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Great Science-Fiction
& Fantasy Works
a critical list with discussions
Science-Fiction and Fantasy Books by
Ray Bradbury
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Standard Disclaimer:
This is a brief discussion of Ray Bradbury and, of course, of some speculative-fiction books by Ray Bradbury This discussion and list does not necessarily include every book by Bradbury: it includes only those books that I both know and like. Just as with the author list itself, omission of a particular item may mean I didn't think highly enough of the omitted item, or it may simply mean that I have not yet sufficient familiarity with it. (In a very few cases, I have listed some books merely on the strength of my opinion of the author: all such books are clearly marked below, as throughout these lists, with a hash mark (#) before the title so you know what's what.) I don't pretend that this discussion is a deep analysis. My intent is no more than to give you a rough idea of what kinds of tales Bradbury tells, how those tales are usually told, and what makes them and Bradbury worthy; in sum, to help you rank Bradbury (and the works by Bradbury listed here) on your personal literary "to do" list. |
A Few Words About Ray Bradbury
Regrettably, I have not yet had an opportunity to write an essay on this author, but the "Other Resources" section below will lead you to some information about the "Notable Books" listed farther down this page.
Other Ray Bradbury Resources
Ray Bradbury Resources on the Web
First of all is the official Bradbury site, Ray Bradbury. There are also other dedicated Bradbury sites: Ray Bradbury Online (which appears to be the successor in interest to a like-named older site that is still up); and Bradburymedia (technically a blog). Also, The Center for Ray Bradbury Studies at Indiana-Purdue Universities has an on-line presence.
Worth especial note is the page Ray Bradbury: To the Canon by Rocketship, A Survey of the Critical Scholarship by Lance Hawvermale, which is just what it says it is, and quite valuable.
Of pages, Locus Online has an excellent Bradbury appreciation, Yesterday's Tomorrows. Then there's Ray Bradbury Online, an excellent bibliographical site; The Templeton Gate, as usual, does a very nice job with its Ray Bradbury Page; and there's a nice, lengthy essay, "The Regionalist: Ray Bradbury of Illinois", at First Principles. At Salon, there is another sort of appreciation, "Ray Bradbury: The pulp god lives", based on the "Sound of Thunder" movie but ranging afield. And The New York Times noticed him in a brief article, Vintage Bradbury, Packaged Anew.
Besides general Bradbury appreciations, there are some specific notes. One is "Ray Bradbury is on fire!" at Salon, an article on the 81-year-old Bradbury suddenly becoming a hot Hollywood property (again). In another, "Fahrenheit 451 Misinterpreted" (L.A. Weekly), we learn why we shouldn't trust others' assessments of what a work of fiction "means".
There are also, of course, interviews: 2008, "Ray Bradbury on Literature and Love" at Truthdig; 2008, "Q&A with Ray Bradbury in the Courier-Journal; 2007, SciFi.com; 2004, "An Interview With Sci-Fi Legend Ray Bradbury" at (ugh) Fox "News"; 2004, L.A. City Beat; and 1999, Ray Bradbury at the A.V. Club site.
And there is a Bradbury discussion forum.
Ray Bradbury Resources in Print
The page cited above, Ray Bradbury: To the Canon by Rocketship, A Survey of the Critical Scholarship by Lance Hawvermale, links to a thorough bibliography of articles and other print works about Bradbury (which is in Word document format).
Here are some Bradbury-focussed books (many, but not all, from the list cited above):
The Bradbury Chronicles, The Life of Ray Bradbury, by Sam Weller
Ray Bradbury, Martin Harry Greenber, and Joseph D. Olander, editors
Bradbury, an Illustrated Life: A Journey to Far Metaphor, by Jerry Weist and Donn Albright
Ray Bradbury, Wayne L. Johnson
Ray Bradbury, David Mogen
The Ray Bradbury Companion, by William F. Nolan
The Bradbury Chronicles, by George Edgar Slusser
Notable Science-Fiction and Fantasy Books by Ray Bradbury ***
This listing omits the seemingly innumerable collections cobbled up out of the contents of the books shown, which are--I believe--all his original editions. It also omits a number of good Bradbury books that are mainstream, and so not appropriate for listing on this site.Bradbury was primarily a short-story writer: there are only four novels in the list below, two of which (The Halloween Tree and Switch On the Night) are nominally "juveniles".
As with too many authors, publishers have muddied the waters by issuing short-story collections with identical titles but differing sets of story content; the web site Ray Bradbury Online provides excellent bibliographical notes on the many and various editions of each Bradbury title. As usual, there is much overlap in many of the story collections.
- Dark Carnival *
- The Small Assassin * (Content similar to the above, but not exactly the same; see also The October Country, below)
- The Martian Chronicles * aka The Silver Locusts * (contents slightly differ from original)
- The Illustrated Man * (various editions differ substantially)
- Fahrenheit 451
- The Golden Apples of the Sun * (various editions differ substantially)
- The October Country * (collects much of Dark Carnival--see above--but many tales revised for this edition, plus a few new tales
- Switch On the Night (juvenile)
- A Medicine for Melancholy * (another title with several variant versions)
- The Day It Rained Forever * (often wrongly said to be just an AKA of the above, but--despite overlap--significantly different.)
- Something Wicked This Way Comes
- R is for Rocket *
- The Machineries of Joy *
- S is for Space *
- I Sing the Body Electric *
- The Halloween Tree *
- Long After Midnight *
- The Last Circus and the Electrocution *
- Dinosaur Tales *
- The Toynbee Convector *
- Quicker Than the Eye *
- Driving Blind *
- One More For the Road *
- # A Pleasure to Burn *
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