The Collected Stories of Ray Bradbury: A Critical Edition: Volume I: 1938-1943

Collected Stories #1

by Jonathan R. Eller (Editor), William Touponce (Editor)

In the past, collections of Bradbury’s works have juxtaposed stories with no indication as to the different time periods in which they were written. Even the mid- and late-career collections that Bradbury himself compiled contained stories that were written much earlier―a situation that has given rise to misconceptions about the origins of the stories themselves. In this new edition, editors William F. Touponce and Jonathan R. Eller present for the first time the stories of Ray Bradbury in the order in which they were written. Moreover, they use texts that reflect Bradbury’s earliest settled intention for each tale. By examining his relationships with his agent, editor, and publisher, Touponce and Eller’s textual commentaries document the transformation of the stories―and Bradbury’s creative understanding of genre fiction―from their original forms to the versions known and loved today.

Volume 1 covers the years 1938 to 1943 and contains thirteen stories that have never appeared in a Bradbury collection. For those that were previously published, the original serial forms recovered in this volume differ in significant ways from the versions that Bradbury popularized over the ensuing years. By documenting the ways the stories evolved over time, Touponce and Eller unveil significant new information about Bradbury’s development as a master of short fiction.

Genres: Short Stories, Fiction, Fantasy, Science Fiction

498 pages, Hardcover

First published April 1, 2011

About the author

Jonathan R. Eller is the author of the definitive, three-volume Ray Bradbury biography, which includes Becoming Ray Bradbury, Ray Bradbury Unbound, and Bradbury Beyond Apollo—and served as general editor of the Collected Stories of Ray Bradbury and The New Bradbury Review. He is emeritus Chancellor’s Professor of English at Indiana University and cofounder of the Center for Ray Bradbury Studies, which he directed for a decade until his retirement in 2021.

Reviews

[Bret · Rating 5 out of 5]

Ray Bradbury is, to my mind, the greatest American prose writer ever; and so to get this peek into his earliest works, both professional and amateur publications, was illuminating. Collecting rare juvenilia, early stories submitted to pulp magazines, all meticulously researched and with loads of appendixes, was a great treat. His early, halting steps into science fiction, fantasy and mystery are fun reads, showing flashes of the genius that would flower later on, but still remarkably impressive works of imagination from such a young man. Thankfully, there is a volume 2 already published (which I'm tackling next), and I'm hoping that the series continues into the foreseeable future.

[Alfred Weber · Rating 5 out of 5]

I'm a huge fan of Bradbury, all the way back to when I was in high school and wrote a lengthy English paper about him. This massive collection, which is still underway, presents all of his stories in chronological order. Volume one is his very early work from 1938-1943.

I'm familiar with some of these stories but many are new to me. They're not all keepers but are a wonderful collection.

[Jessika جيسيكا Valentine ملو فالنتاين · Rating 5 out of 5]

25 amazing short stories by Bradbury. The stories are magnificent in their subject matter, message, tight writing and beautiful emotional depth. Each and every story is to be enjoyed slowly and marinated in one's brain.

[Alyson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent. A must read if you love Bradbury.

[Norman Cook · Rating 1 out of 5]

I read this story because it was nominated for the Retro-Hugo Award. If Wikipedia is to be believed, this is Bradbury's first published story. And it shows. A page and a half that is nothing more than a teenager's fanciful musing. I'm sure this was nominated solely on Bradbury's later reputation--I doubt if many modern readers have ever read it. There seems to be some dispute whether it's Hellerbochen or Hollerbochen--it's spelled both ways depending on what resource you're looking at.

[K. Smith · Rating 5 out of 5]

I see so Lovecraft in these stories without being Lovecraft--Bradbury clearly had a lot of his own voice from the very beginning. What I love about Bradbury is that he wrote about spectacular things like they were everyday occurrences. That is what I take from him. The future is simply an everyday thing for his characters that live in the future. It is great.

[Kat · Rating 3 out of 5]

Very short and simple. We've all seen this story in a variety of forms these days - but was this the first? I'll have to look it up.

Thoughts on all the 1939 Retro-Hugo nominated short stories here:
http://ciaracatscifi.blogspot.com/201...

[Jon · Rating 2 out of 5]

My least favorite one so far.

1939 Retro Hugo Nominee for Best Short Story.

Published in Imagination!, January 1938

[Jon · Rating 1 out of 5]

This story was nominated for the Best Short Story Retro-Hugo for 1939.

What the heck was this? It made no sense, and seemed to be Bradbury writing down a half-remembered dream.