For more than sixty years, the imagination of Ray Bradbury has opened doors into remarkable places, ushering us across unexplored territories of the heart and mind while leading us inexorably toward a profound understanding of ourselves and the universe we inhabit. In this landmark volume, America's preeminent storyteller offers us one hundred treasures from alifetime of words and ideas -- tales that amaze, enthrall, and horrify; breathtaking journeys backward and forward in time; classic stories with the undiminished power to tantalize, mystify, elate, and move the reader to tears. Each small gem in the master's collection remains as dazzling as when it first appeared in print.

There is magic in these pages: the wonders of interstellar flight, a conspiracy of insects, the early bloom of love in the warmth of August. Both the world of Ray Bradbury and its people are vivid and alive, as colorfully unique as a poker chip hand-painted by a brilliant artist or as warmly familiar as the well-used settings on a family's dining room table. In a poor man's desire for the stars, in the twisted night games of a hateful embalmer, in a magnificent fraud perpetrated to banish despair and repair a future, in a writer's wonderful death is the glowing proof of the timeless artistry of one of America's greatest living bards.

The one hundred stories in this volume were chosen by Bradbury himself, and span a career that blossomed in the pulp magazines of the early 1940s and continues to flourish in the new millennium. Here are representatives of the legendary author's finest works of short fiction, including many that have not been republished for decades, all forever fresh and vital, evocative and immensely entertaining. This is Bradbury at his very best -- golden visions of tomorrow, poetic memories of yesterday, dark nightmares and glorious dreams -- a grand celebration of humankind, God's intricate yet poignantly fallible machineries of joy.

All of which is unfortunate, for Bradbury stands as a singular chronicler of the second half of the twentieth century, peeking into our dark corners to see what scares us. BRADBURY STORIES: 100 of His Most Celebrated Tales presents these demons anew, collecting pieces from every stage of his long career, from his dime novel beginnings to his work in Hollywood to his recent resurgence with original books like LET'S ALL KILL CONSTANCE and ONE MORE FOR THE ROAD. For those who haven't read Bradbury since high school, this collection serves as a fitting introduction to the surprisingly wide range of styles and subjects he has addressed; for longtime fans it is a reminder of the author's ability to evoke "the monsters and angels of my imagination" through dreamy prose and unforgettable imagery.

As well as any other American writer of the last century --- and certainly better than any other "genre" writer --- Bradbury creates a particular mood and setting in his stories that is best described as eerily autumnal. In THE OCTOBER COUNTRY, arguably his best collection, he describes this setting as "that country where it is always turning late in the year, that country whose people are always autumn people, thinking autumn thoughts." In the cycle of seasons, fall is the season of death --- falling leaves, browning grass, chilling winds, early darkness --- before rebirth, and in Bradbury's stories death always lingers nearby, tracking and chasing characters and greeting them in unsuspected places.

Whether or not they conjure the supernatural, the stories in this large collection show that this narrative texture, this October country setting, transcends that one collection and informs almost everything Bradbury wrote.

Furthermore, the October country Bradbury evokes is a flip-side America, one where the American dream has been subsumed by collective nightmares. If nothing else, BRADBURY STORIES demonstrates the writer's talent for heatedly and unpretentiously addressing social and political ills through his imaginative stories.

"And the Rock Cried Out," for example, follows two wealthy travelers in Africa who discover they're the last white people on earth. Their punishment for the West's constant imperialism is the loss of all worldly possessions and a life devoted to menial labor.

In "The Garbage Collector," a man learns that if a bomb hits the city, he will have to collect the dead in his truck. The title character must decide whether to quit his job and assuage his conscience or keep working to support his family. To Bradbury's credit, it's difficult to tell which crime is more outrageous --- the civic government viewing its citizenry as refuse or making its employees compromise their morals for family.

Any collection of this size is necessarily defined by what it omits as much as by what it includes. BRADBURY STORIES contains so many wonders, but where are "The Scythe," "The Crowd," and "Homecoming" from THE OCTOBER COUNTRY? What happened to "The Picasso Summer" and (a personal favorite) "Some Live Like Lazarus"?

Such glaring oversights are certainly not the fault of Bradbury, unless you count prolificacy and quality among the most grievous of literary sins. Nor are they the fault of the editors and compilers, who doubtlessly had to make many painful cuts. Instead, they serve as a cry for another volume, perhaps entitled 100 MORE BRADBURY STORIES. It is maybe only a slight exaggeration to say that he could fill 100 such volumes with highly inventive and deeply felt tales.

--- Reviewed by Stephen M. Deusner from Bookreporter.com


Guy de Maupassant, the English Version   March 31, 2005
 28 out of 30 found this review helpful

It may very well have been a novel by Ray Bradbury, though it could have been one by Zenna Henderson, Isaac Asimov, or any one of a dozen other authors, that I was holding that summer, long ago, when I heard my father mutter as he stomped out the door with the hoe in his hand, "You read too much!" Suffice it to say that I am no stranger to Ray Bradbury's longer works, but this was my first exposure to a collection of his short stories, and I was not disappointed.

When we describe this collection as one of short stories, we do mean short. Most of the stories here run from two to six pages in length, and it is to Bradbury's credit that he packs almost every one with significance and meaning far beyond the scope of the story itself. Here, the reader will find profound observations on the human condition, on the thin veneer of civilization that can be easily ripped asunder, on the human need for approbation, on the human need for love, on the human need for belief and spirituality, and on every other characteristic that makes one human. Do not misconstrue my comments: this not a book of essays preaching and pontificating on any of these profound things; this is a book filled with fascinating characters and wondrous interactions. Bradbury never beats his reader over the head with profundity; it is the reader himself who adds that to Bradbury's intriguing tales.

Tales-that's the word I've been searching for. This is a book of tales. Joseph Conrad's "The Secret Sharer" is a short story. Ray Bradbury's "The Man in the Rorschach Shirt" is a tale. In fact, let us use the French word "conte" as we would to describe the little slices of the world that we see in the contes of Guy de Maupassant. Bradbury is the English de Maupassant as de Maupassant is the French Bradbury.

I used to picture Bradbury as purely a writer of science fiction, but I was wrong to limit him to a specific genre. This collection of one hundred tales is proof irrefutable of Bradbury's broad range and scope. The book should take one quite a while to read, by the way. True, one could blast through it with all those remarkable speed reading techniques, but what a shame to do so. These tales need to be read one at a time and then pondered and mulled over as one would savor the taste of fine food and good wine. To gulp them down in a feeding frenzy is to forgo the pleasure of remembering them and of adding their implicit lessons to one's own repertoire of knowledge. In fact, the three months I spent on this book was too brief a period. I shall keep it at hand and reread these tales, perhaps one a week for the next one hundred weeks. This feast is incredible, and I would not have it fade from memory too quickly. Please join me at the table and dine on Bradbury's joyously creative wit and wisdom.


His future is our past; but his stories still worthwhile   September 7, 2003
 22 out of 26 found this review helpful

Ray Bradbury, through longevity, has reached the stage of being called "beloved science fiction writer" and that should be the tip-off that the stories here are kindly precyberpunk SF ghost stories, many of which, like old Twilight Zone episodes, deal with well-worn themes (last man on earth; taking a train back to your boyhood home to find it unchanged from the day you left; stop watch that stops all time, etc.) that were fresher when they originally appeared half a century ago.

Bradbury's strengths include his sensitivity to the human condition and how he weaves his characters through extraordinary -- often supernatural -- conditions: his stories can be quietly lyrical and benign, pleasantly undemanding while entertaining.
But they can also pack a wallop. I imagine a first time reader of "A Sound of Thunder" will still face the denouement with surprise, if not awe. Many of his stories have lessons attached and the classic SF type warnings about what might happen if we don't mend our ways, etc.
This collection is like a handsome and well-oiled grandfather clock that still has no problem telling us the time even though the mechanism's own time is long past.


Wistful, Melancholic, Whimsical, Articulate   January 23, 2004
 18 out of 20 found this review helpful

This is a great collection of Ray Bradbury's short stories, with 100 stories totaling 888 pages (gives you an idea of just how short they are). Some of these short stories are part of "The Martian Chronicles", some are set in the past, some are set in the future, and some are set in our-past-but-Bradbury's-future. While there is definitely a datedness to some of the details of the stories, it seldom interferes with enjoying them.

When one reads a collection like this, one gets a flavor for the writer's likes, dislikes, and beliefs, through repetitive themes. Ray Bradbury wanted to bridge the gap between the old and the young, and he saw children and the elderly, at times, as being more in touch with each other than non-elderly adults were in touch with anyone but themselves. Bradbury loved writing and reading, and believed in the power of imagination. He appears to have been a fan of Edgar Allan Poe, of Thomas Wolfe, and of Laurel and Hardy. Time travel intrigued Bradbury, as well. Ireland and the Irish were important to Bradbury and, not surprisingly, many of these short stories are melancholy and wistful. As much as Bradbury loved books, that's how much he seemed to loath television.

This is an excellent collection to have around, to read a bit at a time. If you read it straight through, though, watch out for overdoses of wistfulness, whimsy, and melancholy.


Bradbury at his best   May 14, 2006
 8 out of 8 found this review helpful

This is a wonderful collection of Bradbury's tales. There are stories here such as Trapdoor which I had read years ago and haven't been able to find since. It is clear that Bradbury loves his work. His stories have a certain characteristic about them that sets them apart from all other works. I would say it is hard to call Bradbury a science-fiction, drama, horror, or fantasy writer though because in truth he is all of these. In a lot of ways his work makes me think of Owen Crawfrod's work. His book The Death of Sara could be the sister of Bradbury's The October Country.

For any fans of Bradbury's work I would highly recomend Bradbury Stories. These truly are 100 of his most celebrated tales and will be around for a long long time.