Amazon.com Review
Ray Bradbury's first short story collection is back in print, its chilling encounters with funhouse mirrors, parasitic accident-watchers, and strange poker chips intact. Both sides of Bradbury's vaunted childhood nostalgia are also on display, in the celebratory "Uncle Einar," and haunting "The Lake," the latter a fine elegy to childhood loss. This edition features a new introduction by Bradbury, an invaluable essay on writing, wherein the author tells of his "Theater of Morning Voices," and, by inference, encourages you to listen to the same murmurings in yourself. And has any writer anywhere ever made such good use of exclamation marks!?

Reserved for bookring.

Bookring

Sending this out as a bookring. If you are interested in joining this ring, please PM me. Bookring will remain open until last person reads the book.

Sending this book along with Mr. George by August Derleth. Both of these are collections of stories that were originally published in "Weird Tales" magazine in the 1940s and 1950s.



Participants so far:

. kizmiaz from Portugal (EU preferred, International if necessary)
. wickedlazy from UK (UK preferred, EU if necessary)
. Bookworm-lady from Spain (EU preferred, EU if necessary)
. silvia-pco from Portugal (EU preferred, International if necessary)
. GoryDetails from New Hampshire, USA (International if needed)
. RaggedWood from California, USA (International if needed)<----Skip - no response

Then back to me:
. perryfran (Maryland, USA)

Note: Order is subject to change based on shipping preferences and others joining the bookray.

How the bookring works:
* Someone will PM you for your address, PM them back and provide your address
* When you receive the book, please make a journal entry letting everyone know that you received it
* Put the book at the top of your TBR pile (under other rings/rays that arrived first)
* Read the book (take your time and enjoy the book, don't feel rushed to finish it but try to get it out to next reader within a couple of months)
* When the end is in sight, check the book's journal and PM the next person to get their address
* Finish the book, make another journal entry and let everyone know what you thought of the book
* Send the book to the next person on the list (please use the cheapest shipping method available), make release notes (Controlled Release) or journal entry to let everyone know that it's in the mail

Please feel free to PM me at any time with questions


Bookring is now complete. Thanks everyone for participating!

CONTROLLED RELEASE NOTES:

Sending to kizmiaz in Portugal to start this ring. Enjoy!

Just got it too, will get to it soon, I hope.

Perryfran your Rings and Rays are one of the great things about BC, thanks and keep it up.
How proper that this book is dedicated to August Derleth.
As usual Bradbury writes amazing fiction and the most remarkable thing about it is that he does it just by exposing the human condition, with all our shortcomings and ambition. Timeless writing that makes you think, it’s not just about outter space and monsters there’s some food for thought here, if you care to find it.
I enjoyed most of these stories, it really felt like I was slippin’ into a pair of worn and comfortable slippers, I felt right at home with these short stories and it’s hard to point out the ones I liked most because in every one of them there’s something special, I guess I just didn’t go for The Dwarf, but still there’s something in there to think about.
This collection of short stories is right up there with The Martian Chronicles.

Safely received tonight, thanks very much

I'm sorry I've held the book up so long - I have readers block and I am struggling to read anything other than comfort reading at the moment :(

BUt I have read some of the book now and I dont know if it's because of the block or what, but I really didn't find it that good! Some of the stories were OK, but in the main I didn't like it. The other book that came with it is much better!

Will PM The Next In Line ( ha! see what I did there? That's story number 2) for their address

A big Sorry to everyone who is waiting to read this - I've PM'd the bookworm lady again just now and hope to have it underway soon.

Posted to bookworm-lady in Spain today.

Apologies to perryfran for kidnapping the book and sorry to all who are waiting to read it. it's gone by airmail.

Received today, together with its companion.
I am really interested, looking forward to some Summer reading after all the hard work!
Thanks for sharing, Perryfran (I love the covers included in the thread!), and thanks for sending on, Wickedlazy!

Currently reading it; will ask for the next reader's address.
Sorry about the delay, trying to catch up!
Eva

What a superb collection of short stories! I am impressed!
After associating Mr. Bradbury with science fiction and Martians, surely due to my lack of knowledge, I was pleasantly surprised by these short stories, ranging from light fun ("Uncle Einar") to reflections on modern life "The Watchful Poker Chip..." to sheer terror...
I found "The Small Assassin" particularly chilling; "The Emissary" is just great...
"The Next in Line" would make great film material, it is almost a novella in itself...
One quote:
"The minute you get a religion you stop thinking. (...) Believe in one thing too much and you have no room for new ideas."
And I really liked to read "The Lake", which seems to be one of the author's early efforts, and has been often re-printed ever since...
Descents into madness... or not?...
Thanks for sharing, Perryfran; and sorry I kept it this long... It will soon be on its way to Portugal, together with its Weird Tales mate...
Eva

The Weird Tales bookray continues its travel...
Sent today to Silvia-pco, in Portugal.
Enjoy... and be afraid, very afraid! :)
Eva

It's here! The books were delivered to a neighbour's house by mistake but they are now safe and sound with me.

First of all, I'm sorry I've kept this for so long. I had trouble keeping up with my readings lately.

This is a great book. I almost wish I had picked it up a little latter so I would have read it during Halloween ;)
The stories are all very original and really good at picking the right spots. I haven't read such great horror in a while. I didn't have such a good experience with Ray Bradbury's Fahrenheit 451 - I know, probably not many people say that - and so wasn't quite sure what to expect, but this was just brilliant.

Thank you so much for sharing! I already have GoryDetails' address and this will be travelling along by the end of this week.

Book is on its way to GoryDetails. Hope it'll arrive in time for Halloween :) Enjoy!

Mr. George and The October Country reached me today; many thanks! Both authors are favorites of mine, and I expect to enjoy these. Will contact RaggedWood so I can move them along as soon as I've finished them.

I've always loved Bradbury's ability to mix lyrical descriptions, deeply-felt emotions, and chilling horror - with some gentle humor now and then to lighten the tone. This collection includes some wonderful examples of this.

I appreciated his introduction, describing how he goes about his work - which he's been doing for a phenomenally long time now! And the stories themselves ranged from the offbeat/surreal ("The Watchful Poker Chip of H. Matisse") to the quietly disturbing ("The Jar" - which was the basis for an episode of The Alfred Hitchcock Hour that gave me nightmares) to the achingly bittersweet ("The Lake").

"The Next in Line" intrigued me because I've long been fascinated by mummies, including those of the little town in the story. But the story itself deals with something much more horrifying, the small injuries and growing isolation that can occur between two married people. The unreasonable behavior, the unfeeling responses, the growing coldness... even if there wasn't a gallery of gaping, shriveled corpses waiting, it'd be a disturbing story.

Bradbury writes beautifully about children, though he isn't always nice to them; "The Emissary" seems to be a charming tale of a boy and his dog, until...

"Touched With Fire" was among the hardest for me to read, simply because it expresses the suffocating, desperate feelings that sultry heat and aggressive neighbors can cause; I felt like I was there and I didn't want to be.

"The Small Assassin" is a classic, often anthologized; nowadays there'd be more talk of post-partum depression, but even in this story's time the doctor tried to be supportive - for all the good it did!

"Uncle Einar" is among the most upbeat stories here, and one of my favorites; fans of modern-day vampire romances might not appreciate this old-school version (if he is in fact a vampire at all, or just a man with wings - there's a subtle reference to his making some changes in his diet, but that's about it), but I adore it.

"Homecoming" is another favorite of mine (and features a visit by Einar, though I think it must have happened before the events of his story - at least, he doesn't seem to have a family in this one). It's a perfect look at a lonely child who feels like an outsider among his family - and is one, even though everybody does their best to make him feel loved, "no matter how different you are," says his mother. And her next line - well, it's touching, heart-breaking, and frightening all at once.

"The Wonderful Death of Dudley Stone" amused me quite a bit, in part because I wondered whether Bradbury himself ever considered "dying" - if so, he thought better of it, as he's been writing now for something like 80 years!

No word from RaggedWood, so this book and its companion will be on their way back to Perryfran in Utah today. Thanks for sharing these wonderful collections!

*** Released as part of the 2011 Chills & Spills release challenge; the theme is "vampires", and while there are a couple of different kinds mentioned in these stories, the most unusual one is central to "The Man Upstairs". ***

The Weird Tales (October Country & Mr. George) are now back home with me! Thanks everyone for participating in these bookrings.

Marvelous collection of very weird tales by Bradbury. This is a collection I finally got around to reading after sending it out as a bookring several years ago. These stories were originally published in Weird Tales magazine in the 40s and 5os by Bradbury for a half-penny or a penny a word as he relates in the introduction to this edition. Bradbury was definitely a master of the short story and the macabre. These stories were very reminiscent of The Twilight Zone and in fact Bradbury did write for both The Twilight Zone and Alfred Hitchcock Presents. These stories were filled with the unexplained and beasties from the netherworld including vampires (The Man Upstairs), beings with wings (Uncle Einar), the grim reaper (The Scythe), mummies (The Next In Line), a murderous baby (The Small Assassin), etc. etc. Bradbury usually ends his stories with a quick twist or with something unexpected making you want to read more. Overall, I really enjoyed this and would rate it with some of his best like The Martian Chronicles and Dandelion Wine.

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4/28/18: Adding this one to the Small Surprise Bookbox. Enjoy!