Classic Stories 2: Selections From Medicine for Melancholy & S is for Space

by Ray Bradbury

A collection of thirty-one classic stories of fantasy and science fiction

Genres: Science Fiction, Short Stories, Fiction, Fantasy, Horror, Collections, Anthologies

341 pages, Paperback

First published April 2, 1990

About the author

Ray Douglas Bradbury was an American author and screenwriter. One of the most celebrated 20th-century American writers, he worked in a variety of genres, including fantasy, science fiction, horror, mystery, and realistic fiction.

Bradbury is best known for his novel Fahrenheit 451 (1953) and his short-story collections The Martian Chronicles (1950), The Illustrated Man (1951), and The October Country (1955). Other notable works include the coming of age novel Dandelion Wine (1957), the dark fantasy Something Wicked This Way Comes (1962) and the fictionalized memoir Green Shadows, White Whale (1992). He also wrote and consulted on screenplays and television scripts, including Moby Dick and It Came from Outer Space. Many of his works were adapted into television and film productions as well as comic books. Bradbury also wrote poetry which has been published in several collections, such as They Have Not Seen the Stars (2001).

The New York Times called Bradbury "An author whose fanciful imagination, poetic prose, and mature understanding of human character have won him an international reputation" and "the writer most responsible for bringing modern science fiction into the literary mainstream".

Reviews

[William III · Rating 3 out of 5]

In a Season of Calm Weather - 4/5
A Medicine for Melancholy - 1/5
The Wonderful Ice Cream Suit - 1/5
Fever Dream - 4/5
The Marriage Mender - 1/5
The Town Where No One Got Off - 3/5
A Scent of Sarsaparilla - 3/5
The Headpiece - 3/5
The First Night of Lent - 3/5
The Time of Going Away - 3/5
All Summer in a Day - 3/5
The Gift - 4/5
The Great Collision of Monday Last - 1/5
The Little Mice - 2/5
The Shoreline at Sunset - 2/5
The Day It Rained Forever - 3/5
Chrysalis - 4/5
Pillar of Fire - 4/5
Zero Hour - 3/5
The Man - 2/5
Time in Thy Flight - 3/5
The Pedestrian - 4/5
Hail and Farewell - 4/5
Invisible Boy - 2/5
Come into My Cellar - 4/5
The Million-Year Picnic - 3/5
The Screaming Woman - 4/5
The Smile - 3/5
Dark They Were, and Golden-Eyed - 3/5
The Trolley - 2/5
Icarus Montgolfier Wright - 1/5

[TurquoiseStone · Rating 5 out of 5]

Some really good stories in this volume, especially those from 'S is for Space'. I'll be on the lookout for that book now.

[Eric Wilson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Bradbury is amazing. A number of these stories have brought me to tears. Some have made me laugh. This guy could write circles around most writers.

[Bryce Wilson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Filled with some of Bradbury's best stories, including Pillar Of Fire. Which should be on any short list of the greatest Zombie stories ever written.

It also concerns one of the pet themes of Bradbury's that endears me to him so. The anger against a sanitized world. One where Poe, Lovecraft, and Bierce are thrown on the fire. I might not live in fear of Nuclear Holocausts, Facist World conquering Alien Armadas, or Capt. Tripps. Being a misanthrope does help guard against that sort of fear. But I am terrified of this terrible sanitized world. I see it coming.

He covered similar territory (with a much happier conclusion, to my way of thinking) in The Martian Chronicles with USHER II. But this is a good solid crack at it, and it's ferocity leaves it's mark.

[Stacey Uffelman · Rating 4 out of 5]

Many of the stories reminded me of episodes of the Twilight Zone. The last two stories just seemed like they were stuck in there as fillers, and the last one just left me going..."What??"

[Jake · Rating 4 out of 5]

Considering when they were written these have held up well.