Charles Nikki Brown (June 24, 1937 – July 12, 2009) was an American publishing editor, the co-founder and editor of ''

Locus Locus (plural loci) is Latin for "place". It may refer to: Entertainment * Locus (comics), a Marvel Comics mutant villainess, a member of the Mutant Liberation Front * ''Locus'' (magazine), science fiction and fantasy magazine ** ''Locus Award' ...

'', the long-running news and reviews magazine covering the genres of

science fiction Science fiction (sometimes shortened to Sci-Fi or SF) is a genre of speculative fiction which typically deals with imaginative and futuristic concepts such as advanced science and technology, space exploration, time travel, parallel uni ...

and

fantasy Fantasy is a genre of speculative fiction involving magical elements, typically set in a fictional universe and sometimes inspired by mythology and folklore. Its roots are in oral traditions, which then became fantasy literature and d ...

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

Brooklyn, New York Brooklyn () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Kings County, in the U.S. state of New York. Kings County is the most populous county in the State of New York, and the second-most densely populated county in the United States, be ...

. 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 maritime service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. It is the largest and most powerful navy in the world, with the estimated tonnage ...

for three years. Following his discharge from navy service, he went to work as a

nuclear engineer Nuclear engineering is the branch of engineering concerned with the application of breaking down atomic nuclei ( fission) or of combining atomic nuclei ( fusion), or with the application of other sub-atomic processes based on the principles of n ...

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 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 Worldcon, or more formally the World Science Fiction Convention, the annual convention of the World Science Fiction Society (WSFS), is a science fiction convention. It has been held each year since 1939 (except for the years 1942 to 1945, durin ...

in St. Louis, Missouri, Brown decided to continue publishing ''Locus'' as a general science fiction and fantasy news fanzine. 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 A trade magazine, also called a trade journal or trade paper (colloquially or disparagingly a trade rag), is a magazine or newspaper whose target audience is people who work in a particular trade or industry. The collective term for this ...

and remains so today. In 1970 it was first nominated in the category of

Hugo Award for Best Fanzine The Hugo Award for Best Fanzine is given each year for non professionally edited magazines, or "fanzines", related to science fiction or fantasy which has published four or more issues with at least one issue appearing in the previous calendar y ...

. 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 Readercon is an annual science fiction convention, held every July in the Boston, Massachusetts area, in Burlington, Massachusetts. It was founded by Bob Colby and Eric Van in 1987 with the goal of focusing almost exclusively on science fiction/ ...

at the age of 72. He previously had been announced as one of the guests of honor at

Renovation Renovation (also called remodeling) is the process of improving broken, damaged, or outdated structures. Renovations are typically done on either commercial or residential buildings. Additionally, renovation can refer to making something new, ...

, the 69th World Science Fiction Convention in

Reno Reno ( ) is a city in the northwest section of the U.S. state of Nevada, along the Nevada-California border, about north from Lake Tahoe, known as "The Biggest Little City in the World". Known for its casino and tourism industry, Reno is the ...

Nevada Nevada ( ; ) is a state in the Western region of the United States. It is bordered by Oregon to the northwest, Idaho to the northeast, California to the west, Arizona to the southeast, and Utah to the east. Nevada is the 7th-most extensive, ...

. 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

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