Charles Nikki Brown (June 24, 1937 – July 12, 2009) was an American publishing editor, the co-founder and editor of '' Locus'', the long-running news and reviews magazine covering the genres of

science fiction Science fiction (often shortened to sci-fi or abbreviated SF) is a genre of speculative fiction that deals with imaginative and futuristic concepts. These concepts may include information technology and robotics, biological manipulations, space ...

and

fantasy Fantasy is a genre of speculative fiction that involves supernatural or Magic (supernatural), magical elements, often including Fictional universe, imaginary places and Legendary creature, creatures. The genre's roots lie in oral traditions, ...

literature. Brown was born on June 24, 1937, in

Brooklyn, New York Brooklyn is a Boroughs of New York City, borough of New York City located at the westernmost end of Long Island in the New York (state), State of New York. Formerly an independent city, the borough is coextensive with Kings County, one of twelv ...

. He attended City College until 1956, when he joined the military at age 18; Brown served in the

United States Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the naval warfare, maritime military branch, service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is the world's most powerful navy with the largest Displacement (ship), displacement, at 4.5 millio ...

for three years. Following his discharge from navy service, he went to work as a nuclear engineer but later on changed careers and entered the publishing field; Brown became a full-time science fiction editor with ''Locus'' in 1975. Along with Ed Meskys and Dave Vanderwerf, Charles N. Brown founded ''Locus'' in 1968 as a news

fanzine A fanzine (blend word, blend of ''fan (person), fan'' and ''magazine'' or ''zine'') is a non-professional and non-official publication produced by enthusiasts of a particular cultural phenomenon (such as a literary or musical genre) for the pleas ...

to promote a bid to host the 1971 World Science Fiction Convention in Boston. Originally intended to run only until the site-selection vote was taken at St. Louiscon, the 1969 Worldcon in St. Louis, Missouri, Brown decided to continue publishing ''Locus'' as a general science fiction and fantasy news

. It quickly began to fill the void left when the decades-old news fanzine ''Science Fiction Times'' (formerly ''Fantasy Times'', founded 1941) ceased publication in 1970 during the same time period. ''Locus'' gradually evolved into the field's professional trade journal and remains so today. In 1970, it was first nominated in the category of Hugo Award for Best Fanzine. The following year at the 29th Worldcon, the first Noreascon that ''Locus'' was founded to promote and support, Brown's news fanzine won its first of a record 29 Hugo Awards (as of 2008). Brown died peacefully in his sleep on his way home from Readercon at the age of 72. He previously had been announced as one of the guests of honor at Renovation, the 69th World Science Fiction Convention in Reno,

Nevada Nevada ( ; ) is a landlocked state in the Western United States. It borders Oregon to the northwest, Idaho to the northeast, California to the west, Arizona to the southeast, and Utah to the east. Nevada is the seventh-most extensive, th ...

. In accordance with established Worldcon tradition, he was retained as a guest of honor in memory of his longtime contributions to the science fiction field.

References

External links

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Obituary at Science Fiction & Fantasy Writers of America
1937 births 2009 deaths Journalists from Brooklyn American science fiction editors Hugo Award–winning editors Businesspeople from Oakland, California Locus (magazine) American speculative fiction publishers (people) {{US-publish-bio-stub