Many, many years ago my cousin gave me a copy of Bradbury's "Martian Chronicles." That was about all I ever read of Bradbury until now. I liked the "Martian Chronicles." They were imaginative, exciting, and different in a Twilight Zone
These stories are much broader, of course, but I think represent a very creative mind at work. I have a theory that you get a better idea about the author's thinking and imagination by reading collections of short stories. Instead of having to develop a few ideas to the nth degree, we get a chance to see their minds bounce from idea to idea. I think with some collections you get a better idea of the writer's ability to twist and turn a plot and characters without having to do so much plot weaving.

Bradbury seemed to notice things I didn't. And because these stories have now matured forty years they give a bit of insight into what the populations were thinking back then. His stories range from the very quirky to just a homespun tale but always with an unexpected ending. For such short works he obviously worked extra hard to make them count.

The result are a collection of excellent tales of a huge variety of insights and observations of the world.

Nach über einem Jahr habe ich dieses 950-Seiten-Biest endlich beendet. 100 Kurzgeschichten kenne ich nun von Bradbury und ich fand sie so toll, dass ich Volume 2 mit 100 weiteren bereits im Regal habe. Es sind zwei Dinge, die ich an diesem Autor schätze: zum einen sein farbenfroher, greifbarer Schreibstil, der jede Szene zum Leben erweckt und noch mal ganz anders zeichnet als ich es aus dem Alltag gewohnt bin. Zum anderen seine Ideenvielfalt: von Mars- und Weltraumexpeditionen über Zeitreisen zu den Dinosauriern bis zu gespenstischen Riesenrädern oder einen Hemingway-zitierenden Papageien. Die Geschichten sind so kreativ und mischen immer wieder übernatürliche Elemente in Alltagsszenarien oder spinnen die technischen Möglichkeiten der Zukunft ein entscheidendes Stück weiter. Ein bisschen Scifi, ein bisschen Grusel oder einfach Beobachtungen aus dem und über das Leben.

Meine Favoriten: The Coffin, The Scythe, The Crowd, The Veldt, The Long Rain, A Sound of Thunder, The Fog Horn, The Emissary, Jack-in-the-Box, Interval in Sunlight

A masterclass in the art of the short story.

Like any collection of short stories there will be good and bad. Fortunatly there was more good than bad in these two volumes.

I have focused on short story lot last year, as I was not ready to invest in another science fiction or fantasy book series, and I generally don't like to read stand alone books. For me the short story format is really unique because in space of few pages a author has not only create a whole world to his user, but also has to reach a user. and doing this especially is really difficult in an science fiction genre because you have many questions to answer.

But this collection of short stories manages to do that almost every time, and the short stories in this book are not only about sci-fi but they cover a wide spectrum like fantasy and horror too.

It is really hard to review this book as a whole because there about 100 short stories in this book, and it's not possible to remember each and every story and write a review about it. I was able to enjoy most of the stories in this huge collection, but I think Bradbury shows you his magic when starts writing about mars.

The martian stories are best stories of this collection for me as I really enjoyed reading all of them.

I give this book 4/5 stars.

Working through this volume to find stories by Bradbury that I haven't read, having read most of his stories over the years. Wonderful writer and wonderful (in the true sense of the word) stories.

About time I checked him out. Not as good as I thought it would be.

It's hard to review or sum my thoughts on a 'volume' of his short stories. Some are a great like the murderer or the electric grandmother but others aren't as good.

I'm left with the impression that the strength of Ray Bradbury's short stories are more in the ideas and premises than the writing itself as characters are barely given more than a few strokes. But those ideas are great.

I have a 1985 printing of the Granada paperback.

When I first read this book back then, I was deeply impressed and Bradbury leapt to near the top of my list of favourite authors. I loved the poetic writing, all impressions, sensations, and word association. I think I knew even then that these stories, written between the 1940s and the 1980s, were nostalgic of times past, embedded in the pulp magazines of the golden age of sci-fi. Bradbury’s outlook was always that of a rural or suburban mid-America in the post-War years, and he transposed that aesthetic to all the futures he imagined. For a reader in the 1980s, that did not feel so long ago, and was still familiar, so it didn’t give pause.

But forty years later, these stories have not aged well. Bradbury used his favourite futuristic genre to comment on the present, his favourite place and time, rather than providing true speculation or foresight, and he was deeply anachronistic even as he wrote. Now, the world has changed so much that his vision is no longer quaint but deeply outmoded, and his social attitudes have become problematic. There are a few flashes of vision, and the writing is still exciting, but Bradbury’s flowery prose no longer feels as impressive to me as it once did.

I think this is the first time, since my first reading of this book, that I am reading from cover to cover, rather than dipping in, here and there, as I often did. So the score will still be a four stars for the multiple reads, but that is now a generous score.

June 6, 2012:

Reading some of Bradbury's short stories on this day, the day he passed away, leaving the world at the age of 91.


"A medicine for Melancholy": Read this one first. A very fine, downplayed story set in the 1700s -- and quite a bold story. What a cure for melancholy!

Up next now: "Fever Dream"...

"Fever Dreams": Reading this was strange, strange indeed. Because it resembled an unpublished story of mine quite some. And I know I've never read this Bradbury tale before. Of course, "Fever Dreams" is vastly better than my own wee tale ("The Hand") and with an ending that sends shivers down your back. (Mine was an attempt to couple a boy's experiences with a kind of cosmic horror... and I failed.)

"The TOwn Where No One Got Off": A nice little, creepy tale. Wonderful atmosphere and, for a long while, uncertainty. A story that really says something about the human nature when it comes to our relation with other people. Dark? You bet.

As always, more reviews coming, as I read new stories. Since there are 100 stories just in this volume that may take quite a number of years;-)

Such an amazing collection of stories! A good 1/4 of the stories were from The Martian Chronicles, which I enjoyed reading again! If I was to choose a favourite it would probably be…
The Rocket Man

Love Ray Bradbury. Love, love, LOVE.