Brown, Molly

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BROWN, Molly

PERSONAL:

Female.

ADDRESSES:

Home—London, England. Agent—c/o Author Mail, Big Engine Publishers, P.O. Box 185, Abingdon OX14 1GR, England.

CAREER:

Novelist and author of short fiction. Has also worked as a stand-up comedian and a security guard.

MEMBER:

British Science-Fiction Association, British Fantasy Society.

AWARDS, HONORS:

British Science-Fiction Association Award for best short fiction, 1992, for "Bad Timing."

WRITINGS:

Virus, Scholastic (London, England), 1994.

Cracker: To Say I Love You (novelization of television show), St. Martin's Press (New York, NY), 1994.

Invitation to a Funeral, Gollancz (London, England), 1995, St. Martin's Press (New York, NY), 1998.

Bad Timing and Other Short Stories, Big Engine (Abingdon, England), 2001.

Contributor of stories to periodicals, including Interzone. Contributor to anthologies, including The Year's Best Fantasy and Horror, The Mammoth Book of Comic Fantasy, and The Best Time-Travel Stories Ever Written.

Brown's work has been translated into foreign languages, including German and Italian.

SIDELIGHTS:

Molly Brown writes in a variety of genres, including science fiction, mystery, and humor. Her novel Cracker: To Say I Love You was based on the Cracker television mystery series that appeared on the A & E Network. In the book, British psychologist Dr. Edward Fitzpatrick is enlisted by the police to track down a pair of youthful killers. A Publishers Weekly critic found flaws in the work, but also remarked that "the raw energy generated by its unique characters sustains considerable suspense." In her review for Booklist, Emily Melton stated, "Brown's taut novel … is compelling, complex, and dark—and a guaranteed page-turner."

Invitation to a Funeral concerns actual seventeenth-century playwright Aphra Behn, who discovers that her longtime friend, Matthew Cavell, has been slain. Behn vows to find his murderer, and the clues she uncovers lead directly to the royal court of King Charles II. "Brown generously mixes factual and fictional Restoration history and campy drama … to great effect," according to a critic in Publishers Weekly. Melton, reviewing Invitation to a Funeral in Booklist, called the work "stunningly original, deliciously funny, and breathtakingly suspenseful." Brown also developed a Web site for the book that includes an online tour of Restoration London.

In 2001 Brown published Bad Timing and Other Short Stories, a collection of tales that mix horror, science fiction, and satire. Many of the stories appeared previously in Interzone.

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

PERIODICALS

Booklist, December 15, 1995, Emily Melton, review of Cracker: To Say I Love You, p. 687; May 15, 1998, Emily Melton, review of Invitation to a Funeral, p. 1598.

Library Journal, April 1, 1998, Rex E. Klett, review of Invitation to a Funeral, p. 127.

Publishers Weekly, November 6, 1995, review of Cracker, p. 85; April 13, 1998, review of Invitation to a Funeral, p. 56.