“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”.
The story is told from the point of view of an old rocket that has crashed on a planetoid. It recounts how it first became conscious and its maiden voyage, as a warship. There are saboteurs on the ship, part of the crew who aren’t exactly loyal to the cause.
The story is pretty straight forward, without any major twists. The rocket survives the sabotage attempt and goes on to have other adventures.
Ray Bradbury
To be honest, I don’t understand why this story hasn’t been reprinted more often. I certainly don’t see why Bradbury didn’t include it in one of his collections. There were other stories from this period that were included in one or the other of the large 100 story collections that came out while he was still alive. For that matter, there were older stories that appeared in some of Bradbury’s later collections that were older stories appearing in one of his books for the first time.
“I, Rocket” is a tad bit dated in the way Bradbury presents some of the characters, especially the captain who is in love with his ship. Still, it’s a solid story, and one that deserves a wider audience. It was one of the best of a number of stories Bradbury had published in 1944.