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Dark Carnival
Ray Bradbury. Dark Carnival - With Signed Bookplate. Sauk City: Arkham House, 1947. First edition, limited to 3000 copies. Octavo. 313 pages.
"The author's first book and his most representative story collection. Similar but not identical to the later collection The October Country" (Chalker 30).
"The author's first book and his most representative story collection. Similar but not identical to the later collection The October Country" (Chalker 30).
313 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1947
75 people are currently reading
2327 people want to read
About the author
Ray Bradbury
2,560 books25.1k followersRay 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".
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".
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 89 reviews
February 19, 2024
Ray Bradbury is one of those author who can write about anything. His stories are melancholic, pensive, flow slowly and have a clear punchline. You emerge into one tale and go over to another. It's that special mood very few author can evoke. This collection of stories was absolutely mesmerizing. Is it horror? Is it fantasy? Is it just good story telling? All of it but no cheap thrill or pulp horror. This is classic literature and something to enjoy. Highly recommended
December 20, 2017
a thing doesn't have to be perfect to be perfect, right? Ray Bradbury's first collection of short fiction, Dark Carnival, is certainly far from perfect. some stories function as little more than shaggy dog stories ("Skeleton" in particular was not the wisest choice for a second story), others as contes cruel written by a particularly mean-spirited misanthrope ("Let's Play Poison" and several others). both sorts of stories have a thinness to them, a smallness of purpose, that can be rather eye-rolling to a reader like myself who is always looking for resonance over effects and startling climaxes.
and that's about all I'm going to say that is critical regarding this book. despite the occasional flaws, Dark Carnival is pretty much perfect to me. the darkness interwoven with light, its homeyness, the soft glow of its prose and the sinister playfulness of its narratives, its folksy charm and mordant wit, the strange and often longing spirituality right alongside its sharp and bracing cynicism, its many moments of sadness and terror, tenderness and melancholy... it feels like it was written just for me! it has everything I want in a story collection.
hard to believe it is Bradbury's first. Dark Carnival was published in 1947 by Arkham House, and kudos to them. it showcases a writer who appears fully-formed, with decades of life experience under his belt. his prose is sublime. prose like poetry, as they say. his descriptions of scents! surely one of the hardest things to truly capture in words; Bradbury, with ease, uses the smell of things and people and places as just one more tool in his very large toolkit to help his reader fully enter his worlds. his way with words constantly surprised me with its willingness to follow tangents to places I wouldn't expect. I love that feeling of starting a paragraph or sentence and not knowing where or how it will end. at this point in my life, I've been a reader for several decades, so surprises come not as often as I'd like in my readings. I was frequently startled throughout this book.
Bradbury really flexes his stylistic muscles throughout and within the stories. from the eerie and ominous death-fable of "The Scythe" to the arch black comedy of "The Smiling People" and the broad black comedy of "There Was An Old Woman" to the homespun, supernal musings of "The Jar" to the weird romantic longing of "The Lake" and the off-kilter romance between the living and the maybe-dead of "The Dead Man"... I was impressed at how often Bradbury switches up his game. you can't fit him into one box. the only thing consistent throughout the stories is the darkness.
often I was surprised at how dark Bradbury was willing to get. this is definitely a book of horror. the opening story "Homecoming" felt at first distinctly familiar: a tale of a supernatural family and the poor son who is basically normal. it's cute and sad but mainly cute. I almost read past the brief scene where the little boy is talking to his sister who can travel throughout any being's mind (...and make them do things...) without realizing what actually occurred there: she drowsily travels into the mind of a lonely wife awaiting her husband's return home; by the time she leaves, the woman has killed herself. was it even the wife's decision or was it some prodding by a supernatural little girl who has come for a short, idle visit in her head? who knows. Dark Carnival will have me hunting for another of his collections, From the Dust Returned. apparently that book collects all of The Family stories; Dark Carnival includes the cutely vicious "The Traveler" and the sweetly charming "Uncle Einar" in addition to Homecoming.
but back to the darkness. "The Emissary" has such a sympathetic, such a brave little boy, sickly and longing for companionship, and his equally brave and sympathetic dog. the dog is often out and about, bringing people home to visit the lad. and this lovely story suddenly ends with the sickening feeling that this child is about to experience something horrible beyond imagining with the latest visitor the dog has brought home. sweet Jesus, no! bad dog! don't dig those sorts of things up! "The Small Assassin" is perhaps the most famous story in the book, about an infant born to kill. I promise you it is not remotely cheesy despite whatever funny image may have popped in your head. the story is somewhat amusing, sure, but in its downward trajectory and its mother's fear and disgust sounding so similar to postpartum depression, the story itself is grueling. in a good way! the closing piece "The Next in Line" is also the longest, and grueling is a good word for this story as well. it is the best description of a nervous breakdown I have ever read. this vaguely unsympathetic American wife abroad in a small Mexican village, with an increasingly detached and irritated husband, frustrated me at first. a perfectly done Ugly American. but as her mind began to shatter, I moved from frustration to dread to sadness in a matter of pages. and it was all so beautifully written, a terrible kind of beauty. my favorite was "The Man Upstairs", which features a wee lad morbidly obsessed with the taking apart of bodies. in any other story, he would be the villain - probably some sort of nascent serial killer. in this story he is the hero, and his interests come in very handy when dealing with the bizarre supernatural killer who is renting a room upstairs.
the most striking story for me was the brief "The Night", written in second person, and basically the story of a little girl and her mother's moments of terror while looking at a ravine in the dark, not hearing a boy who should have been home hours ago. over the course of its eight pages, it perfectly captures the fear of the unknown and the terror of losing our loved ones that lives in all of us, something that can never be comforted or hugged or loved away.
and that's about all I'm going to say that is critical regarding this book. despite the occasional flaws, Dark Carnival is pretty much perfect to me. the darkness interwoven with light, its homeyness, the soft glow of its prose and the sinister playfulness of its narratives, its folksy charm and mordant wit, the strange and often longing spirituality right alongside its sharp and bracing cynicism, its many moments of sadness and terror, tenderness and melancholy... it feels like it was written just for me! it has everything I want in a story collection.
hard to believe it is Bradbury's first. Dark Carnival was published in 1947 by Arkham House, and kudos to them. it showcases a writer who appears fully-formed, with decades of life experience under his belt. his prose is sublime. prose like poetry, as they say. his descriptions of scents! surely one of the hardest things to truly capture in words; Bradbury, with ease, uses the smell of things and people and places as just one more tool in his very large toolkit to help his reader fully enter his worlds. his way with words constantly surprised me with its willingness to follow tangents to places I wouldn't expect. I love that feeling of starting a paragraph or sentence and not knowing where or how it will end. at this point in my life, I've been a reader for several decades, so surprises come not as often as I'd like in my readings. I was frequently startled throughout this book.
Bradbury really flexes his stylistic muscles throughout and within the stories. from the eerie and ominous death-fable of "The Scythe" to the arch black comedy of "The Smiling People" and the broad black comedy of "There Was An Old Woman" to the homespun, supernal musings of "The Jar" to the weird romantic longing of "The Lake" and the off-kilter romance between the living and the maybe-dead of "The Dead Man"... I was impressed at how often Bradbury switches up his game. you can't fit him into one box. the only thing consistent throughout the stories is the darkness.
often I was surprised at how dark Bradbury was willing to get. this is definitely a book of horror. the opening story "Homecoming" felt at first distinctly familiar: a tale of a supernatural family and the poor son who is basically normal. it's cute and sad but mainly cute. I almost read past the brief scene where the little boy is talking to his sister who can travel throughout any being's mind (...and make them do things...) without realizing what actually occurred there: she drowsily travels into the mind of a lonely wife awaiting her husband's return home; by the time she leaves, the woman has killed herself. was it even the wife's decision or was it some prodding by a supernatural little girl who has come for a short, idle visit in her head? who knows. Dark Carnival will have me hunting for another of his collections, From the Dust Returned. apparently that book collects all of The Family stories; Dark Carnival includes the cutely vicious "The Traveler" and the sweetly charming "Uncle Einar" in addition to Homecoming.
but back to the darkness. "The Emissary" has such a sympathetic, such a brave little boy, sickly and longing for companionship, and his equally brave and sympathetic dog. the dog is often out and about, bringing people home to visit the lad. and this lovely story suddenly ends with the sickening feeling that this child is about to experience something horrible beyond imagining with the latest visitor the dog has brought home. sweet Jesus, no! bad dog! don't dig those sorts of things up! "The Small Assassin" is perhaps the most famous story in the book, about an infant born to kill. I promise you it is not remotely cheesy despite whatever funny image may have popped in your head. the story is somewhat amusing, sure, but in its downward trajectory and its mother's fear and disgust sounding so similar to postpartum depression, the story itself is grueling. in a good way! the closing piece "The Next in Line" is also the longest, and grueling is a good word for this story as well. it is the best description of a nervous breakdown I have ever read. this vaguely unsympathetic American wife abroad in a small Mexican village, with an increasingly detached and irritated husband, frustrated me at first. a perfectly done Ugly American. but as her mind began to shatter, I moved from frustration to dread to sadness in a matter of pages. and it was all so beautifully written, a terrible kind of beauty. my favorite was "The Man Upstairs", which features a wee lad morbidly obsessed with the taking apart of bodies. in any other story, he would be the villain - probably some sort of nascent serial killer. in this story he is the hero, and his interests come in very handy when dealing with the bizarre supernatural killer who is renting a room upstairs.
the most striking story for me was the brief "The Night", written in second person, and basically the story of a little girl and her mother's moments of terror while looking at a ravine in the dark, not hearing a boy who should have been home hours ago. over the course of its eight pages, it perfectly captures the fear of the unknown and the terror of losing our loved ones that lives in all of us, something that can never be comforted or hugged or loved away.
Your belief in your private world is shattered. You feel Mother tremble. Why? Is she, too, doubtful? But she is bigger, stronger, more intelligent than yourself, isn't she? Does she, too, feel that intangible menace, that groping out of darkness, that crouching malignancy down below? Is there, then, no strength in growing up? no solace in being an adult? no sanctuary in life? no flesh citadel strong enough to withstand the scrabbling assault of midnights? Doubts flush you. Ice-cream lives again in your throat, stomach, spine and limbs; you are instantly cold as a wind out of December-gone.Alas, probably not.
You realize all men are like this. That each person is to himself one alone. One oneness, a unit in a society, but always afraid. Like here, standing. If you should scream now, if you should holler for help, would it matter?
April 29, 2025
Bilen bilir, ben büyük Ray Bradbury hayranıyım. "Kimin gibi yazabilmek isterdin?" deseniz Ray Bradbury derim, hiç düşünmeden. Bradbury'nin ilk öykü kitabı olan 1947 çıkışlı Dark Carnival, anlamsız şekilde yıllardır ama yıllardır yeni baskısı yapılmayan bir kitaptı. İlk baskıların fiyatı 1000$'lara vardığından, temin edemiyordum. Neyse ki geçen yıllarda bir şeyler değişti, önce kısıtlı sayıda bir baskısı yapılıp şanslı kişilere satıldı, bir kaç yıl önce de doğru düzgün paperback baskısı yapılıp raflara dizildi. Sonunda bu sene ben de elde edebildim, bende olmadığı aklıma geldikçe üzüldüğüm bu kitabı.
Kitabın bana öğrettiği, bir günde Ray Bradbury olunmadığı gerçeği oldu. En büyük üstatların bile bir acemilik dönemi var elbette. Dolayısıyla Dark Carnival'daki tüm öyküler o alıştığımız, kelimelerin efendisi Ray Bradbury çizgisinde değil. Dürüst olmak gerekirse, bazı öyküler, mesela Sets, Cistern vs. bariz kötü, sıkıcı öyküler. Bu öykülerin yanında alıştığımız Bradbury masalsılığında öyküler de yer alıyor. Kitapta belli bir kalite çizgisi tutturulmamış denebilir.
Beni şaşırtan diğer nokta, pek kanlı öyküler yazmayan Bradbury'nin bu kitapta bayağı vahşet içeren bazı korku öykülerine de yer vermesi. Ancak üstat her zamanki üslubunu bozmamış ve en kanlı sahneleri bile çok dikkatli şekilde, bayağılıktan uzak, her zamanki çocuksu bakışıyla anlatmış.
Bu kitaptaki bazı iyi öyküler yazarın daha sonraki öykü kitaplarına da yer alıyor, dolayısıyla özel bir hayranlığınız yoksa, özellikle bu kitabı temin etmek için uğraşmanıza gerek yok. Benim gibi olup da Bradbury'i çok özlediyseniz, size iyi gelecektir. Ancak başta söylediğim gibi, benim bile dayanamayıp pas geçtiğim bir iki öykü var bu derlemede.
Kitabın bana öğrettiği, bir günde Ray Bradbury olunmadığı gerçeği oldu. En büyük üstatların bile bir acemilik dönemi var elbette. Dolayısıyla Dark Carnival'daki tüm öyküler o alıştığımız, kelimelerin efendisi Ray Bradbury çizgisinde değil. Dürüst olmak gerekirse, bazı öyküler, mesela Sets, Cistern vs. bariz kötü, sıkıcı öyküler. Bu öykülerin yanında alıştığımız Bradbury masalsılığında öyküler de yer alıyor. Kitapta belli bir kalite çizgisi tutturulmamış denebilir.
Beni şaşırtan diğer nokta, pek kanlı öyküler yazmayan Bradbury'nin bu kitapta bayağı vahşet içeren bazı korku öykülerine de yer vermesi. Ancak üstat her zamanki üslubunu bozmamış ve en kanlı sahneleri bile çok dikkatli şekilde, bayağılıktan uzak, her zamanki çocuksu bakışıyla anlatmış.
Bu kitaptaki bazı iyi öyküler yazarın daha sonraki öykü kitaplarına da yer alıyor, dolayısıyla özel bir hayranlığınız yoksa, özellikle bu kitabı temin etmek için uğraşmanıza gerek yok. Benim gibi olup da Bradbury'i çok özlediyseniz, size iyi gelecektir. Ancak başta söylediğim gibi, benim bile dayanamayıp pas geçtiğim bir iki öykü var bu derlemede.
April 28, 2019
Uvek je nezgodno oceniti zbirku priča jer je nejasno da li bi celokupna zbirka trebalo da dobije slabiju ocenu zbog par slabijih priča ili pak jaču, jer su bolje priče prevagnule. Neka ovaj put bude četvorka umesto trojke. Ova zbirka ne pripada standardnom horor, već više makabr žanru - Bredburi odlično dočarava bizarnu atmosferu, opisi godišnjih doba i vremenskih prilika su i više nego genijalni, a teme ljudske prirode su odlično obrađene. Favoriti: "Mali ubica", "Sledeći", "Noć", "Nasmešeni ljudi", "Gomila", "Pogrebnik".
September 21, 2017
After reading Michael Dirda's book Browsings I wanted to read some Bradbury short stories so I was planing on rereading The Illustrated Man then I discovered I had this book which I'd never read Bradbury's first collection. So glad I did it was just what I was looking for. So many great stories, the first one "The Homecoming" is one of my favorites, story a about a normal boy in a weird family. Later in the collection I was pleasantly surprised to find a sequel of sorts "Uncle Einar". Soon after beginning "The Crowd" I thought that I'd already read it then realized that I'd seen a TV adaptation, back in the 1985. It's a fun story and you can watch it on Ray Bradbury Theater youtube .
May 29, 2021
4.15
Реј Бредбери има стила. Субјективни приповедач доживљеним говором, унутрашњим монологом, живописним компарацијама и тактизираним ритмом боји приказану предметност (сопственим светлима). Иако ових 13 прича у редукованом српском издању нису "13 пилула ужаса" и не одишу заводљивошћу Укуса пелина, имају таман толико језовитости и морбидарија да орасположе једног савременог готичара. Оцењивао сам их по ефекту који производе јер су стилски и композицијски све одличне. Утисак је крајње субјективан, а пошто је у мом случају просечно врло добар, може се рећи да је ова сабласт потенцијално пријемчива како ванила људима тако и неизбирљивим хорор фриковима (не спадам ни у једну од ове две категорије - Стивен Кинг, Лавкрафт и М.Р.Џејмс су смарачи; филмове уопште не гледам, а камоли хорор).
Одликаши: Чупавац из кутије, Резервоар, Мали убица, Ноћ.
Реј Бредбери има стила. Субјективни приповедач доживљеним говором, унутрашњим монологом, живописним компарацијама и тактизираним ритмом боји приказану предметност (сопственим светлима). Иако ових 13 прича у редукованом српском издању нису "13 пилула ужаса" и не одишу заводљивошћу Укуса пелина, имају таман толико језовитости и морбидарија да орасположе једног савременог готичара. Оцењивао сам их по ефекту који производе јер су стилски и композицијски све одличне. Утисак је крајње субјективан, а пошто је у мом случају просечно врло добар, може се рећи да је ова сабласт потенцијално пријемчива како ванила људима тако и неизбирљивим хорор фриковима (не спадам ни у једну од ове две категорије - Стивен Кинг, Лавкрафт и М.Р.Џејмс су смарачи; филмове уопште не гледам, а камоли хорор).
Одликаши: Чупавац из кутије, Резервоар, Мали убица, Ноћ.
"Чинило се као да је лето било заковано у низ мртвачких сандука. (...)
Сламнати шешир је лежао на кревету, крхак и страшан, кишобран се круто наслањао на један зид као мртав слепи миш са склопљеним тамним влажним крилима. (...)
- Нисам сигурна. Она је нова. Она је тек сад умрла. Али јесте мртва. Дивно, дивно мртва.
Ана се дивила слици коју је имала у глави.
- Да жена постане заиста дивна, потребна је смрт, а да би постала најдивнија, потребна је смрт утапањем. Тад се из ње извуче сва укоченост, а коса јој плута по води као нанос дима.
Климнула је главом, развесељено.
- Никакве школе, ни бонтон, ни часови на свету не могу да учине да се жена креће с том сненом лакоћом, гипко и мрешкаво и фино.
Ана је широком, грубом руком покушавала да покаже како фино, како мрешкаво, како грациозно. (...)
Нека је соба плутала око ње у смрдљивом испарењу лудила. Лебдели су инструменти и било је гласова и људи са стерилним белим маскама. (...)
Изгледало је да се ослободила страхова.
Осим једне одређене поноћи кад је неки изненадан летњи ветар брисао око куће, топао и брз, тресући дрвеће као мноштво сјајних даира. (...)
То је дух, кажем ти, и говори на разним језицима, као што је бака Ханлон некада радила, кад је устајала с клупе у цркви и говорила на чудним језицима, скроз измешаним, као да су јој у гуши ухваћени црнац, Ирац, две жене и три жабе! (...)
И то се настављало од особе до особе. Бенедикта су ударцима слали од једног до другог, био је језеро у које је бацано све смеће. Људи су почињали са ситним каменчићима, а онда, кад се Бенедикт не би заталасао нити протестовао, хитнули би камен, циглу, стену. Бенедикту није било дна, ни пљуска, ни смираја. Језеро није одговарало. (...)
Схваташ да су сви људи такви. Да је свака особа за себе сама. (...)
Сам у свемиру.
Има милион градића попут овог по целом свету. Сваки исто тако мрачан, усамљен, сваки исто тако далек, исто тако пун дрхтаја и чуђења. Свирање трске попут виолина у молском тоналитету је музика малих градова, без светала, али с много сенки. Ох, та њихова огромна, надолазећа самоћа. Те њихове тајанствене влажне јаруге. Живот је ужас у тим градићима ноћу, кад здравом разуму (...) и срећи са свих страна прети баук звани Смрт."
April 5, 2025
A so-so anthology that launched the career of one of America's most celebrated 20th-century writers
Published in 1947 by Arkham House, Dark Carnival was the first published book by Ray Bradbury, the legendary science fiction writer best known for classic novels and anthologies like Fahrenheit 451 (1953), Dandelion Wine (1957), Something Wicked This Way Comes (1962), The Martian Chronicles (1950), The Illustrated Man (1951), and The October Country (1955). As such, Dark Carnival is a mixed bag containing stories best described as horror-lite, farcical horror, and weird tales rather than science fiction. As I prefer horror of an eerier type such as folk horror, cosmic horror, supernatural tales, and post-apocalyptic/dystopian stories, I probably have a lower opinion of this book than other reviewers. Dark Carnival just didn't grab me, creep me out, or hold my attention. In fact, I generally prefer short fiction and anthologies to long novels. Especially when they are the work of a single author whose other works (for me that would be Fahrenheit 451, Something Wicked This Way Comes, and The Martian Chronicles) I absolutely love.
In Dark Carnival, Bradbury writes mostly harmless stories with weird twists and ironies but little suspense or atmosphere. The vast majority of these stories have children as the protagonists or main characters... which gives it a juvenilia vibe. Many are short, ironic sketches resembling the short horror of Ambrose Bierce but entirely lacking Bierce's creepy atmospherics. Three of the stories here about the Elliot family of ghouls and vampires come across as imitation Addams Family stuff. This is farcical horror of the kind I find annoying and trite--despite one of them, "The Homecoming," receiving an O Henry award in 1947. As the Addams Family cartoon debuted in New Yorker in 1938, I can't help thinking the aspiring writer that was Ray Bradbury in the early 1940s must have gotten his inspiration for the Elliots from Charles Addams' creations.
The three stories I liked the most in this lengthy collection were "The Lake," "Cistern," and "The Next in Line" which were all pretty creepy and disturbing in the way horror ought to be. But for the rest... just not my cup of tea.
None of this reflects poorly on the writer Ray Bradbury was in 1947. He was transitioning from the pulp marketplace to mainstream fiction and his writing craft is evident in all of these stories. But he was also looking for his sea legs. Yet in these stories, Bradbury's ability to depict the weird underbelly of Middle America and the hidden horror lying secretly in the dark shadows of the mundane and the normal is as evident as ever. Dark Carnival is a telling portent of the greatness that was brewing in Bradbury's craft from its beginnings.
For this reason, Dark Carnival is highly recommended.
Published in 1947 by Arkham House, Dark Carnival was the first published book by Ray Bradbury, the legendary science fiction writer best known for classic novels and anthologies like Fahrenheit 451 (1953), Dandelion Wine (1957), Something Wicked This Way Comes (1962), The Martian Chronicles (1950), The Illustrated Man (1951), and The October Country (1955). As such, Dark Carnival is a mixed bag containing stories best described as horror-lite, farcical horror, and weird tales rather than science fiction. As I prefer horror of an eerier type such as folk horror, cosmic horror, supernatural tales, and post-apocalyptic/dystopian stories, I probably have a lower opinion of this book than other reviewers. Dark Carnival just didn't grab me, creep me out, or hold my attention. In fact, I generally prefer short fiction and anthologies to long novels. Especially when they are the work of a single author whose other works (for me that would be Fahrenheit 451, Something Wicked This Way Comes, and The Martian Chronicles) I absolutely love.
In Dark Carnival, Bradbury writes mostly harmless stories with weird twists and ironies but little suspense or atmosphere. The vast majority of these stories have children as the protagonists or main characters... which gives it a juvenilia vibe. Many are short, ironic sketches resembling the short horror of Ambrose Bierce but entirely lacking Bierce's creepy atmospherics. Three of the stories here about the Elliot family of ghouls and vampires come across as imitation Addams Family stuff. This is farcical horror of the kind I find annoying and trite--despite one of them, "The Homecoming," receiving an O Henry award in 1947. As the Addams Family cartoon debuted in New Yorker in 1938, I can't help thinking the aspiring writer that was Ray Bradbury in the early 1940s must have gotten his inspiration for the Elliots from Charles Addams' creations.
The three stories I liked the most in this lengthy collection were "The Lake," "Cistern," and "The Next in Line" which were all pretty creepy and disturbing in the way horror ought to be. But for the rest... just not my cup of tea.
None of this reflects poorly on the writer Ray Bradbury was in 1947. He was transitioning from the pulp marketplace to mainstream fiction and his writing craft is evident in all of these stories. But he was also looking for his sea legs. Yet in these stories, Bradbury's ability to depict the weird underbelly of Middle America and the hidden horror lying secretly in the dark shadows of the mundane and the normal is as evident as ever. Dark Carnival is a telling portent of the greatness that was brewing in Bradbury's craft from its beginnings.
For this reason, Dark Carnival is highly recommended.
March 24, 2020
Ovo je zbirka koja spada u horor djela Ray Bradburya, sto mi eto u ovom trenutku i ne leze bas. Ali je odlicno pisano, ima njegov divni sarm.
Od prica su me dojmile Jezero i Cupavac iz kutije.
Od prica su me dojmile Jezero i Cupavac iz kutije.
September 2, 2024
• The Homecoming ★★★★☆
• Skeleton ★★★★★
• The Jar ★★★★★
• The Lake ★★★★★
• The Maiden ★★★★☆
• The Tombstone ★★★★☆
• The Smiling People ★★★★☆
• The Emissary ★★★★☆
• The Traveler ★★★★★
• The Small Assassin ★★★★★
• The Crowd ★★★★☆
• Reunion ★★★★☆
• The Handler ★★★★★
• The Coffin ★★★★★
• Interim ★★★★☆
• Jack-in-the-Box ★★★★★
• The Scythe ★★★★★
• Let's Play 'Poison' ★★★★★
• Uncle Einar ★★★★★
• The Wind ★★★★★
• The Night ★★★★☆
• There Was An Old Woman ★★★★★
• The Dead Man ★★★★★
• The Man Upstairs ★★★★★
• The Night Sets ★★★★☆
• Cistern ★★★★☆
• The Next In Line ★★★★★
October 6, 2018
Bradbury was the master of melancholy, nostalgia and all the other things in between that make you all soft inside. He was one of the very few writers that could accurately capture the strange feelings that overcome us in Autumn, the long-lost loves, losses and lusts whose echoes can still be found in the gusts of October wind and drops of November rain.
August 16, 2025
DNF after three stories.
Read first one - The Homecoming. Thoughts: What was the purpose of this story.
Read second story - Skeleton. Thoughts: Hmmm ok, that’s different.
Read third story - The Jar. Thoughts: WTF, what am I reading!
Three strikes and I’m out. Couldn’t bring myself to read any more. Done.
Read first one - The Homecoming. Thoughts: What was the purpose of this story.
Read second story - Skeleton. Thoughts: Hmmm ok, that’s different.
Read third story - The Jar. Thoughts: WTF, what am I reading!
Three strikes and I’m out. Couldn’t bring myself to read any more. Done.
October 10, 2017
The collection of stories found in Dark Carnival is a trip into normal things turned into obscure and scary events.
Just think about something you'd never consider before. Things you take for granted. Ray Bradbury probably managed to turn it into some scary shit.
Your skeleton, for instance. Not something we actively think about, until you read a story about a man who believes his skeleton is working against him.
Or the rain, the wind, simple nature can become treacherous in Bradbury's hands.
I must admit, I'm not a fan of short stories, because I like to get invested in a story and therefore it takes a couple more pages than the average short fiction. Ray Bradbury must be the exception to my rule, because I already read several of his compilations and his stories seem to be as long as they need to be.
Of course there's the one that makes no sense, the one that drags on too long, but most of his stories deliver a quick, yet horrifying blow, which I like. It's like watching Tales of the Crypt when I was a lot younger. It might be trash, but it's enjoyable trash.
Not that I would call this collection trash, some of them are very good stories and most of them are interesting ideas turned haywire which makes them unique. I like his style, it might not be for everyone, but he's kind of unique in his story telling, at least in my humble opinion.
Check out this and other reviews!!
Just think about something you'd never consider before. Things you take for granted. Ray Bradbury probably managed to turn it into some scary shit.
Your skeleton, for instance. Not something we actively think about, until you read a story about a man who believes his skeleton is working against him.
Or the rain, the wind, simple nature can become treacherous in Bradbury's hands.
I must admit, I'm not a fan of short stories, because I like to get invested in a story and therefore it takes a couple more pages than the average short fiction. Ray Bradbury must be the exception to my rule, because I already read several of his compilations and his stories seem to be as long as they need to be.
Of course there's the one that makes no sense, the one that drags on too long, but most of his stories deliver a quick, yet horrifying blow, which I like. It's like watching Tales of the Crypt when I was a lot younger. It might be trash, but it's enjoyable trash.
Not that I would call this collection trash, some of them are very good stories and most of them are interesting ideas turned haywire which makes them unique. I like his style, it might not be for everyone, but he's kind of unique in his story telling, at least in my humble opinion.
Check out this and other reviews!!
Read
December 7, 2017U stvari, prošitao sam samo 13 izabranih priča iz ove Bredberijeve zbirke u izdanju McMillan-a.
Šta da kažem? Najpre da joj neću dati ocenu.
Ako bih to učinio ona bi bila proizvod utiska koji je knjiga ostavila na mene, a ne njenog literarnog kvaliteta. Kvalitet nije sporan.
Sporno je što ovo nije horor ili barem ne ono što ja podrazumevam pod tim žanrom, a svakako nije nešto što mi prija.
To je skup zaista mračnih priča. Mučnih, malodušnih, mizantropskih, koje teraju na duboko nezadovoljstvo, teskobu, očajanje. Zgađenost pred raznolikom stravom ljudskog roda, takvog kakav jeste. Nema pravednih, samo možda očajnih, ne baš vrednih preteranog sažaljenja. Lestvica zala i strahova u čoveku, koja ostavlja bez nade. Uz to, ni deca nisu pošteđena. Pogotovu deca, koja su česti akteri ovih priča (što je za moj ukus potpuno odbojno). Mislim da samo jedna od priča ima spokojan kraj, iako sve vreme nagoveštava isti osećaj kao i druge.
Dakle, nije to moja šolja čaja, što kažu. Stil je naravno izuzetan, pa ko voli...
Šta da kažem? Najpre da joj neću dati ocenu.
Ako bih to učinio ona bi bila proizvod utiska koji je knjiga ostavila na mene, a ne njenog literarnog kvaliteta. Kvalitet nije sporan.
Sporno je što ovo nije horor ili barem ne ono što ja podrazumevam pod tim žanrom, a svakako nije nešto što mi prija.
To je skup zaista mračnih priča. Mučnih, malodušnih, mizantropskih, koje teraju na duboko nezadovoljstvo, teskobu, očajanje. Zgađenost pred raznolikom stravom ljudskog roda, takvog kakav jeste. Nema pravednih, samo možda očajnih, ne baš vrednih preteranog sažaljenja. Lestvica zala i strahova u čoveku, koja ostavlja bez nade. Uz to, ni deca nisu pošteđena. Pogotovu deca, koja su česti akteri ovih priča (što je za moj ukus potpuno odbojno). Mislim da samo jedna od priča ima spokojan kraj, iako sve vreme nagoveštava isti osećaj kao i druge.
Dakle, nije to moja šolja čaja, što kažu. Stil je naravno izuzetan, pa ko voli...
January 22, 2022
Zajímavá směs. Od vtipných kousků přes parodie žánru, jednoduché hříčky i znepokojivé texty až po hluboká zamyšlení. Na část povídek už jsem narazil dřív v jiných sbornících, do mysli se mi zapsal Zástup a Malý vrah. Tentokrát si k nim přidám černohumornou Kostru, morbidního Hrobníka, Čertíka v krabičce (nejen film Vesnice si určitě bere inspiraci ze stejného zdroje :), znepokojivý Vítr nebo vtipnou Žila byla stará žena. Ano, některé z povídek, mj. dvě poslední, jsou trochu slabší, ale z Temného karnevalu u mě určitě převažuje celkově dobrý dojem.
A jak normálně nemám rád předmluvy, tady krátké uvedení každé z povídek do kontextu, zdroje inspirace i důvodu vzniku dává rozhodně smysl. Hezky to dotváří celé dílo.
A jak normálně nemám rád předmluvy, tady krátké uvedení každé z povídek do kontextu, zdroje inspirace i důvodu vzniku dává rozhodně smysl. Hezky to dotváří celé dílo.
May 31, 2024
Dark Carnival è la prima raccolta di racconti di Ray Bradbury, siamo nel 1947. Era praticamente introvabile prima che HarperCollins la ripubblicasse quest’anno. Dei 27 racconti che la compongono 15 li avevo già letti e amati nella raccolta October Country (1955).
Tutta la capacità narrativa di Ray Bradbury è contenuta nel racconto The Night, 12 pagine di perfezione narrativa in cui la paura si crea e si dissolve nel tempo di una passeggiata notturna in città.
Tutta la capacità narrativa di Ray Bradbury è contenuta nel racconto The Night, 12 pagine di perfezione narrativa in cui la paura si crea e si dissolve nel tempo di una passeggiata notturna in città.
May 30, 2022
Interesantno je da u ovoj zbirci kratkih horor priča, nemam ni jednu "osrednju priču". Neke priče su vrhunskog kvaliteta i uzivao sam u njima, dok su neke u rangu prosečnog pismenog sastava iz srednje škole... Priče koje su mi se dopale su :
1: Jezero
2: Čupavac iz kutije
3: Mali ubica
4: Nasmešeni ljudi
5: Pogrebnik
1: Jezero
2: Čupavac iz kutije
3: Mali ubica
4: Nasmešeni ljudi
5: Pogrebnik
July 21, 2025
Bradbury knew what he was doing from the get go.
A fantastic short story collection which was the perfect read over Summerween/Summer Camp. The mix of poetic descriptions and horror narratives made these stories unique and a lot of fun to read.
A future reread over spooky season!
A fantastic short story collection which was the perfect read over Summerween/Summer Camp. The mix of poetic descriptions and horror narratives made these stories unique and a lot of fun to read.
A future reread over spooky season!
August 7, 2024
Nearly all of the stories in this collection have been reprinted elsewhere, so why bother? Apart from the four stories unavailable elsewhere—three of which are mere vignettes—hardcore Bradbury fans may be curious to experience these as originally presented. This was the author's first short story collection, and, as such, it gives insight into both his beginnings as a published author and the remarkable strength of even his earliest works. Those who have wandered through Bradbury's bibliography know that some stories have been collected more than once, yet somehow re-reading them never seems to get old. If anything, repeated readings reveal layers of detail and depth of meaning that may be lost at first glance. Whether you're a longtime fan or are simply looking for an introduction into the author's short works, this is a wonderful, if stubbornly dark, collection and well worth the price of admission.
August 12, 2025
For all my love of the fantastique, I've never been much of a fan of Ray Bradbury. At least not his science fiction. The problem is I find that a lot of his work pours over into the saccharine, and the prose borders on purple. But reading this, his first published collection, which he kept out of print after re-tooling it into The October Country, has given me a new perspective. It's a bit more gruesome and explicit than his other work, and being his first published collection, these stories are raw, and they show a real cruel streak. When the stories were revised for The October Country some of the more explicit material was toned down, or outright removed. There's even a micro short story in here about decapitation and fetishism. At the best these stories are revolutionary. "The Small Assassin" and "The Next In Line" are two of the greatest horror short stories, both dealing frankly with misogyny, marital ennui, and post-partum depression. At the same time Bradbury's outlook represents a fundamentally conservative worldview, and I don't mean that in the reactionary sense, but more that there is a vanishing world he wanted to conserve in his writing. Apocryphally Bradbury hated television, and refused to own one for a long time. I think that's why his horror and dark fantasy works better than his more famous science fiction stories. Science fiction falls into either an optimistic look at the future, or outright cynicism of the dystopia the authors think we're headed to. Bradbury was a cynic about technological progress, but also a sentimentalist. Bradbury himself even said he didn't consider himself a science fiction writer, but it's the sci-fi that holds in the public imagination. This reprint from Subterranean Press also contains five previously uncollected stories that weren't included when Bradbury originally published Dark Carnival. These are nice extras, but by no means essential, and it's easy to see why they were cut. Dave McKean's mixed media illustrations that precede every story are also gorgeous and evocative. The whole package is really special. For those who don't want to shell out for the deluxe hardcover, a bare-bones trade paperback of Dark Carnival was finally published for the first time last year, but it doesn't include the extra stories.
October 30, 2018
Temný karneval sa skladá z 25 poviedok, ktoré majú odlišnú dĺžku, boli uverejnené (alebo sa o to aspoň Bradbury snažil) v rôznych periodikách, následne zozbierané a vydané knižne v roku 1947. Každá jedna z nich je hrôzostrašná, venuje sa všedným dňom ľudí s nevšednými problémami a je opatrená krátkym autorovým predhovorom o tom, ako vlastne krátka próza, ktorú sa chystáte čítať, vznikla a hlavne prečo. Týmto sympatickým vysvetlením Bradbury ukazuje správny smer, ktorý potrebujete k tomu, aby ste dokázali s ponúkaným materiálom pracovať inak, ako ste pôvodne zamýšľali. Prináša novú perspektívu nahliadania na spracovaný „tuctový“ motív, ako aj menej stereotypnú schému interpretácie. Týchto 25 poviedok sa naozaj môže popýšiť pestrým svetom, prostredím, postavami, zápletkami, gradáciami aj umeleckými postupmi, ktoré si autor pri písaní vybral. Ponúka vám vlastne stručný prehľad Bradburyho spisovateľského dozrievania v ešte stále „málo populárnom“ žánri.
Viac sa dočítate na našej stránke Fantasy-svet.sk!
Viac sa dočítate na našej stránke Fantasy-svet.sk!
March 26, 2024
Це найперша збірка оповідань Рея Бредбері, які він написав у 23-27-річному віці. Досить презентабельна збірка, із 27 різнопланових оповідань, які межують із містикою та горрором.
Тут є три оповідання про родину Елліотів, які потім стануть основою його роману "З праху повсталі". Тут також є досить відоме оповідання "The Wind", яке часто включають в різноманітні збірки оповідань Бредбері. Як на мене, то мені найбільше сподобався "Jack-in-the-Box", хоча це оповідання важко віднести до містики або горрору. Тут мова йде про підлітка, який все життя прожив із мамою у будинку, оточеному деревами, не виходячи назовні, і гадки не маючи, що існує інший світ за межами цього будинку.
В цілому деякі оповідання більше цікаві, деякі менше, але важливіше те, що це найперші твори Рея Бредбері, і я саме хотів ознайомитись із його становленням як письменника, читаючи його спочатку.
Тут є три оповідання про родину Елліотів, які потім стануть основою його роману "З праху повсталі". Тут також є досить відоме оповідання "The Wind", яке часто включають в різноманітні збірки оповідань Бредбері. Як на мене, то мені найбільше сподобався "Jack-in-the-Box", хоча це оповідання важко віднести до містики або горрору. Тут мова йде про підлітка, який все життя прожив із мамою у будинку, оточеному деревами, не виходячи назовні, і гадки не маючи, що існує інший світ за межами цього будинку.
В цілому деякі оповідання більше цікаві, деякі менше, але важливіше те, що це найперші твори Рея Бредбері, і я саме хотів ознайомитись із його становленням як письменника, читаючи його спочатку.
November 10, 2023
Hororové povídky od Bradburyho - moc milé překvapení. Jako u každé sbírky povídek tu mám ty, které se mi líbily hodně, ty, které byly průměrné a najdou se i takové, které nebyly zrovna mým šálkem čaje. Rozhodně chci vypíchnout ty, které se mi líbily nejvíce a to byly: Kostlivec, Emisar, Zástup, Usměvaví lidé, Malý vrah, Kosa.. Ale rozhodně vede Kostlivec, to byla paráda. Téměř všechny povídky mají jeden rys společný - jsou krásně předvídatelné, ale vůbec jim to neubližuje. I když člověk ví, jakou cestou se bude děj ubírat, neubírá to na kráse - je to jak ve zpomaleném filmu sledovat, jak z napřažených rukou padá jablko vstříc svému neutěšenému a nevyhnutelnému konci - rozprsknutí se na podlaze. Skvělé podzimní čtení.
December 16, 2025
Bradbury's debut novel, a collection of short stories. A great read for those who admire Bardbury's lyrical prose. The stories are mostly nice, though I didn't get a couple of them. My favourites were The Night (a story that explores the idea of fear and separation), The Lake (this one tugs at the heartstrings), Reunion (a bruising tragedy) The Crowd (such a novel take on onlookers who gather at accident sites) and The Small Assassin. I also liked The Jar, Skeleton, The Wind, The Dead Man, and The Next In Line in varying degrees.
June 10, 2024
So: here’s a story about how it took me 44 years to finally get a story collection.
Quick background for context. It is 1980. I was 16. By this time I’d spent a few years reading fantasy, horror and science fiction. I was still finding my way, though – I had read every Robert Heinlein and Arthur C Clarke I could get my hands on, and in Fantasy read Tolkien, Ray Feist, David Eddings and some Stephen Donaldson, but that was about it.
But in my reading I kept hearing of the ‘Big Three’ (Asimov, Heinlein, Clarke), or sometimes ‘the ABC group’ – that’s Isaac Asimov, Ray Bradbury and Arthur C. Clarke. And although I’d read the occasional Bradbury (I think my first story was “The Veldt”, in about 1975, but I’m not exactly sure) I’d not found many books by him, not even in my local library.
I had got a copy of The Martian Chronicles and didn’t like it. Unlike The Veldt with its wall-screen television, this wasn’t really ‘science fiction’ to my mind. Science fiction was logical, plausible, often an extrapolation of science fact. Some of this was most illogical. (Can you tell I liked Star Trek, too?) – (“What’s this? Picket fences on Mars? Rubbish!) – although I have reassessed that view in more recent years, and now have a signed copy - but even though I didn’t like it, I had seen the movie Fahrenheit 451, and watched the TV series of The Martian Chronicles, starring Rock Hudson (still very odd!), but that was about as close as I had got to Bradbury’s works.
Anyway, I eventually managed to get a copy of a Bradbury story collection from the second-hand book stall at my local market. It was a battered copy of The October Country, with an impressive skull and scythe on the cover. This might be different, I thought.
I eagerly got it home to read it. And… at first, I was still confused. This was definitely Fantasy. There were vampires and werewolves involved, not to mention killer babies, circuses, strange things in jars…. Some of it was clearly meant to be funny or at least mildly amusing. This was a bit of a revelation. Unlike Asimov, Heinlein and Clarke, this stuff didn’t always take itself seriously. (Well, Asimov did occasionally attempt humour, with varying degrees of success, admittedly.)
I wasn’t sure I liked it.
This one was all about the words – startlingly direct at times, florid, poetical words at others. So I read it again – I didn’t have that many books at that stage. And mulled it over for a while.
But I kept coming back to The October Country. I found that I quite liked the nostalgic tone of yearning for a younger childhood, and I really liked the dark creepiness of stories such as The Jar (1944), The Wind (1943) and The Scythe (1943).
I later found that there were more stories like this in a book called Dark Carnival. Bradbury’s first story collection. In fact, one story in The October Country was from that collection – The Traveller.
Why wasn’t it in Dark Carnival? Indeed, where could I find a copy of Dark Carnival?
This was in the days pre-Internet, of course. I scoured second-hand bookshops for an elusive copy. The UK copy was a much shorter version of the US version – the US edition had 27 stories, the UK one, published in 1948, a mere 20 - with most of the other stories redistributed around his other collections, albeit often rewritten. Over time I read these as I could get them. But it wasn’t the same – the stories generally felt good, but a little diluted. I wanted a full-fat ‘proper’ copy. And even until now "The Night Sets", "The Maiden", "Reunion" and "Interim" have been hard to find.
Roll round to the early 2000’s and with the Internet I was able to take my search globally. Hurrah! Bad news, though – nothing really UK-available and the original US hardback, if you could find a copy, was hundreds of pounds even for one in poor condition – and even then beyond my budget.
I resigned myself to never having a copy. (Hardback Arkham copies are still out there for £400+, without dustjacket and in fairly poor condition, by the way.)
But then in 2023 Horror writer Ramsey Campbell let me know that there was to be a new UK edition – in paperback, admittedly, but with 27 stories, like the original US edition. The publication was then delayed, but earlier this year (March 2024) I finally got a copy. For less than £10.
So: what have we got here? As I said before, we have 27 stories, all dating from 1943 - 1947. "The Night Sets", "The Maiden", "Reunion" and "Interim" are now all included. These are Bradbury in his Weird Tales phase, with the stories mainly designed to creep and lurk. You want a thing in a jar from a circus freak-show? Try The Jar (1944). How about a child that’s possibly a killer, yet no one else can see it? Try The Small Assassin (1946), or the grisly and macabre The Man Upstairs (1947), one of the creepiest in the collection? How about when the same faces keep turning up to watch at accidents? Try The Crowd (1943). You know when you’ve had that feeling of being followed home but then there’s no-one there? Try The Night (1946). (I’m not going to mention too many stories here, as I think part of the fun of this collection is not knowing much about the stories in advance.)
To give elements of lighter mood, there is also the odd quirkily amusing nostalgia story thrown in too (The Homecoming, The Traveller, Uncle Einar.) With that in mind, I think that The Homecoming may not be the best start to the collection. As one of the so-called ‘Elliott family’ stories, it’s about a family of various horrors – vampires, ghosts, werewolves, etc. who all live together. It’s cute and made me think of Charles Addams’s The Addams family, which may be intentional (The Addams family were first published in 1937, The Homecoming first published in 1946.) But it is a light beginning to the collection – it’s only after that that the stories, on the whole, become darker and creepier.
Of the stories not published for a long while, The Maiden is short, odd and memorable, a story of decapitation by guillotine – and uses the word ‘orgasm’, which may have been the reason for its subsequent omission in later editions. The Night Sets I found to be better, as the short but atmospheric story of a ghost being fetched from a film set, Reunion is an addition to the Elliott stories and good humoured if perhaps a little unnecessary, and Interim is a short burst of a story straight out of Weird Tales, with its bodies rising from the dead and all. In summary, they are worth a read but I can see why they were omitted for years. They are relatively minor works.
As these stories were published originally in the 1940’s it must be said that there are elements that may not sit well with a modern audience – references to ‘Negroes’ are a little jarring, but they are written with some respect for their time. The so-called Mexican stories (such as the novella-length The Last in Line (1947) in this book) could also be seen as rather racist today also, but I guess at the time they highlighted cultures that were less well known to most Americans. Remember at this time the main readership of pulp magazines were white WASP males, although there were always exceptions.
Admittedly Bradbury may have written better work, more complex stories more poetical, more heartfelt stories than these in his later years – this was his first story collection, after all. And yet cumulatively they create a sense of unease, of creepiness, all written up in vivid language – think Hitchcock movies in prose – anyone who’s ever read some of Alfred Hitchcock story collections will get the idea. (And in fact, Bradbury did have four of these stories in those collections.) They are of a lost world, a time when settlements were often small, neighbourhoods and neighbours were important, and mobile phones were a science fiction dream.
Admittedly, even I will admit that some stories that work less well than others – I found that some of the comedic elements of stories such as ‘The Dead Man’ (1945) have dated, although this particular story turns itself into something less mean by the end. But this is a collection about the breadth rather than the depth, after all. Things were simpler then, I guess.
The biggest downside, if there is one, is that some of the stories may seem obvious or familiar, having being copied by others so often since. I must also say that some of them do show an author still finding his voice, although I am still amazed that Bradbury wrote these when he was only somewhere between 23 and 27 years old.
On a minor point, whilst I think that the original Arkham House cover was bad (Bradbury allegedly hated it himself!) and the 1948 UK cover by Hamish Hamilton just as bad, I think that the new cover does the book no favours at all – simplistic, cheap-looking, the sort of thing that looks like it was made up in 10 minutes on Photoshop. It may not necessarily attract people to pick the book up, which is a real shame. (“It’s a circus book!”)
However, if we concentrate upon the prose, if you want to see why Bradbury was so well regarded in the 1940’s, then this collection is a must. Whilst Fahrenheit 451 (published 1953) and Something Wicked The Way Comes (published 1962) show more complexity and depth, Dark Carnival shows Bradbury’s range as an author of stories. Full of ideas, funny (both in humorous sense as well as odd), eerie, nostalgic and yes - weird, they encapsulate Bradbury’s early strengths in short form - brief but memorable, poetic and creepy, even gleefully gory. I will keep coming back to reread these in this particular collection. I would recommend that you don’t read this collection all at once, but take your time to work through it for the stories to have their fullest impact. It’s worth it- after all, It’s only taken me 44 years, but I’ve finally got what I wanted. The wait was worthwhile!
Quick background for context. It is 1980. I was 16. By this time I’d spent a few years reading fantasy, horror and science fiction. I was still finding my way, though – I had read every Robert Heinlein and Arthur C Clarke I could get my hands on, and in Fantasy read Tolkien, Ray Feist, David Eddings and some Stephen Donaldson, but that was about it.
But in my reading I kept hearing of the ‘Big Three’ (Asimov, Heinlein, Clarke), or sometimes ‘the ABC group’ – that’s Isaac Asimov, Ray Bradbury and Arthur C. Clarke. And although I’d read the occasional Bradbury (I think my first story was “The Veldt”, in about 1975, but I’m not exactly sure) I’d not found many books by him, not even in my local library.
I had got a copy of The Martian Chronicles and didn’t like it. Unlike The Veldt with its wall-screen television, this wasn’t really ‘science fiction’ to my mind. Science fiction was logical, plausible, often an extrapolation of science fact. Some of this was most illogical. (Can you tell I liked Star Trek, too?) – (“What’s this? Picket fences on Mars? Rubbish!) – although I have reassessed that view in more recent years, and now have a signed copy - but even though I didn’t like it, I had seen the movie Fahrenheit 451, and watched the TV series of The Martian Chronicles, starring Rock Hudson (still very odd!), but that was about as close as I had got to Bradbury’s works.
Anyway, I eventually managed to get a copy of a Bradbury story collection from the second-hand book stall at my local market. It was a battered copy of The October Country, with an impressive skull and scythe on the cover. This might be different, I thought.
I eagerly got it home to read it. And… at first, I was still confused. This was definitely Fantasy. There were vampires and werewolves involved, not to mention killer babies, circuses, strange things in jars…. Some of it was clearly meant to be funny or at least mildly amusing. This was a bit of a revelation. Unlike Asimov, Heinlein and Clarke, this stuff didn’t always take itself seriously. (Well, Asimov did occasionally attempt humour, with varying degrees of success, admittedly.)
I wasn’t sure I liked it.
This one was all about the words – startlingly direct at times, florid, poetical words at others. So I read it again – I didn’t have that many books at that stage. And mulled it over for a while.
But I kept coming back to The October Country. I found that I quite liked the nostalgic tone of yearning for a younger childhood, and I really liked the dark creepiness of stories such as The Jar (1944), The Wind (1943) and The Scythe (1943).
I later found that there were more stories like this in a book called Dark Carnival. Bradbury’s first story collection. In fact, one story in The October Country was from that collection – The Traveller.
Why wasn’t it in Dark Carnival? Indeed, where could I find a copy of Dark Carnival?
This was in the days pre-Internet, of course. I scoured second-hand bookshops for an elusive copy. The UK copy was a much shorter version of the US version – the US edition had 27 stories, the UK one, published in 1948, a mere 20 - with most of the other stories redistributed around his other collections, albeit often rewritten. Over time I read these as I could get them. But it wasn’t the same – the stories generally felt good, but a little diluted. I wanted a full-fat ‘proper’ copy. And even until now "The Night Sets", "The Maiden", "Reunion" and "Interim" have been hard to find.
Roll round to the early 2000’s and with the Internet I was able to take my search globally. Hurrah! Bad news, though – nothing really UK-available and the original US hardback, if you could find a copy, was hundreds of pounds even for one in poor condition – and even then beyond my budget.
I resigned myself to never having a copy. (Hardback Arkham copies are still out there for £400+, without dustjacket and in fairly poor condition, by the way.)
But then in 2023 Horror writer Ramsey Campbell let me know that there was to be a new UK edition – in paperback, admittedly, but with 27 stories, like the original US edition. The publication was then delayed, but earlier this year (March 2024) I finally got a copy. For less than £10.
So: what have we got here? As I said before, we have 27 stories, all dating from 1943 - 1947. "The Night Sets", "The Maiden", "Reunion" and "Interim" are now all included. These are Bradbury in his Weird Tales phase, with the stories mainly designed to creep and lurk. You want a thing in a jar from a circus freak-show? Try The Jar (1944). How about a child that’s possibly a killer, yet no one else can see it? Try The Small Assassin (1946), or the grisly and macabre The Man Upstairs (1947), one of the creepiest in the collection? How about when the same faces keep turning up to watch at accidents? Try The Crowd (1943). You know when you’ve had that feeling of being followed home but then there’s no-one there? Try The Night (1946). (I’m not going to mention too many stories here, as I think part of the fun of this collection is not knowing much about the stories in advance.)
To give elements of lighter mood, there is also the odd quirkily amusing nostalgia story thrown in too (The Homecoming, The Traveller, Uncle Einar.) With that in mind, I think that The Homecoming may not be the best start to the collection. As one of the so-called ‘Elliott family’ stories, it’s about a family of various horrors – vampires, ghosts, werewolves, etc. who all live together. It’s cute and made me think of Charles Addams’s The Addams family, which may be intentional (The Addams family were first published in 1937, The Homecoming first published in 1946.) But it is a light beginning to the collection – it’s only after that that the stories, on the whole, become darker and creepier.
Of the stories not published for a long while, The Maiden is short, odd and memorable, a story of decapitation by guillotine – and uses the word ‘orgasm’, which may have been the reason for its subsequent omission in later editions. The Night Sets I found to be better, as the short but atmospheric story of a ghost being fetched from a film set, Reunion is an addition to the Elliott stories and good humoured if perhaps a little unnecessary, and Interim is a short burst of a story straight out of Weird Tales, with its bodies rising from the dead and all. In summary, they are worth a read but I can see why they were omitted for years. They are relatively minor works.
As these stories were published originally in the 1940’s it must be said that there are elements that may not sit well with a modern audience – references to ‘Negroes’ are a little jarring, but they are written with some respect for their time. The so-called Mexican stories (such as the novella-length The Last in Line (1947) in this book) could also be seen as rather racist today also, but I guess at the time they highlighted cultures that were less well known to most Americans. Remember at this time the main readership of pulp magazines were white WASP males, although there were always exceptions.
Admittedly Bradbury may have written better work, more complex stories more poetical, more heartfelt stories than these in his later years – this was his first story collection, after all. And yet cumulatively they create a sense of unease, of creepiness, all written up in vivid language – think Hitchcock movies in prose – anyone who’s ever read some of Alfred Hitchcock story collections will get the idea. (And in fact, Bradbury did have four of these stories in those collections.) They are of a lost world, a time when settlements were often small, neighbourhoods and neighbours were important, and mobile phones were a science fiction dream.
Admittedly, even I will admit that some stories that work less well than others – I found that some of the comedic elements of stories such as ‘The Dead Man’ (1945) have dated, although this particular story turns itself into something less mean by the end. But this is a collection about the breadth rather than the depth, after all. Things were simpler then, I guess.
The biggest downside, if there is one, is that some of the stories may seem obvious or familiar, having being copied by others so often since. I must also say that some of them do show an author still finding his voice, although I am still amazed that Bradbury wrote these when he was only somewhere between 23 and 27 years old.
On a minor point, whilst I think that the original Arkham House cover was bad (Bradbury allegedly hated it himself!) and the 1948 UK cover by Hamish Hamilton just as bad, I think that the new cover does the book no favours at all – simplistic, cheap-looking, the sort of thing that looks like it was made up in 10 minutes on Photoshop. It may not necessarily attract people to pick the book up, which is a real shame. (“It’s a circus book!”)
However, if we concentrate upon the prose, if you want to see why Bradbury was so well regarded in the 1940’s, then this collection is a must. Whilst Fahrenheit 451 (published 1953) and Something Wicked The Way Comes (published 1962) show more complexity and depth, Dark Carnival shows Bradbury’s range as an author of stories. Full of ideas, funny (both in humorous sense as well as odd), eerie, nostalgic and yes - weird, they encapsulate Bradbury’s early strengths in short form - brief but memorable, poetic and creepy, even gleefully gory. I will keep coming back to reread these in this particular collection. I would recommend that you don’t read this collection all at once, but take your time to work through it for the stories to have their fullest impact. It’s worth it- after all, It’s only taken me 44 years, but I’ve finally got what I wanted. The wait was worthwhile!
July 25, 2008
This is a welcome edition (caveats below), with B/W thumbnail reproductions of the covers for the magazines in which the stories first appeared, informative introductions, a few extra stories written at the same time, reproductions of some of Bradbury's typed manuscripts, etc. It should also be noted that some of the stories, notably "The Emissary" appear in simpler versions, which vary markedly from the versions reprinted in OCTOBER COUNTRY.
The book is expensive, and it is a pity that after expending so much time and money on the extra features for this edition, the editors did not take more care with the actual texts, which suffer from inconsistent capitalizations, random spelling/scanning errors, awkward line-breaks, etc. They also discuss the various designs for cover art of the Arkham House edition without reproducing either the drafts or the finished cover! It is as if those involved in the book were so busy adding good things to it that no one thought to look over the final product once more before sending it to the printer. Therefore what could have been a great book is merely am interesting one.
The book is expensive, and it is a pity that after expending so much time and money on the extra features for this edition, the editors did not take more care with the actual texts, which suffer from inconsistent capitalizations, random spelling/scanning errors, awkward line-breaks, etc. They also discuss the various designs for cover art of the Arkham House edition without reproducing either the drafts or the finished cover! It is as if those involved in the book were so busy adding good things to it that no one thought to look over the final product once more before sending it to the printer. Therefore what could have been a great book is merely am interesting one.
May 15, 2017
Man, this collection of short stories of horror, by the sci-fi legend Ray Bradbury, which started so promisingly, went downhill in the latter half. I read the first 2/3rds of the book in a couple of sittings, but struggled on the last third over a fortnight.
This feeling intensified, especially as I read the last tale, of a women stuck in a ghastly Mexican town, who can't seem to be able to leave. Bradbury describes in detail how time slows down for her, with every hour, every minute dragging on. And this mirrored my own mind so eerily accurately, as I felt my teeth gnash as I tried to finish the book.
The stories contained herein, though the belong squarely in the horror genre, are seldom scary. Most of them have twists at the end, some of them fiendishly clever, others not so much.
3 of the stories are about a family of monsters, a dark variation on the stereotypical large American family, with vampire fathers and werewolf uncles.
The uneven quality of the stories, stops this book from achieving true horror greatness.
This feeling intensified, especially as I read the last tale, of a women stuck in a ghastly Mexican town, who can't seem to be able to leave. Bradbury describes in detail how time slows down for her, with every hour, every minute dragging on. And this mirrored my own mind so eerily accurately, as I felt my teeth gnash as I tried to finish the book.
The stories contained herein, though the belong squarely in the horror genre, are seldom scary. Most of them have twists at the end, some of them fiendishly clever, others not so much.
3 of the stories are about a family of monsters, a dark variation on the stereotypical large American family, with vampire fathers and werewolf uncles.
The uneven quality of the stories, stops this book from achieving true horror greatness.
June 26, 2012
This collection of early "weird" short stories was interesting - not all are great but there are a few standouts. All in one book, the quality is uneven but it would have been so cool to come across one of these dark stories in Mademoiselle magazine in, say, 1945.
The Smiling People: Creepy story with the ending you were dreading.
The Emissary - okay this story scared me - I did do a running jump on to my bed in the dark after reading in order to avoid whatever was underneath. Yes I am 40 years old. What! The story ends with scary, slow footsteps coming up the stairs!
The Coffin - fun as hell to read!
Jack-In-The-Box: A child raised isolated in a victorian mansion by his insane mom - good stuff!
The Man Upstairs: Who or what is the creepy sleeper in the bedroom upstairs? Ugh - not really sure as it turns out. Which is worse than finding out!
The Smiling People: Creepy story with the ending you were dreading.
The Emissary - okay this story scared me - I did do a running jump on to my bed in the dark after reading in order to avoid whatever was underneath. Yes I am 40 years old. What! The story ends with scary, slow footsteps coming up the stairs!
The Coffin - fun as hell to read!
Jack-In-The-Box: A child raised isolated in a victorian mansion by his insane mom - good stuff!
The Man Upstairs: Who or what is the creepy sleeper in the bedroom upstairs? Ugh - not really sure as it turns out. Which is worse than finding out!
March 31, 2010
Bradbury's first book has 27 stories in the horror vein, some of which seem tailor-made for the EC comics that came along a few years later. A few qualify as juvenilia, some are interesting-to-good and a few are creepily brilliant, especially Homecoming, Skeleton and The Small Assassin. I wondered for years what this book was like. For all but the diehards, The October Country (in which the best are reprinted) will suffice.
September 23, 2014
I definitely enjoyed this more than Driving Blind. The stories seemed to be better paced, with much more engaging characters, and several stories that actually gave me a good case of the creeps, this was an enjoyable read.
March 3, 2008
It's basically The October Country, but there certainly are some differences. If you can find it, read it. If not, read October Country.
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