The Bradbury Chronicles (52 page)
Read The Bradbury Chronicles Online
Authors: Sam Weller
THE OCTOBER COUNTRY
The author's first collection of stories takes readers to many places: a picturesque Mexican village where death is a tourist attraction; a city beneath the city where drowned lovers are silently reunited; a carnival midway where a tiny man's most cherished fantasy can be fulfilled night after night.
ONE MORE FOR THE ROAD
Another round on Ray Bradburyâeighteen new stories and seven previously published but never before collected. Here is a rich elixir distilled from the pungent fruit of experience and imagination, expertly prepared by a superior mixologist.
QUICKER THAN THE EYE
In these twenty-one stories, the master tells all, revealing the strange secret of growing young and mad; opening a Witch Door that links two intolerant centuries; joining an ancient couple in their wild assassination games.
SOMETHING WICKED THIS WAY COMES
Few American novels have endured in the heart and memory as has this unparalleled literary classic. When Cooger & Dark's Pandemonium Shadow Show comes to town, two boys learn all too well the heavy cost of wishesâ¦Â and the stuff of nightmare.
A SOUND OF THUNDER AND OTHER STORIES
(previously titled
The Golden Apples of the Sun
)
Here are thirty-two of Bradbury's most famous talesâprime examples of the poignant and mysterious poetry he uniquely uncovers in the depths of the human soul.
FAHRENHEIT 451 (Audio)
Internationally acclaimed with more than five million copies in print,
Fahrenheit 451
is Ray Bradbury's inspired novel of censorship and defiance. Read by the author himself, this audio edition of an American classic is as resonant today as it was when it was first published nearly fifty years ago.
The Best of Ray Bradbury: The Graphic Novel.
New York and London: Simon & Schuster, 2003.
Bradbury Stories: 100 of His Most Celebrated Tales.
New York: William Morrow, 2003.
The Cat's Pajamas: Stories.
New York: William Morrow, 2004.
Classic Stories 1: Selections from The Golden Apples of the Sun and R Is for Rocket.
New York: Bantam, 1990.
Classic Stories 2: Selections from A Medicine for Melancholy and S Is for Space.
New York: Bantam, 1990.
The Complete Poems of Ray Bradbury.
New York: Ballantine, 1982.
Dandelion Wine.
New York: Doubleday, 1957.
Dark Carnival.
Sauk City, WI: Arkham House, 1947.
Death Is a Lonely Business.
New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1985; London: Grafton, 1986.
Dogs Think That Everyday Is Christmas.
Layton, UT: Gibbs Smith Publisher, 1997.
Driving Blind.
New York: Avon, 1997.
Fahrenheit 451.
New York: Ballantine, 1953.
From the Dust Returned.
New York: William Morrow, 2001.
The Golden Apples of the Sun.
Garden City, NY: Doubleday, 1953.
A Graveyard for Lunatics: Another Tale of Two Cities.
New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1990.
Green Shadows, White Whale.
New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1992.
The Halloween Tree.
New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1972.
The Haunted Computer and the Android Pope.
New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1981.
The Illustrated Man.
Garden City, NY: Doubleday, 1951.
I Sing the Body Electric!
New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1969.
Let's All Kill Constance: A Novel.
New York: William Morrow/HarperCollins Publishers, 2003.
Long After Midnight.
New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1976.
The Machineries of Joy.
New York: Simon & Schuster, 1964.
The Martian Chronicles.
Garden City, NY: Doubleday, 1950.
A Medicine for Melancholy.
New York: Doubleday, 1959.
A Memory of Murder.
New York: Dell, 1984.
The October Country.
New York: Ballantine, 1955.
One More for the Road.
New York: William Morrow, 2002.
Quicker Than the Eye.
New York: Avon, 1996.
R Is for Rocket.
Garden City, NY: Doubleday, 1962.
S Is for Space.
Garden City, NY: Doubleday, 1966.
Something Wicked This Way Comes.
New York: Simon & Schuster, 1962.
The Stories of Ray Bradbury.
New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1980.
Switch on the Night.
New York: Pantheon, 1955.
They Have Not Seen the Stars: The Collected Poetry of Ray Bradbury.
Lancaster, PA: Stealth Press, 2002.
The Toynbee Convector.
New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1988.
Twice 22.
New York: Doubleday, 1966.
The Vintage Bradbury: Ray Bradbury's Own Selection of His Best Stories.
New York: Vintage Books, 1965.
When Elephants Last in the Dooryard Bloomed: Celebrations for Almost Any Day in the Year
. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1973.
Where Robot Mice and Robot Men Run 'Round in Robot Towns.
New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1977; London: Hart-Davis, MacGibbon, 1979.
With Cat for Comforter.
Layton, UT: Gibbs Smith Publisher, 1997.
Witness and Celebrate.
Northridge, CA: Lord John Press, 2000.
Yestermorrow: Obvious Answers to Impossible Futures.
Santa Barbara, CA: Capra Press, 1991.
Zen in the Art of Writing.
San Bernardino, CA: Borgo Press, 1990.
T
HE FOUNDATION
of this book came from the hundreds of hours of conversations I had with Ray Bradbury. All quotes and information came from RB during these interviews, unless otherwise noted.
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CHAPTER 1
Page 11: “Ray Douglas Bradbury arrived in the world ⦔: Certificate of Birth, Ray Douglas Bradbury, August 22, 1920, Lake County Clerk's Record #4750.
Page 12: “Born to Mr. and Mrs. Leo Bradbury ⦔:
Waukegan Daily Sun,
Aug. 29, 1920.
Page 12: “⦠a friend of Ray's ⦔: Letter dated July 10, 1947, from Ray Bradbury to Anthony Boucher. From RB's private collection.
Page 14: “The first people ⦔: Osling,
Historical Highlights of the Waukegan Area;
Holmes,
The History of Waukegan.
Page 15: “As urban legend has it ⦔:
Waukegan News-Sun,
Nov. 5, 1984.
Page 15: “A town member who attended the event ⦔:
Waukegan Historical Society
extracts of Waukegan daily papers from February 1909.
Page 15: “Another noteworthy Waukegan event ⦔: Holmes,
The History of Waukegan.
Page 16: “Waukegan, in 1920 ⦔:
The Fourteenth Census of the United States.
Page 16: “Bradbury genealogical records ⦔: Lapham,
The Bradbury Memorial.
Page 16: “On July 26, 1692 ⦔: Boyer,
The Salem Witchcraft Papers.
Page 16: “I am wholly innocent ⦔: Ibid.
Page 17: “The charges against Mary Bradbury ⦔: Ibid.
Page 17: “⦠on September 6, 1692 ⦔: Ibid.
Page 18: “From her ⦔: Kunitz,
20th Century Authors.
Page 18: “Samuel Irving Bradbury ⦔: Obituary of Samuel I. Bradbury, “Yard Scrapbook,” Waukegan Historical Society.
Page 18: “⦠Dec. 1st, felled the first tree ⦔: Ibid.
Page 18: “Little more than a month ⦔: Ibid.
Page 19: “Sam and Mary had three children ⦔: Lapham,
The Bradbury Memorial.
Page 19: “Samuel Hinkston Bradbury was born ⦔: State of Illinois Death Certificate of Samuel Hinkston Bradbury, Lake County Clerk's Record #1023.
Page 19: “Samuel Sr. had moved ⦔: Obituary of Samuel I. Bradbury, “Yard Scrapbook,” Waukegan Historical Society.
Page 19: “⦠but it once stood at 22 North State Street ⦔: Bradbury Collection, Waukegan Historical Society.
Page 19: “⦠with its cellar roots ⦔: Bradbury,
From the Dust Returned.
Page 20: “⦠a mouse in every warren ⦔: Ibid.
Page 21: “⦠on January 21, 1896 ⦔: State of Illinois Certificate of Birth Record, local file #602.
Page 21: “⦠By the time the 1900 ⦔: No Bradbury daughter appears on the 1900 United States Census.
Page 21: “But, oddly enough ⦔: Rose M. Bradbury appears on the 1910 United States Census, enumerated on June 19, 1910.
Page 22: “After returning home ⦔: The 1906â1907 Waukegan City Directory lists Leonard S. Bradbury's occupation as “printer.”
Page 23: “In 1912, Leonard Bradbury ⦔: Author interview with Leonard “Skip” Bradbury Jr. Additionally, the earliest existing photograph of Leonard S. Bradbury and Esther Marie Moberg, taken during their courtship, is dated on the back, 1912.
Page 23: “Leonard and Esther married ⦔: Marriage Certificate of “Leo Bradbury” and “Esther Moberg,” from the papers of Ray Bradbury.
Page 23: “Like many other Swedes ⦔: Gustaf Moberg's occupation as a heater at the local wire mill is listed in all Waukegan City Directories in the collection of the Waukegan Historical Society dating from early 1905 to 1922.
Page 23: “⦠worked as a driver ⦔: Waukegan City Directories, the Waukegan Historical Society.
Page 24: “On July 17, 1916 ⦔: Author interview with Leonard S. “Skip” Bradbury Jr.
Page 24: “⦠on September 30, 1918 ⦔: State of Illinois Death Certificate.
Page 25: “For that fine madness ⦔:
Annual Waukegan High School 1912.
Page 25: “⦠Captain Sam Bradbury was buried ⦔: Letter from Jacques R. Adelée of the American Battle Monuments Commission, European Office, to RB, dated August 25, 1989. Captain Samuel H. Bradbury is located in Plot C, Row 12, Grave 18. Fourteen years after his death, in September 1932, Ray's grandmother Minnie Bradbury, a Gold Star Mother, traveled aboard the SS
Leviathan
to France to visit, at long last, the grave of her son. “I have traveled over 3,000 miles to see and visit a bit of earth over which stands a white cross,” she said in the September 16, 1932, edition of the
Waukegan News-Sun.
“⦠[O]nly a mother who has seen her son go off to war happy in the thought that he is serving his country, but with the fear in her heart as the result of the realization that he may never come back, will understand.”
Page 25: “He was just an ordinary little boy ⦔: Author interview with Edna Hutchinson.
Page 26: “About seven o'clock ⦔: Bradbury,
Dandelion Wine.
Page 27: “⦠It was February 1924 ⦔: Advertisements for
The Hunchback of Notre Dame
indicated it played in Waukegan for the first time in mid-February 1924.
Page 28: “When I talk of myself ⦔: Cunningham, 1961 UCLA Oral History Program transcript.
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CHAPTER 2
Page 30: “I have often thought that Neva ⦔: Ray's essay about his aunt Neva, “The Wingless Bat,” was likely written in the mid- to late 1940s. It has never been published.
Page 32: “autobiographical fantasy ⦔: Mogen,
Ray Bradbury
.
Page 32: “On the morning of Friday ⦔: State of Illinois Death Certificate of Samuel Hinkston Bradbury, Lake County Clerk's Record #1023.
Page 32: “⦠after lying in a coma for six days ⦔:
Waukegan News-Sun,
June 5, 1926.
Page 32: “⦠when all the fireworks ⦔: Don Congdon/RB interviews, 1971.
Page 32: “⦠and my uncle Bion had cracked a few windows ⦔: Bion's first wife, Ray's aunt Edna Hutchinson, recalled the origins of the brass cannon: “Bion was a tool-and-die maker and he made the canon and they always used to bring it out and shoot it on the Fourth of July. I was scared to death of the thing. I thought that someone would get hurt.” As legend would have it, the fate of the brass cannon is uncertain. Edna Hutchinson divorced Bion and recalls hearing that the old cannon was buried in the beach at Lake Michigan by a group of children on a Fourth of July many years later. Bradbury memorabilia collectors take note: Uncle Bion's infamous brass cannon, to the best of anyone's recollection, is, to this day, still buried deep in the sand on the Lake Michigan shoreline in Waukegan, Illinois.
Page 34: “⦠These windows ⦔: Today, visitors to the old house at 619 W. Washington will only find one of the stained glass windows still intact. Somewhere over the course of time, one of the windows has been removed. Even still, it's hard not to stand below the remaining window and imagine a little boy behind it, peering out with an altered perception.
Page 35: “⦠For a brief time ⦔: While he has been coined “The World's Greatest Living Science Fiction Writer,” Ray Bradbury was not a big believer in the idea that Earth had been visited by extraterrestrials. “I believe there is life on other worlds but we'll never know. It's all too far away. It's a secret thing in our hearts; we wish it were true, because we'd love to have these visitors.”
Page 37: “On March 27, 1927 ⦔: The birth date of Betty Jane Bradbury is, sadly, listed on her State of Illinois Death Certificate issued less than a year later.
Page 38: “The concept of this soul-image ⦔: Hillman,
The Soul's Code.
Page 38: “I have a strange and incredible Muse ⦔: From the 2002 RB essay, “My Demon, Not Afraid of Happiness.”
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CHAPTER 3
Page 39: “⦠enrolled at Chicago's School of the Art Institute ⦔: From the records of the School of the Art Institute, Chicago.
Page 39: “When mother and father and I ⦔: From the unpublished RB essay, “The Wingless Bat,” circa mid-1940s.
Page 40: “⦠the newly constructed Genesee Theatre ⦔: The complete history of the Genesee Theatre is listed on the theater's official Website, www.geneseetheatre.org. In February 2001, the city of Waukegan approved funding of up to $20 million to renovate the grand old palace.
Page 40: “on the morning of February 8, 1928 ⦔: State of Illinois Death Certificate, County Clerk's Record #11856.
Page 40: “At dawn, men arrived ⦔: Various published chronologies of Ray Bradbury's life, including the timelines in David Mogen's critical tome,
Ray Bradbury,
and William F. Nolan's
The Ray Bradbury Companion,
list Elizabeth Bradbury's death in 1927, when in fact it was 1928.
Page 41: “His show had lots of action ⦔: Author interview with Blackstone biographer Daniel Waldron.
Page 43: “⦠has a large following among science fiction readers ⦔: Knight,
Ray Bradbury,
Modern Critical Views series.
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CHAPTER 4
Page 45: “In 1929 ⦔: Bradbury introduction, Williams,
Buck Rogers: The First 60 Years in the 25th Century.
Page 47: “⦠Skip, the family athlete ⦔: Author interview with Leonard “Skip” Bradbury Jr.
Page 48: “At breakfast ⦔: RB introduction, Porges,
Edgar Rice Burroughs: The Man Who Created Tarzan.
Page 50: “⦠the twin Schabold brothers ⦔: Ray made brief mention of the Schabold twinsâan homage of sortsâin the short story “The Lake.”
Page 50: “In the last week of 1931 ⦔: Blackstone's appearance was widely advertised in the
Waukegan News-Sun.
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CHAPTER 5
Page 52: “Ray wrote of this simple, childhood memory ⦔: “Someone in the Rain” did not appear until 1997 in the collection
Driving Blind
.
Page 52: “Once I learned to keep going back ⦔: RB, “Just This Side of Byzantium.”
Page 53: “⦠Bradbury scholar Wayne L. Johnson noted ⦔: Johnson,
Ray Bradbury
.
Page 54: “⦠the annual lakefront festival ⦔: The Labor Day Weekend Festival on the lakefront was written up in the
Waukegan News-Sun
, Aug. 31, 1932.
Page 54: “⦠steaming calliope, strung mazda bulbs ⦔: RB, from Nolan's
Ray Bradbury Review. The Ray Bradbury Review
had a print run of 1,200 copies and is a relatively rare publication.
Page 55: “Lester Thomas Moberg ⦔: Interviews with RB, Skip Bradbury, Ray's cousin Vivian, and Lester Moberg's daughter Carol Moberg Treklis.
Page 55: “He worked as an attendant ⦔: State of Illinois Death Certificate listed his occupation, marital status, and children.
Page 55: “Monday evening ⦔: Descriptions of the events come from the Lake County Coroner's Inquest and a newspaper report in the Oct. 18, 1932, edition of the
Waukegan News-Sun
.
Page 55: “Ghost stories ⦔: RB, “House Divided,” from
Driving Blind
. RB: “I wrote âHouse Divided,' the story about fingerprinting Vivian, in the 1940s when I still lived with my parents and I left it lying around the living room and my mother picked it up and read it. And she went into shock. All these years I'd had this secret affair with Vivian. Her son! She said, âWhy, you dirty ⦠how could you write a thing like that?' I said, âMa, I lived it.'”
Page 57: “The first time ⦔: RB,
The Ray Bradbury Review
.
Page 57: “It was an experience ⦔: Eller and Touponce,
Ray Bradbury: The Life of Fiction
.