Synopses & Reviews
The internationally acclaimed author of The Martian Chronicles, The Illustrated Man, and Fahrenheit 451, Ray Bradbury is a magician at the height of his powers, displaying his sorcerer's skill with twenty-one remarkable stories that run the gamut from total reality to light fantastic, from high noon to long after midnight. A true 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; celebrating life and dreams in the unique voice that has favored him across six decades and has enchanted millions of readers the world over.
About the Author
In a career spanning more than seventy years, Ray Bradbury, who died on June 5, 2011 at the age of 91, inspired generations of readers to dream, think, and create. A prolific author of hundreds of short stories and close to fifty books, as well as numerous poems, essays, operas, plays, teleplays, and screenplays, Bradbury was one of the most celebrated writers of our time. His groundbreaking works include
Fahrenheit 451,
The Martian Chronicles,
The Illustrated Man,
Dandelion Wine, and
Something Wicked This Way Comes. He wrote the screen play for John Huston's classic film adaptation of
Moby Dick, and was nominated for an Academy Award. He adapted sixty-five of his stories for television's
The Ray Bradbury Theater, and won an Emmy for his teleplay of
The Halloween Tree. He was the recipient of the 2000 National Book Foundation Medal for Distinguished Contribution to American Letters, the 2004 National Medal of Arts, and the 2007 Pulitzer Prize Special Citation, among many honors.
Throughout his life, Bradbury liked to recount the story of meeting a carnival magician, Mr. Electrico, in 1932. At the end of his performance Electrico reached out to the twelve-year-old Bradbury, touched the boy with his sword, and commanded, "Live forever!" Bradbury later said, "I decided that was the greatest idea I had ever heard. I started writing every day. I never stopped."
Table of Contents
Unterderseaboat doktor -- Zaharoff/Richter Mark V -- Remember Sascha? -- Another fine mess -- Electrocution -- Hopscotch -- The Finnegan -- That woman on the lawn -- The very gentle murders -- Quicker than the eye -- Dorian in Excelsus -- No news, or what killed the dog? -- The witch door -- The ghost in the machine -- At the end of the ninth year -- Bug -- Once more, Legato -- Exchange -- Free dirt -- Last rites -- The other highway -- Make haste to live: an afterword.