Category Archives: Ray Bradbury

Retro Hugos: “I, Rocket” by Ray Bradbury

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“I, Rocket” first appeared in the May 1944 issue of Amazing Stories.  It is available in a replica edition.

The early 1940s were a productive time for Bradbury. He had a number of stories published in the science fiction pulps and in Weird Tales. Not all of these stories were reprinted in Bradbury’s collections during his lifetime. If you are interested in these stories, the Kent State University Press is slowly (and I mean slowly) publishing what is supposed to be an eight volume set of The Collected Stories of Ray Bradbury: A Critical Edition.  I came across a remaindered copy of the first volume at a Half Price Books a few years ago for a little under twenty bucks.  For Father’s Day this year, I bought myself the second and third volumes. The difference in price was nontrivial.

“I, Rocket” is in the first volume, although I read it in the collection Forever and the Earth, which was published by PS Publishing about 15 years ago. This year is the centennial of Bradbury’s birth, and I’ll be looking at some of these stories closer to his birthday.

But I digress. Let’s talk about “I, Rocket”. Continue reading →

Christmas Ghosts: “The Wish” by Ray Bradbury

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This Christmas ghosts post is going to be a little different. I’ve been traveling most of the day and don’t feel like writing much.  Fortunately, I don’t have to.

Sue Granquist, AKA Goth Chick at Black Gate, has done the heavy lifting for me.  You need to read her post. It contains a link to a PDF of this story. Ms. Granquist has written a powerful and moving account of what this story means to her. I can’t top it. I read this story back  in high school when I read Bradbury’s collection Long After Midnight. In the years since, I had forgotten the story entirely. It simply didn’t have a huge impact on me when I was fourteen (give or take a year). Now that my impending geezerdom is on the horizon, I can relate to it much better. Fortunately not yet as much as I probably will some day.

Go read it.  You can thank me later.

A New Series of Posts in Honor of Ray Bradbury

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Ray Bradbury was born on this date, August 22, in 1920.  We lost him in 2012.  Bradbury was one of the first science fiction and fantasy writers I read.  A friend of our reading teacher came to class one day and read “The Screaming Woman” to us from the collection S is for Space.  I was hooked.

The public library in Wichita Falls had a number of Bradbury paperbacks in the children’s section, mostly the editions that had a drawing of Bradbury on the cover.  I’d seen them but didn’t really know what they were about.  After the man read the story, I checked out every one of them.  And when I read all of those, I tracked down the rest over the next few years.  I was fortunate because not only were they all in print at the time, but new editions were being published.  Those were the days.

A few weeks ago, something came across my twitter feed about the influence Henry Kuttner and Leigh Brackett had on Bradbury.  They both mentored  him, and Bradbury had written about his friendship with the two writers.

So I decided I could do a series of posts on those.  They’ll start sometime in the next month.  I’ve already got the first one planned.  I just need to reread the stories I’ll discuss in it and then write the post.  That will be after classes start next week.

 

Remembering Ray and an Update

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We lost Ray Bradbury seven years ago today (June 5, 2012).  It’s hard to believe he’s been gone that long.  If you get a chance, read something of his today and raise a glass in his memory.

I’ve been busy and burned out the last couple of months, but things should start picking up around here starting this weekend or early next week.

Howard Days is this weekend.  I’m going down a day or so early for some of the informal stuff that may go on.  Also, just to get the heck outta Dodge for a few days.  Things should settle into a routine next week, meaning I’ll be getting some writing done.

Ray Bradbury at 98

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On this date in 1920, August 22, Ray Bradbury was born.  He was one of the greatest writers of the fantastic of the last 100 years.

I came to Bradbury early.  He was one of the first adult writers I read.  When I was in 5th grade, we had a guest in my reading class one day.  The man was there to read us a Bradbury story.  He described Bradbury as a science fiction writer but  then went on to tell us that what he was going to read wasn’t science fiction.  He read “The Screaming Woman” to us.  Continue reading →

Happy Birthday, Ray Bradbury

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Bradbury as a young man

Douglas Ray Bradbury was born on this date, August 22, in the year 1920. He passed away on June 5, 2102. It’s hard to believe it’s been five years already.

Bradbury was one of the first science fiction and fantasy writers I ever read, back when I was in grade school. It was a life changing experience.

I’ve always preferred his fiction from the 1940s and early 1950s, the stuff published in Weird Tales and Thrilling Wonder Stories, to his later works, However, it’s been a few years since I read some of his later fiction. It’s about time I returned to it. I’m older now and my tastes have changed.

I’ve got a little bit of time free this evening, and I can’t think of a better way to spend it than with a few Bradbury short stories.

Rather than say anymore about him, I’ll leave you with this quote:

 

Brackett and Bradbury: “Lorelei of the Red Mist”

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Planet Stories - Lorelei of the Red MistThis is a unique item.  The only collaboration between two great science fiction authors, Leigh Brackett and Ray Bradbury.  Here’s how it came about:

Both authors were living in the Los Angeles area in the 1940s, and both had been working hard to develop their craft as writers.  Both were regulars in Planet Stories at the time.  They were friends who had both been mentored by Henry Kuttner.  They used to meet once a week to read and critique each other’s work.

no good from a corpseBrackett had sold some detective short stories as well as one novel, No Good From a Corpse.  The novel caught the attention of movie producer Howard Hawks, who decided he wanted Brackett to work on the screenplay for his next project.  She was approximately halfway through a novellette she was writing for Planet Stories that was set on Venus (More about Brackett’s Venus in a bit.) when she got a call from Hawks, or more probably his secretary.  Which is how Brackett launched her screenwriting career by coauthoring with William Faulkner the script for Raymond Chandler’s The Big Sleep starring Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall.  How freakin’ cool is that? Continue reading →

In the Deep and Dark December

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[cue Simon and Garfunkle]

I’m not a huge Simon and Grafunkle fan, but I couldn’t help but steal the title of this post from “I am a Rock”.  Here are my reading/writing/blogging plans for the last month of the year.

Leigh Brackett

Leigh Brackett

The big thing is that Leigh Brackett’s birthday is next Monday, December 7.  It’s her centennial, and I’ll be focusing a lot on her work this month.  I’m not the only one.  Howard Andrew Jones and Bill Ward will be discussing “The Moon the Vanished”, one of her novellas set on a swampy Venus next Monday on Howard’s blog.  Click here for details and join the discussion.  I’m not going to be discussing that particular story here, but I will take some detailed looks at some others.  I’m probably going to start with “Lorelei of the Red Mist”, which she began and Ray Bradbury finished when Howard Hawks offered her a job writing the screenplay to Raymond Chandler’s The Big Sleep with William Faulkner.  You can get electronic copies of both stories in Swamps of Venus from Baen ($4), or get the Solar System bundle for $20. Continue reading →

A Journey Through The October Country

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October Country 1The October Country
Ray Bradbury
Illustrations by Joe Mugnaini
mass market paperback 307 p., $7.99
ebook Kindle $7.21 Nook $10.99

I first read this collection in the early ’80s, around 1980 or 1981, I think.  Some of the stories have stayed with me (“The Small Assassin”, “The Scythe”), while some I’d completely forgotten (“Touched with Fire”, “The Cistern”).

Most of the stories were recycled from Dark Carnival, with a few being left out and a few being added.  I’d hoped to have time to read the ones left out and discuss the differences in the two collections, but that will have to wait for a later post.  For those unaware, Dark Carnival, from Arkham House, was Bradbury’s first collection.  Original copies are hard to come by and will cost you a pretty penny.  The author’s definitive edition from a decade or so ago isn’t cheap either.

Fortunately there isn’t that much difference in the contents, and the casual reader can enjoy the stories as they appear in this volume.  There will be spoilers on some of them. Continue reading →

A Visit to Cooger and Dark’s Pandemonium Shadow Show

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something wicked this way comesSomething Wicked This Way Comes
Ray Bradbury
Avon, 304 pgs.
mass market paperback $7.99
ebook $3.99 Kindle Nook

I first read this book something like 35 years ago, give or take, probably in 5th grade. I reasonably certain it had to have been before spring break of my 6th grade year, because that was the year of the tornado. After we rebuilt the house, I got to have a room of my own. This is relevant because I envisioned the room I shared with my brother as Will’s room as I read the book.  (Assuming my memory isn’t playing tricks on me.)

There’s a risk when you return to a beloved novel from your youth. Will it live up to the memory? Often it doesn’t.

The advantage here is that after so many years, I didn’t remember more than a few scenes from the book, primarily the Dust Witch coming after the boys in the balloon in the middle of the night. Other than a few general things, I didn’t recall much.

I’m pleased to say that the novel held up quite well. It was better than I remembered. Continue reading →