Ray Bradbury - please help!

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Hi guys

Please help me out as to which of Bradbury's short stories or short story collections are the best. I know not all of his work lies in the horror genre, so could you possibly help me as to which are his best in the horror genre?
 
If you can find a copy (it has had a reprint, so is slightly less difficult to find than when it only had the Arkham House edition), I'd begin with Dark Carnival, which is a blending of horror, pathos, and a somewhat dark humor (as in "There Was an Old Woman" or "Jack-in-the-Box"). The October Country collects together some of the same stories, but by no means all, and adds a few of its own.

Unfortunately, I'm not really sure how many of Bradbury's collections could be called "horror", though quite a few of his stories throughout his career are horror or terror tales, including a number of his science fiction pieces ("Mars is Heaven", for instance, or "Usher II"). In some ways, you could say that a sizeable proportion of both The Martian Chronicles and The Illustrated Man at least border on that category, while S is for Space includes the classic "Pillar of Fire", certainly an horrific little tale, as well as a few others. But most of his collections present a variety of modes and voices, rather than being simply "sf", "horror", "suspense", etc.

With his novels, it is a bit easier: Something Wicked This Way Comes; Dandelion Wine (not all horror, by any means, but with a fair dose of darker material); The Halloween Tree; and From the Dust Returned (a weaving-together of several shorter tales plus new material; a less successful novel than it might have been had he written it thirty or forty years ago, but still well worth a read)... these are the ones which spring to mind. (I've not yet read Forever Summer, which I understand is a sequel to Dandelion Wine, so can't comment on that one.)

For the stories, though, if you can find a (rather large) volume titled The Stories of Ray Bradbury, which contains something in the nature of 100 or more of his tales, that would be your best bet for landing the largest single collection of his tales in this genre, though they are intermingled with quite a few other types of tales.
 
Thanks, JD. I found a volume "The Small Assassin" that was marked as horror on the blurb, and I see it does contain "Jack-in -the Box".

I've already thought I should get Something Wicked This Way Comes.

I've done some springcleaning this weekend, and found October Country, Quicker than the Eye and Driving Blind as well.

I see he has a lot of other anthologies out there too, so now I'm vaccillating between the ones you mentioned and the 100 story one... - I don't suppose the 100 story volume contains all of his short story collections, but I doubt it contains any that are not already contained in other volumes?

Hmm, so shall I get Dark Carnival and Illustrated Man and the 100 story one? Maybe leave out Illustrated Man for now..? :confused:

Thanks again for your help, JD - much appreciated.

Edit: I've just read on Goodreads that most of Dark Carnival was reprinted in October Country? However, October Country does not contain a story titled Dark Carnival. Now I'm wondering if there is such a story... hmmm.... let me find a Bradbury bibliography.
 
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Ok, I checked, and there isn't such a story as Dark Carnival, though apparently only 15 out of 27 stories were reprinted in October Country. I have spotted some of the other stories in other volumes, though... Gee, I hate when there are so many confusing editions with cross-repetitions of short stories floating around... :p
 
The contents of Dark Carnival are as follows:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dark_Carnival_(book)

You can compare that with the contents of The October Country:

The October Country - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

No, the Stories does not contain all his short stories -- the man has been incredibly prolific -- but it is a sizeable collection nonetheless. Before going for Dark Carnival, I'd check on the price (of course). I was thinking more along the lines of getting it via a library rather than purchasing it, though if you can find one for a good price....

And yes, as someone who has collected a fair number of Bradbury's books, the repeated publication of certain stories can be a bit frustrating at times; it isn't, however, given the number of stories, as great as it may at first seem and, of course, some of the volumes were out of print, so the stories were included to make them available once again because they fit thematically or were favorites of Ray's, etc. The Small Assassin... it has been a loooong time since I read that collection, but as I recall, it collected together both horror and sf tales, rather than being strictly a "horror" collection....
 
Sadly, Dark Carnival seems to be out of print, (or at least sold out werever I've looked) but the 100 best (there is even a Volume 2, with even more stories... :eek:) seems to be alive and kicking, so perhaps a good idea to get that first volume.

I will make a turn at the library as well.

Thanks again, JD!
 
If you're after a seriously creepy Bradbury, the story 'The Emissary' still freaks me out now... very subtle but very disturbing.
 
If you're after a seriously creepy Bradbury, the story 'The Emissary' still freaks me out now... very subtle but very disturbing.

Indeed; one of my favorites. I am also quite fond of the very disturbing "Interim"... a one-page piece which carries one of the most awful wallops I can recall encountering....
 
The October Country with similar stories to Dark Carnival as JD says was the perfect gateway to Bradbury for me.

Maybe not strictly horror but the quality stories are very weird,fantastic,creepy.
 
I think that describes it really well... I wouldn't describe a lot of Bradbury as flat-out horror. Stuff like 'The Veldt' and 'Zero Hour' really has those qualities in spades...
 
I do not remember who said it, however, I once read a line that said to understand Ray Bradbury and who he was one should read a book that I forgot, I think it was Dandelion Wine, but the other was definitely The October Country.

Of course this thread is so old that you've probably already read The October Country and I could really type anything I want here: There was a man from nantucket... I'm kidding!
 
I'm surprised that there is not a Ray Bradbury Author thread. I am. I mean, I'm not surprised like a surprise birthday party, more like surprise that the steak I ordered is not the medium rare that I asked for.
 
I'm surprised that there is not a Ray Bradbury Author thread. I am. I mean, I'm not surprised like a surprise birthday party, more like surprise that the steak I ordered is not the medium rare that I asked for.

Yeah, the sub-forums here are pretty odd. You can't really look at them in terms of "importance," but only in terms of what authors are most popular with the people who post here the most, and which authors take time to post here.

Took me awhile to adjust too. When I first started here, PKD didn't have his own forum, and that blew my mind! ;)

With that said, October Country is an absolute masterpiece. One of the strongest short story collections I've ever read.
 
Thanks for the explanation, D to the Davis. :)

Part of me thinks it was right that PKD didn't have his own forum in the beginning, if he did his paranoid mind might have went round and round thinking that it was all part of an alien master plot.
 
Part of me thinks it was right that PKD didn't have his own forum in the beginning, if he did his paranoid mind might have went round and round thinking that it was all part of an alien master plot.

You're probably right. It would have been the Lem situation all over again.
 
Most definitely.

Though, I have to admit. I kind of miss the so called 'crazy' *******. You're not getting that kind of writing anymore. The kind of writing that you can't fake.
 
Though, I have to admit. I kind of miss the so called 'crazy' *******. You're not getting that kind of writing anymore. The kind of writing that you can't fake.

Do you read Ligotti?

While not "crazy" in the same sense that PKD was, I definitely think Ligotti is a bit disturbed, and the realness (and meanness) of his personal ideologies come through in his writing. As you said, it's not faked at all. His misanthropy is all too real.

But you're right - where are today's Syd Barretts and PKDs? Where are the crazy artists on the fringe of society breaking down barriers of their art?
 
I have not read Ligotti. Though I have heard of him.

WOW! A Syd Barrett reference! Hell-to-the-yeah. I wonder, could it be, that the crazy artists have no place in today's corporate world of entertainment? If you cannot control the artist do you want nothing to do with the artist?
 
I was going to say that the closest I have gotten to someone like Ligotti was Poppy Z. Brite, but that would probably not be fair to Ms. Brite.
 

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