Riverside. Latham is the auth ...

, reviewing ''Galactic Suburbia: Recovering Women's Science Fiction'' by

Lisa Yaszek Lisa Yaszek is an American academic in the field of science fiction literature, particularly the history and cultural implications of the genre and underrepresented groups in science fiction, including women and people of color. She is a Regents p ...

, notes that Yaszek's inclusion of Rosel George Brown is important viewing her, along with

Margaret St. Clair __NOTOC__ Margaret St. Clair (17 February 1911 – 22 November 1995) was an American fantasy and science fiction writer, who also wrote under the pseudonyms Idris Seabright and (on one occasion) Wilton Hazzard. Biography St. Clair was born as E ...

Zenna Henderson Zenna Chlarson Henderson (November 1, 1917 – May 11, 1983) was an American elementary school teacher and science fiction and fantasy author. Her first story was published in ''The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction'' in 1951. Her work is cit ...

Mildred Clingerman Mildred McElroy Clingerman (March 14, 1918 – February 26, 1997) was an American science fiction author. Clingerman was born Mildred McElroy in Allen, Oklahoma, and her family moved to Tucson, Arizona, in 1929. She graduated from Tucson High ...

, and

Doris Pitkin Buck Doris Pitkin Buck (January 3, 1898 – December 4, 1980"Doris P(itkin) Buck." ''Contemporary Authors Online''. Detroit: Gale, 1998. Literature Resources from Gale. Web. 31 July 2011.) was an American science fiction author. Born in New York City ...

as "significant 1950s talents now in danger of lapsing into obscurity." Her short stories appeared in ''

The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction ''The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction'' (usually referred to as ''F&SF'') is a U.S. fantasy and science-fiction magazine, first published in 1949 by Mystery House, a subsidiary of Lawrence Spivak's Mercury Press. Editors Anthony Bouche ...

Amazing Stories ''Amazing Stories'' is an American science fiction magazine launched in April 1926 by Hugo Gernsback's Experimenter Publishing. It was the first magazine devoted solely to science fiction. Science fiction stories had made regular appearance ...

Fantastic Universe ''Fantastic Universe'' was a U.S. science fiction magazine which began publishing in the 1950s. It ran for 69 issues, from June 1953 to March 1960, under two different publishers. It was part of the explosion of science fiction magazine publishi ...

'' and elsewhere. A collection of Brown's short stories, entitled ''A Handful of Time'', was published by

Ballantine Books Ballantine Books is a major American book publisher that is a subsidiary of German media conglomerate Bertelsmann. Ballantine was founded in 1952 by Ian Ballantine with his wife, Betty Ballantine. Ballantine was acquired by Random House in ...

in 1963.

Short stories

A list of some of Brown's short stories follows: *"From an Unseen Censor", ''

Galaxy A galaxy is a Physical system, system of stars, stellar remnants, interstellar medium, interstellar gas, cosmic dust, dust, and dark matter bound together by gravity. The word is derived from the Ancient Greek, Greek ' (), literally 'milky', ...

'', Sep. 1958 *"Hair-Raising Adventure", ''Star Science Fiction #5'', 1959 *"Virgin Ground", ''

Worlds of If ''If'' was an American science fiction magazine launched in March 1952 by Quinn Publications, owned by James L. Quinn. The magazine was moderately successful, though for most of its run it was not considered to be in the first tier of Americ ...

'', Feb. 1959 *"Lost in Translation", ''

Fantasy & Science Fiction ''The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction'' (usually referred to as ''F&SF'') is a U.S. fantasy fiction magazine, fantasy and science-fiction magazine, first published in 1949 by Mystery House, a subsidiary of Lawrence E. Spivak, Lawrence Spiv ...

'', May 1959 ^H *"Car Pool", ''

'', Jul. 1959 ^H *"Save Your Confederate Money, Boys", ''

'', Nov. 1959 ^H *"Flower Arrangement", ''

'', Dec. 1959 *"Signs of the Times", ''

'', Dec. 1959 ^H *"David's Daddy", ''

Fantastic Fantastic or Fantastik may refer to: Music * ''Fantastic'' (Toy-Box album) * ''Fantastic'' (Wham! album) * '' Fan-Tas-Tic (Vol. 1)'', an album by Slum Village * '' Fantastic, Vol. 2'', an album by Slum Village * ''Fantastic'' (EP), an EP by ...

'', Jun. 1960 *"Step IV", ''

'', Jun. 1960 ^H *"There's Always a Way", ''

'', Jul. 1960 *"A Little Human Contact", ''

'', Apr. 1960 ^H *"Just a Suggestion", ''

'', Aug. 1960 ^H *"Of All Possible Worlds", ''

'', Feb. 1961 ^H (also republished in ''Rediscovery: science fiction by women (1958-1963)'') *"Visiting Professor", ''

'', Feb. 1961 ^H *"The Ultimate Sin", ''

'', Oct. 1961 *"And a Tooth", ''

'', Aug. 1962 *"Fruiting Body", ''

'', Aug. 1962 ^H *"Smith's Revenge", original in ''A Handful of Time'' (1963) ^H *"The Devaluation of the Symbol", original in ''A Handful of Time'' (1963) ^H *"The Artist", ''

'', May 1964 ^H collected in ''A Handful of Time''

Novels

* ''Earthblood'' (with

) (1966) * ''Sibyl Sue Blue'' series ** ''Sibyl Sue Blue'' (1966) - Also published as ''Galactic Sibyl Sue Blue'' (1968) ** ''Waters of Centaurus'' (published posthumously) (1970)

External links

* * * *

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Brown, Rosel George 1926 births 1967 deaths 20th-century American novelists American science fiction writers American women short story writers American women novelists Deaths from lymphoma American women science fiction and fantasy writers 20th-century American women writers Writers from New Orleans Tulane University alumni University of Minnesota College of Liberal Arts alumni 20th-century American short story writers Novelists from Louisiana