Bradbury Friday: Dark They Were, and Golden-Eyed

What better day to end my Bradbury 13 series, than on Friday the 13th! Saving the best for last, I am pleased to share Dark They Were, and Golden-Eyed. Found in S is for Space and The Day it Rained Forever, Dark They Were, and Golden-Eyed is my favorite of the Bradbury 13 series. Always my first choice, and for me, one of the most fantastic stories. There is a bit of wonder and imagination that just grabs me here.

The Bittering family has just landed on Mars. Harry, his wife, Cora, and their three children, Dan, Laura, and David, have come to Mars to escape the wars. The atom bombs are threatening, and they want to be away until they it is safe to return again to Earth. But the moment Harry steps out of the rocket, he wants to turn back. There is just something about the planet, its air, the wind, that frightens him. But Cora insists they stay, having traveled over sixty million miles.

So, they stay. They build a home, plant a garden and go about their lives. But Harry is always on edge, worried about the air or the sounds, the memories in the old Martian ruins. The garden doesn't seem to bring the vegetables that he remembers from earth, even though they are earth seeds. Things just don't seem right. He is tense, worried that something is going to happen.

And something does happen. The radio sends up word that the Atom bombs have hit New York, and all the space rockets are gone, blown up. One thousand Earth people, gone to be safe on Mars are all now stranded.

The one hope Harry had, that the rockets would come and he could return to Earth with his family, is gone. They are stranded on this strange planet with the few hundred other people who came to Mars to wait out the war. Harry will not be stranded. This cannot be final. So, he goes into town to urge the other men to help him build a rocket. No one feels his urgency. Sam, a friend, tells Harry he has rocket blue prints and a load of metal. Harry is welcome to it. But no one is eager to help. He works alone, the men standing in the doorway, helping Harry lift something heavy every now and then. But no one is worried about a rush to go home.

As the summer comes in, and it gets hot, the town has decided to move up to the old Martian villas where it is cooler. What's a man to do? Harry has to build his rocket, but no one will help, and now they're all leaving town. Is life really that bad on Mars? Or is it just a perception that Harry needs to let go of? People seem happy. The town is peaceful. There's no hostility.

What would you do? The story has a fantastic turn of events and an even better ending. I love to contemplate the way this works. Many of Bradbury's stories have people who have moved to Mars or are out searching other planets for something better. And it always brings to my mind the question of what would we do if earth really got so bad? Would we run away from it? Where would we go? If there was another planet, would we try to attempt a better life there? Would it be peaceful and calm? Or would there be someone who would try to rule, form government, instead of just living in peace and order without reinforcements? Is that life possible? Wouldn't the folks who made the earth unlivable just jump in their own rocket and create the same chaos that they left behind? Not all of Bradbury's tales about people on Mars are peaceful. Some have destruction, some with unexpected results, (Read the Martian Chronicles, you'll see my point) but many of his characters do find a better life.

If there is only one Bradbury 13 story that you read, make it Dark They Were and Golden Eyed. Don't forget the audio version available on twilightzoneradio.com. I hope you enjoy it.

Bradbury Friday: The Screaming Woman

This story is my second favorite in the Bradbury 13 series. The Screaming Woman, found in S is for Space (and The Stories of Ray Bradbury), is one part scary, one part frustration and anxiety.

This story is narrated by ten-year-old Margaret Leary. One hot July Saturday, her mother asks Margaret to run to the store to get some ice cream for lunch. She takes a short cut through the empty lot behind her house. On her way back through the lot with the ice cream, Margaret hears the Screaming Woman.

"It was coming up out of the ground. A woman was buried under the rocks and dirt and glass, and she was screaming, all wild and horrible, for someone to dig her out. I just stood there, afraid. She kept screaming, muffled. Then I started to run. I fell down, got up, and ran some more. I got in the screen door of my house and there was Mama, calm as you please, not knowing what I knew, that there was a real live woman buried out in back of our house, just a hundred yards away, screaming bloody murder."

But no one will believe a ten-year-old's wild story of a woman buried alive in the empty lot. But she heard it! And Margaret is determined to make someone listen; to save this Screaming Woman.

I love the narration of this story. It just flows, and you just want to reach in and shake those grown-ups. 'Listen to her!' This story pulls you in, and won't let go until you reach the end. The radio drama (on twilightzoneradio.com) is excellent, following very closely to the original.  This story was also done on Ray Bradbury Theater in 1986, and stars Drew Barrymore. It is posted on YouTube in 3 parts. (Search Ray Bradbury Theater: The Screaming Woman) Some of the details have been changed from the original, but it's pretty good, too.

Please enjoy. It's one of the best of the Bradbury 13.

Bradbury Friday: Here There Be Tygers

This is a story I was unfamiliar with. Even while reading it, I still only remembered a few details. I had to listen to the radio version, just to be sure it was really what I'd been looking for. While collecting the books containing the 13 stories, I had found 12 of them, but could not remember (without my list) what the missing story was. In fact, when planning out the order I would run these, I still did not have a book containing Here There Be Tygers. One source I had directed me to a book that did not contain the story, and the other book I was looking for seemed to elude me at the library.

I did a search, looking through the Harper Collins web site because typically, they allow you to look in the books online. I looked through the table of contents of several books before discovering that the story is contained in A Sound of Thunder and Other Stories (which I had not found at the library). So I did an online search of my library's catalogue. When I typed in A Sound of Thunder and Other Stories, it actually lead me to The Golden Apples of the Sun, which it had on shelf. I was a bit puzzled because I thought that book had been out of print (and retitled A Sound of Thunder...).

When I got to the library, that book was actually a compilation, containing stories from The Golden Apples of the Sun and R is for Rocket. At first I was disappointed because Here There Be Tygers was not listed, until I looked further down in R is for Rocket. There it was. What a chase. Then, browsing a little (who doesn't keep looking at the library?), I found a book called The Day it Rained Forever. What do you know? It also contained Here There Be Tygers. And it also had a story that I'm going to do in a couple weeks, so that was the copy I pulled.

Now, that you've gone searching with me and can hopefully figure out where it is to find the story, I present, Here There Be Tygers.

We open our story with a crew of rocket men approaching planet 7 in star system 84. Chatterton is the head of a drilling corporation, looking for minerals, oil, and things to mine on other planets. His company funds the expedition. Captain Forester and his crew are along to pilot the ship and help with Chatterton's work.

This planet, though, seems different. The crew notices as soon as they land. Coming out of the ship, the air was perfect. Just right for a relaxing time, endless golf, afternoon croquet, tennis, baseball, and bicycling. The grass was green and lush. It even seemed freshly mowed. As Chatterton exits the ship, a small earthquake rumbles through. As it subsides, everyone laughs, "It doesn't like you Chatterton!" The Captain adds, "It didn't quake for us, so it must be that it doesn't approve of your philosophy." Chatterton then notices the grass, "I knew something was wrong! This grass; it's freshly cut!" His pessimism is shrugged off, "Probably a species of dichondra, always short."

No one seems alarmed by the state of the planet. They are all pleased with it, and hesitant to start in drilling. Chatterton, on the other hand is suspicious. He believes the planet is alive. "Any minute now, it can kill us all. It's alive!" He is determined to get his samples and get off the planet as quickly as possible.

The rest of the crew is in less of a hurry. Driscoll, a crew member finds water that tastes like a fine wine. The men find a stream that pours into a boiling water pool. "Fish, swimming in the cold creek above, fell glittering into the hot spring and floated, minutes later, cooked, to the surface." The men are enjoying the planet, finding it suits their needs perfectly. All they ever need is provided right there for them to be happy. Chatterton, however cannot be satisfied; the food makes him sick, the water tastes poisoned. So, what is to happen with this crew, and what of Chatterton? His insistence that like on a map in medieval history, "'Here there be tygers.' Some time tonight when you're sleeping, the tigers and cannibals will show up." Can this be true, on so beautiful a planet?

Read for yourself, and like all Bradbury, the story is not what it seems.

Bradbury Friday: A Sound of Thunder

This story is probably one of the most known stories by Ray Bradbury. A Sound of Thunder was written in 1952 and published in a weekly magazine. It was then published in Ray Bradbury's book called The Golden Apples of the Sun, which was later reprinted and retitled, The Sound of Thunder and Other Stories. It is also printed in The Stories of Ray Bradbury. This story has been reprinted more than any other science fiction story, ever. There was even a movie based on this story (although I don't recommend it highly, they just didn't get it right). It was high on my list of favorites. I remember I once took the NPR radio version of The Sound of Thunder to school. I wanted my science teacher to play it for our class. I can't remember for sure, but I think my teacher decided against playing the story. Bummer. That would have been a great day in science.

We are in the year 2055. "Time Safari, Inc." is now offering a safari to any year in the past. You pick what you want to shoot, they'll make it happen. It's the ultimate hunting trip. Bag the biggest game you can imagine, and you can even have photographic evidence. The price is a mere $10,000.
Eckels is about to go on safari 60 million years in the past to shoot a Tyrannosaurus rex. The Thunder Lizard. He seems a bit nervous, but determined not to back out.

Mr. Travis, the Safari Guide in the Past gives the small group their instructions. They are to wait for his signal to shoot. There is a path laid out around the area that they are going to hunt. It is made of anti-gravity metal and floats six inches above the earth so the hunters will not touch the ancient earth. The strictest instructions are to stay on the path.

While it may just be speculation, they have decided that they must not meddle with the past. They are only shooting an animal that was about to die anyway. Any small creature that is killed, but was supposed to live, will not have its future off-spring. The animals that would have eaten those off-spring now will starve. And it goes on until suddenly Queen Elizabeth isn't born and America does not exist as they know it. All guessing, but nevertheless, they cannot be too careful. They must stay on the path.

But what about the pressure of shooting the greatest beast ever to roam the earth? When he actually appears, what will happen? Will they make it out alive? Before they left, Eckles asked, "Does this safari guarantee I come back alive?" His answer is simply, "We guarantee nothing, except the dinosaurs."

A Sound of Thunder is an amazing adventure with a fantastic twist of events. This is Bradbury at his best. The imagery is so solid. And you just want to keep reading. Don't forget to check out the NPR version at twilightzoneradio.com. The 3D sound (can sound be 3D? I don't know how else to describe it!) is incredible. They bring the dinosaur right into your home/car/ear buds.

Bradbury Friday: The Fox and the Forest

The Fox and the Forest is found in The Illustrated Man, as well as in The Stories of Ray Bradbury. It is a tale that begins during a celebration in Mexico in the year 1938. William and Susan are there on vacation. Susan asks, "It will go on, won't it?" "All night," is the reply. "No, I mean our trip." Here we discover that William and Susan are hiding from someone. William answers, "I have enough traveler's checks for a lifetime. Enjoy yourself. Forget it. They'll never find us."

Later, in a cafe, Susan notices a man watching them. Thinking back, Susan remembers. Her name is Ann Kristen, married to Roger Kristen. They live in the year A.D. 2155. But when they had the chance to leave behind the awful war that surrounded them, they took it. They booked a trip through Travel in Time, Incorporated to escape, release fatigue.

And now, this man; this Mr. Simms, as he identifies himself; has found them. Insisting they are from the Future, that they do not belong here. William is needed on the hydrogen-plus bomb project. He is too valuable to be allowed to disappear. Others will get the idea and try running off. But William and Susan do not want to cooperate. In their hotel room, they make plans to stay in crowds and disappear again.

The results of this plan, and the ending of the story each have a twist. Bradbury is great at adding the surprise at the end, never letting the audience guess ahead of time what is going to happen.

Enjoy the audio version of this story titled, The Fox in the Forest, at twilightzoneradio.com.

Bradbury Friday: The Man

 

The Man is a short story that can be found in Ray Bradbury's The Illustrated Man and in S is for Space. Although it is not the only story that Bradbury has written with a religious theme to it, it is the only one of that category in the Bradbury 13 series. Bradbury called this story one of his "What if" stories. SO, what if you arrived on a planet just after Christ had come, ministered and gone? (Bradbury did identify the Man as a representation of Christ)

Captain Hart has been exploring space. He enjoys the adoration of the crowds, coming to greet him and celebrate his greatness, as a man from earth coming in a space ship to their planet. But on this particular planet, on this particular day, the people there do not seem to have the excitement that Captain Hart had expected. In fact, no one comes to greet their ship at all. Outraged, Captain Hart finally sends his First Lieutenant Martin out to find the Mayor and bring in a welcoming committee, or at least find out why they haven't bothered to greet the new arrivals.

Martin returns with news that the people have no interest in the ship or its crew. Just yesterday, a Man arrived in the city. He was good and kind. He healed the sick, comforted the poor, and fought hypocrisy and dirty politics. But Captain Hart will hear none of it. A boy with a crippled arm showed Hart that he had been healed. But to Hart, this was no proof, as all he saw was a healthy arm. Captain Hart is convinced that Ashley or Burton, captains of two other ships, must have been here before him. They must have arrived and fooled the entire town, using advanced technology to "heal" and "comfort" the people, making them believe that he was of infinite wisdom.

Martin, however, believes the people. He feels something that Captain Hart does not. He decides to stay behind, to retire and live among the goodness he has felt here. Captain Hart climbs aboard his ship, determined to chase down this Man, and find out who he really is, needing Him to show Himself in person.

I think the overall message is that we should be able to find Christ in the ourselves and the people around us. He works through the people. We do the work for Him. Martin saw Christ in the people and believed. Captain Hart needed to see the physical person to believe. Who will have happiness? Who will never be satisfied? Where do you stand in your life? And what if you just missed that personal visitation? Would you embrace the remaining love? Or would you run away, seeking to find Him for yourself? Are you Martin, or are you Captain Hart?

Enjoy this tale. It is also available as an mp3 at twilightzoneradio.com for $1.95.

Bradbury Friday: Kaleidoscope

"I decided one morning forty-six years ago to explode a rocket and toss my astronauts out into a wilderness of Space to see what would happen. The result was a story that was reprinted in countless anthologies and appeared and reappeared in high school and college auditoriums. Students across country performed the story in class, to teach me once again that theater doesn't need sets, lights, costumes, or sound. Just actors in school or in someone's  garage or storefront speaking the lines and sensing the passion. 
"How do you cram a million miles of interplanetary flight onto a stage forty feet wide and twenty deep before an audience of ninety-nine? You just do it. And when the last human meteor fires down the sky, there's not a dry eye in the house. All Space, Time, and the heartbeats of seven men are trapped in the words which, when spoken, set them free." --Ray Bradbury, in the Introduction to The Illustrated Man.

Clearly, Kaleidoscope, is one of Bradbury's most popular short stories. It's no wonder Mike McDonough chose this story as one of the Bradbury 13 series. It is one that has been done and analyzed and looked at for years. Printed and re-printed. In the Bradbury 13 episode, some of the characters are a bit different (through dialog and what happens to them) than in the original story. But the resounding message is the same. How would you handle the death that is suddenly and unexpectedly facing you? You cannot change what is before you, so what do you do with the time you have left, simply floating until the end arrives? How would you cope?

As a kid, I really liked this story. It's hard to pin-point why, though. It must be the abstract concept that is presented there. What do you do with your end? You cannot change what has happened in your past, and your future is certain. You must now come to terms with yourself. Are you ready to do that? Now, as a child, I certainly didn't have those thoughts, and probably didn't really have a full understanding of the meaning behind such a fate. But I was drawn to this story. And reading it, now, there is still something about it that draws me in.

I reccomend this story in any form. The written story is available in the book The Illustrated Man or in The Stories of Ray Bradbury. You can listen to the Bradbury 13 edition that I heard as a kid, avaliable for purchase on twilightzoneradio.com. And for anyone who is interested, there is also the 1951 radio version created by Dimension X, free on YouTube. Click Here for the link of that 30 minute video. 

Join me next week for another story that "almost could be, or might have been."

Bradbury Friday: The Veldt

Today's story is the first in a collection called The Illustrated Man. Ray Bradbury said, "What if is the operative term for many of these stories [found in the book]. ...What if  you could create a world within a room, that forty years later would be dubbed the first Virtual Reality, and introduced a family to that room where its walls might operate on the psyches and deliver forth nightmares? I built the room on my typewriter and let my family prowl. By noon the lions had leaped off the walls and my children were having tea at the finale."

In the book, there are 18 stories illustrated on a man's skin. Tattooed there, but they come to life and each tell their story. The first is called The Veldt.

Meet George and Lydia Hadley. They live in a fully automated house. The kitchen cooks for you. You have machines that bathe you, tie your shoes, comb your hair, brush your teeth. Chairs sooth and rock you. Your bed can lull you to sleep. Sounds wonderful, doesn't it? An addition to the house, is the nursery. It is that 'virtual reality' room Bradbury talked about. Here, the children, Peter and Wendy, can play anything they want. Aladdin and his Magic Lamp? Done. Take a jaunt in Wonderland? Easy. How about China? No problem.

Well, as our story opens, Mrs. Hadley is concerned that there is something wrong with the nursery. They go see, and it's hot. There before them is the African veldt. Vultures fly over head. In the distance there are lions, picking clean their kill. They seem too real. And too gruesome for children. Mr. Hadley tries to change the room. But it won't leave Africa.

They call in their psychologist to look at it. He thinks they need to shut down the whole house. The children have been spoiled. "The room has become a channel toward--destructive thoughts, instead of a release away from them." So what happens when Mr. Hadley tries to shut down the room, move the family out of the house for a while?

With technology today, it seems that we as a people may be lazier than a few generations before us. Children may feel entitled, and think that instant gratification is normal. But could we ever let it go as far as this story does? While I'd love to have my house scrub it's floors and clean the dishes for me, I don't think I'd ever want my house to do everything for me. Where's the satisfaction in a job well done? What about creating a meal, and going, "Oh yeah, I made that!" At first glance, a house like the Hadleys' sounds amazing. Until there's nothing left for you to do...

The Radio Drama (available for purchase at twilightzoneradio.com) is just a little different than the print story. But the main essence is there and the ending is the same chilling conclusion. I recommend reading it first, and then give it a listen. It will give you chills, and something to think about.

My Dad found another version of the story, done as a radio drama in 1955. It is available at X Minus One Radio. It is not the same version as the Bradbury 13 (done in 1984) that I listened to, but it's pretty good too. Just click on over, and the audio should be at the top of the page. It's free to listen! Enjoy!

Bradbury Friday: The Ravine

This is a story that I have always liked, although I'm not sure why. I suppose I liked to have a good scare.  This story is a real thriller. Found in Ray Bradbury's Dandelion Wine, on pages 174-194 (with the conclusion found in the conversation of the neighborhood boys on pages 195-198), is The Ravine.

Francine has walked to Lavinia's house to pick her up for a movie. They are off next to pick up Helen, but first they have to cross the ravine. A neighbor calls out, asking where they're off to, what with the 'Lonely One' out on the loose. Francine tries to convince Lavinia to stay in for the night, but Lavinia laughs it off. "It's early. Lonely One won't be out till late." Lavinia is the only of the three women who lives on this side of the ravine, and is the only one who will have to walk home across the ravine, alone.

Unfortunately, as Lavinia and Francine cross the ravine on the way to town, they come across the body of Elizabeth Ramsell, who'd been missing. They talk to the police, and after the questioning, this has sealed it for Francine. She just wants to go home and bolt the door. But Lavinia persists. The movie will do them good, make them laugh, forget. So they go collect Helen and head to the theatre. Lavinia doesn't seem bothered at all. But then, after both Helen and Francine are dropped off after the movie, Lavinia still has to cross the ravine.

In the introduction to Dandelion Wine, Ray Bradbury says he used word-association to put out a story each day, adding characters to give it meaning and life. In an hour or two a story would be completed. Sometimes the ideas came from a memory. "I wanted to call back what the ravine was like, especially on those nights when walking home late across town, after seeing Lon Chaney's delicious fright The Phantom of the Opera, my brother Skip would run ahead and hide under the ravine-creek bridge like the Lonely One and leap out and grab me, shrieking, so I ran, fell, and ran again, gibbering all the way home. That was great stuff."
Bradbury continues, "Was there a Lonely One? There was, and that was his name. And he moved around at night in my home town when I was six years old and he frightened everyone and was never captured. Is the ravine real and deep and dark at night? It was, it is. I took my daughters there a few years back, fearful that the ravine might have gone shallow with time. I am relieved and happy to report that the ravine is deeper, darker, and more mysterious than ever. I would not, even now, go home through there after seeing The Phantom of the Opera."

A chilling tale, born from memories of Ray Bradbury, The Ravine is a good scare, one to get your heart pumping, your imagination flowing, and make you jump if someone interrupts you. The NPR radio broadcast is a great telling of this story, and is available to purchase on twilightzoneradio.com as an mp3 download.

Bradbury Friday: The Happiness Machine

Ray Bradbury writes his stories by selecting a word or a memory and creating a story around it. Dandelion Wine is a what Bradbury called "my book-of-stories-pretending-to-be-a-novel." It is a collection of these writings that all come from the same town, from much of his memories of childhood and growing up. Of the book, Bradbury says, "Here is my celebration, then, of death as well as life, dark as well as light, old as well as young, smart and dumb combined, sheer joy as well as complete terror written by a boy who once hung upside down in trees, dressed in his bat costume with candy fangs in his mouth, who finally fell out of the trees when he was twelve and went and found toy-dial typewriter and wrote his first 'novel'" (from the introduction to DW). I recommend reading the whole of it. But, if you haven't the time, and are merely looking for a couple great stories, then there are two in this book that are part of Bradbury 13. The first, found on pages 57-69, is called The Happiness Machine. (We will discuss the second next week.) It is also available in a book of 100 of his stories, aptly named The Stories of Ray Bradbury.

Leo Auffmann is a builder of machines. In Dandelion Wine, the town knows him as such. A young boy suggests that maybe he should build a Happiness Machine. Leo, walking away, says, "Maybe I will..." And build it, he does. Leo goes to his garage waiting for something to just jump out and tell him where to start. Starting with orange paint, he works continually for ten nights and days, exhausting himself, and neglecting his family. And then, he presented to his family, The Happiness Machine. Here you can see Paris! The Pyramids! Go to Rome! Sights, sounds, smells... How about dancing? It has that too! Is this Happiness?

Leo Auffmann was searching for the perfect happiness. He wanted to harness what makes a person content. Can it be put in a machine? In a jar to keep forever? Or is there more to happiness than that? Leo finds out that perhaps his true happiness is there, sitting in the front window, over in the kitchen...

What is it that makes you happy? Do you blame others or circumstances for your lack of happiness? Or do you embrace the things that you have and let them make you happy? Leo was so busy looking for that escape, he forgot to look for what was right in front of him all along. I'm glad to say that he found it at last. But many people forget to be happy. The Happiness Machine is a good reminder to slow down for just a moment and relish in the Happiness that is there, if you just look.

And don't forget to check out the audio at twilightzoneradio.com! They really aren't paying me to promote it. That's just how I heard these stories first. It's been really gratifying to find that the original print stories are the same as the radio stories I heard as a kid. Fantastic radio drama.

Bradbury Friday: Night Call, Collect

Night Call, Collect is found in a collection of short stories by Ray Bradbury called I Sing the Body Electric! and can also be found in The Stories of Ray Bradbury. 

This story takes place on Mars in the year 2097. Sixty years earlier, in 2037, the atomic wars started on Earth, and all people were called home from Mars to help. Emil Barton was left behind. Twenty years old, left alone on an empty planet. So, here sits Barton, eighty years old, alone for 60 years, when the phone rings. It is Barton. Twenty years old. Young Barton explains how he passed the time, living in all the houses, plenty of food and books. He began creating recordings of his voice. Set it up on timers and relays, with voice cues to allow him to have a conversation with himself.

There were a thousand voices created, put out on speakers to make it sound like there were people in towns. And then, he set up recordings, to call himself sixty years later. But it seems that young Barton was rather cruel, not realizing that he might actually still be there, the conversations not entirely friendly as he called old Barton.

This story is one that really makes you think. You have to feel sorry for a man who's been alone for a lifetime. No one to talk to but himself. And yet, maybe talking to himself wasn't such a good idea...

Here is the introduction from the NPR Broadcast. If you are interested hearing in the whole recording, you can buy it at twilightzoneradio.com, just click on the Bradbury 13 link and select the story you want.

Bradbury Friday: The Martian Chronicles

We are going to take a little side trip from the Bradbury 13 stories. Here is why. The story I was going to do today is called "Night-Call Collect." I had written on my notes that it was from the book I Sing the Body Electric! and based on a story by another name in The Martian Chronicles. While I was at the library looking for books, I did not find I Sing the Body Electric! But I did find The Martian Chronicles. So I pulled that book. I noted the story "The Silent Towns" was in this book, and thinking it was "Night-Call Collect," I brought it home.

Monday this week, I pulled out The Martian Chronicles.  I read the introduction, written by Ray Bradbury, and was intrigued at the prospect of the book as a whole. Mr. Bradbury had not intended to write an entire novel of Martian stories. He merely had written, over a few years, what he called "Martian pense'es, Shakespearian 'asides,' wandering thoughts, long night visions, predawn half-dreams. I laid out my pense'es in no special order or plan and entombed them with two dozen other tales. ... Walter Bradbury (no relation) suggested that I might have woven an unseen tapestry. 'All those Martian tales,' he suggested, 'can't you needle-and-thread them, stich them up into The Martian Chronicles?'" So he did.

Well, this idea that here was a book of collected stories, which could stand alone, are woven together to complete a whole story compelled me to read the book in its entirety. So, I did. I began on Monday. "The Silent Towns" is near the end of the book. I figured I'd reach it on Thursday and be ready for my post today. Well, I did. But "The Silent Towns" is not "Night-Call Collect." The story starts somewhat the same, but the outcome, the phone calls, all that makes "Night-Call Collect" what it is, well, it isn't there in "The Silent Towns." Basically, if we are calling it 'based' on "The Silent Towns," well, it's loosly based.

So then I debated about whether I should hurry to the library today and find out if they have a copy of I Sing the Body Electric! or do a story from the other book that I have. But that one is also a "book-of-stories-pretending-to-be-a-novel" that I wanted to read from start to finish, too. So, I decided that I'll just tell you what I thought about The Martian Chronicles today, and next week, we'll get back to our regularly scheduled program.

The Martian Chronicles is a very interesting book. Some stories are chilling, some are thinkers, and some make you take a good hard look at how we live our lives. It is set from the year 2030 through the year 2057. It's funny to me to think how little our world looks like Ray Bradbury thought it would in the 2000's. Automated houses, rockets leaving Earth all the time, people striving to find another planet to live on, censorship, tyranny, wars. Bradbury had the books burned, starting in 1999 through 2006. We're past that time frame, and thankfully, censorship isn't so strong that books are no longer allowed, even in a private home. And yet look at some of the technology that we have, which was something of science fiction in 1948.

In 2030, Earth sends a 2 man expedition to Mars. Scout the place. See if it's livable. They never hear back from those men. Six months later, the next rocket has 4 men. When Earth doesn't hear from them after they touch down on Mars, they prepare a new rocket. 8 months later, the third expedition arrives, containing 17 men. But there is still no word. The next rocket arrives more than a year later, this time with 20 men. This has to be it. The mission must make it! Well, Captian Wilder and his men find a dead planet. Cities full of old Martian homes, some long dead, others with bodies. Only dead a few weeks. What killed them Martians? The medical examiner has discovered Chicken Pox has wiped out these thriving Martian cities. So, the other men did get here! Brought a foreign disease, and wiped out the natives.

The rest of the stories range from people on Earth, planning to move to Mars to get away from war, and people on Mars, living their lives, and perhaps wondering if they'll have to return to help with the war. As always, there are twists and turns. Each story could stand on its own, but they are woven together, reference one another, and form a novel. The ending is strange, somewhat tragic. But each story holds a little bit of magic. There is something about a really great story. And this book if full of them.

Bradbury Friday: There Was an Old Woman

What better way to spend Friday the 13th, than with a little Ray Bradbury!

This next story was one I remember quite well, although it wasn't one that we often asked to listen to. There Was an Old Woman is a short story that can be found in Ray Bradbury's The October Country.

In There Was an Old Woman, we meet Aunt Tildy, an elderly woman, who is happy to live her life. So much, that she has decided that she does not believe in death. But on this particular day, a tall, dark young man comes into her home. He does not say anything to her, but his face conveys the conversation she has with him. Accompanying the tall, dark man are four men with a wicker basket. What do they intend to do with it? Aunt Tildy wonders aloud. After a while, the men leave and Aunt Tildy bids them never to return. The look on the face of the tall, dark man says he never intends to.

This story is a strange one. What if you could truly choose not to die? Would you want to live in this life forever? Aunt Tildy doesn't even get married because any man she meets believes in death. She can't bear the thought of living with him 30 or 40 years and then have him die. I, personally, see death as a new part of life. I believe there is more after this life. I wouldn't want to miss out on it. Besides, don't you think Aunt Tildy's life would be sort of lonely? She'd have to meet all new people, make new friends ever 50 years or so. She would end up losing all the people she cares about, just so she could keep on living.

Find out what happens to Aunt Tildy in There Was an Old Woman. What do you think? And, as before, There Was an Old Woman is available on mp3 for purchase at twilightzoneradio.com. Just click on the Bradbury 13 link and you can choose any of the stories. (You won't be disappointed!)

Bradbury Friday: The Wind

In 1984, Mike McDonough (working at BYU Media Services) produced and directed a series called Bradbury 13 through the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. NPR aired the 30-minute radio dramas, and my dad recorded each episode on high-quality cassette tapes.

These 13 stories, based on stories written by Ray Bradbury, are a part of my childhood. My dad knew a good thing when he heard one, and he was keen to share it with our family. Any time we were on a road trip or headed anywhere that took more than 30 minutes to get there, he had the glove box stocked with tapes, and we had a story to listen to. We heard these over, and over, and over... Each of my siblings had a favorite, and we all hoped to be granted the next choice.

I remember being about 6 years old, headed to California, listening to Bradbury 13. I am amazed that at so young, I heard some of these chilling stories. My own young children may be a bit sheltered, but I don't think I'll let them listen to the series for a few years, yet. But, still, they are a memory that I am glad to have, and I'm grateful to find out that the series is now available for purchase on mp3 over at twilightzoneradio.com or on CD format as well (I saw it on Amazon, but it might be available in your local record store!).
My sister, over at Such a Sew and Sew, posted about the Bradbury 13 radio series about a year ago. It was actually what got me into reading blogs. As I've reminisced about the series, I've decided to find and read each story, and share them with you. The series are numbered, but the mp3 recordings are not in the same order as the original series air dates, so I am not going to be putting them in any particular order. Mainly they will be posted as I locate them. The stories do not all come from the same collection of Bradbury stories. I have 3 books on loan from the library, and in them I have found 5 of the 13 stories. I still have to find 3 or 4 other books to locate the rest.

Our first story is called The Wind. It was first published in the March 1943 edition of a magazine called Weird Tales. Later it was published in Ray Bradbury's The October Country, a book of his short stories.

We open the scene on a dark December evening. Herb Thompson and his wife are getting ready for dinner when the phone rings. It is Allin, an old friend of Herb's, hoping Herb can come stay with Allin for the night. The wind is bothering him. Unfortunately for Allin, Herb and his wife are expecting company after dinner. Herb can come next week, when his wife is out of town. The wind, however, continues to be a bother to Allin, and he calls several times during the evening. Herb becomes increasingly worried about his friend, while his wife is becoming increasingly irritated with both of them.

You'll have to read the story yourself, but be sure the windows are closed and you aren't sitting near a draft. And if you are in for some great radio drama, find the CD or mp3. The story is nearly identical to the original print, and the 3D sound effects are amazing. Ray Bradbury really knows how to paint a picture in your mind, and The Wind is a great place to start.