Novels & Story Cycles: The Martian Chronicles / Fahrenheit 451 / Dandelion Wine / Something Wicked This Way Comes

by Ray Bradbury, Jonathan R. Eller (Editor)

“I can imagine all kinds of worlds and places,” Neil Gaiman has written, “but I cannot imagine a world without Bradbury.” A master storyteller and visionary champion of creative freedom, Ray Bradbury is one of the most beloved and influential writers of our time. In books that look forward to astonishing futures and backward to evanescent realms of memory, he elevated speculative fiction from the pages of the pulps to the vital center of American literary culture. This definitive Library of America edition gathers his novels and story cycles of the 1950s and 1960s for the first time.

Published at the hopeful dawn of the space age, and presented here in the complete, twenty-eight story-chapter form that Bradbury came to prefer, the linked tales of The Martian Chronicles (1950) envision an extraterrestrial future for humankind. Bradbury’s saga of the discovery, exploitation, and abandonment of Mars is not at all triumphal, until a second wave of settlers—free at last from earthly oppression and saved from atomic annihilation—pose a fateful question: will human beings be able to make the best of their second chance, as Martians?

In the dystopian future of Fahrenheit 451 (1953), the Firemen have one job: to incinerate books and all they contain, while mindless, big-screen entertainments distract the masses. But one of these Firemen, Guy Montag, asks why. Sneaking forbidden volumes home and meeting other clandestine readers, Montag becomes the unlikely hero of this now-classic novel, at once literary thriller and perennially relevant political fable.

Dandelion Wine (1957) is a fond, backward glance, recollecting the adventures of the summer of 1928 through the eyes of twelve-year-old Douglas Spaulding, a boy much like Bradbury himself, as he comes of age in Green Town, Illinois. Full of gentle humor and a sense of wonder, this nostalgic novel pays homage to life’s ephemeral joys.

Something Wicked This Way Comes (1962) is set in pleasant Green Town too—but with a chilling difference. When a traveling carnival arrives mysteriously one autumn night, the lives of the novel’s two young protagonists are altered forever. In what R. L. Stine called “the scariest book I ever read,” Will and Jim must join an ultimate-stakes battle against evil, as Bradbury imagines supernatural terror with stunning inventiveness.

Rounding out the volume are a half-dozen shorter pieces—taken from rare pamphlets, fanzines, and other hard-to-find sources, some never-before reprinted—in which Bradbury reflects on his writing and on the sources of his creativity.

Genres: Science Fiction, Fiction, Short Stories, Novels, Fantasy, Anthologies

900 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1962

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

[Pop Bop · Rating 5 out of 5]

My Idea of A Nearly Perfect Collection

This is an oddly idiosyncratic collection from Library of America. Drawn from the entire body of Bradbury's work you get "Martian Chronicles", "Dandelion Wine", "Something Wicked This Way Comes", and "Fahrenheit 451".

"Martian Chronicles" is my favorite collection of Bradbury's sometimes whimsical and sometimes bracing Mars stories. From story to story you get different views of Bradbury's strengths and weaknesses, and I can't think of any other classic Bradbury collection, (like, say, "The Illustrated Man", or, "R is for Rocket"), that offers as broad and as varied a survey of Bradbury at his best.

"Dandelion Wine" can be a bit arch, and even perilously close to twee, but it highlights his summer boyhood nostalgia side, and that was an important part of his work. It also sits nicely in opposition to "Something Wicked...", which has always been the ultimate Dark Carnival novel, and is possibly the best thing Bradbury ever wrote. It is the standard against which all other dark middle grade and YA supernatural struggle novels are measured.

I think "Fahrenheit 451" is sort of the "Catcher in the Rye" of sci-fi. Everyone has to read it and it is an unavoidable part of the culture. It was ahead of its time, and now it's behind the times, or I guess you could say it's been overtaken by the times, although that's certainly not Bradbury's fault. Anyway, it's a classic, and so there you are.

There are some interesting final notes and reflective pieces from Bradbury about some of his works, and a very thorough chronological bio that's been put together by Bradbury's biographer, but they might well be of interest mostly to super fans and completists.

So, this is an authoritative collection, for sure. And in any event the Library of America had me at "Martian Chronicles" and "Something Wicked...". A solid, definitive entry into the Bradbury canon.

(Please note that I received a free ecopy of this book without a review requirement, or any influence regarding review content should I choose to post a review. Apart from that I have no connection at all to either the author or the publisher of this book.)

[Mike Mikulski · Rating 4 out of 5]

I have never read any Ray Bradbury before, I never knew where to start. When I saw this collection i decided to jump in.

At first I found Bradbury's prose unnecessarily flowery, but after I got into the rhythm of his writing I found he was trying to create dreamscapes in his novels.

The Martian Chronicles were weird dreams with elements of ESP, higher intelligence and ideas on how an earth-bound and alien civilization would mix.

Fahrenheit 451 was a troubling dream haunted by the direction Bradbury saw our civilization heading. Even more relevant now as we evolve into a culture centered on instant information and hand-held entertainment available 24/7 and parties that denigrate big ideas and deep reading, opting for tweets and catch-phrases.

Dandelion Wine was an idyllic dream built on memories of childhood in the summer of 1928. A dream that calls up visits from old relatives, friends and town characters built around memorable adventures as seen through the eyes of 10 and 12 year-olds.

Something Wicked This Way Comes was a nightmare built around a carnival with a demonic proprietor Mr. Dark and his freak show companions.

I was entertained.

[Kathy Kattenburg · Rating 4 out of 5]

I borrowed this novel collection from the library, to read Dandelion Wine, which they didn't have as a stand-alone book. I had already read the other novels, except for Fahrenheit 451, which I plan to read another time.

Dandelion Wine is a gorgeously written fictionalized memoir of one summer in the life of Douglas Spaulding, a stand-in for Ray Bradbury himself, in Green Town, Illinois -- an imagined Waukegan, Illinois, where Bradbury was born and raised. It's episodic, with connected stories running into one another.

[David · Rating 5 out of 5]

Many of us probably have not read Bradbury since Middle School. This collection from the Library of America is an excellent reason to re-visit these American classics. If nothing else, read Fahrenheit 451.

[Michael McGrath · Rating 5 out of 5]

Just an exquisite compendium of the major story cycles I know and love:

The Martian Chronicles, beautifully restoring excised stories from the complete editions that came around afterwords, while retaining the stories from the original first print edition, except for the changes to the martian dates. Appendix includes some additional materials relating to the construction of this book and is just as fascinating in some respects as the book itself.

Farenheit 451: Im happy to report that this edition does not include the unforgivable typos of the the anniversary edition, which may have more textual apparatus. Still I prefer this version and there is some apparatus, at the end of the book. I still prefer Martian Chronicles over this one, but then again I've just now only completed Fahrenheit, whereas Chronicles has been reread over a lifetime.

Dandelion Wine, it has that Twilight Zone neighborhood kind, though it takes place in 1928. This book is purple prose at its finest, and yes, there are parts that are very self indulgent, but this one is not to be missed as there are some very good stories sandwiched between childhood vignettes.

Something Wicked This Way Comes. Though there are parts that gripped me, this is my least favorite of the bunch. Bradbury works much better in shorter formats, Fahrenheit excepted, of course. Still, had i read this in my teenage years, I would have ate it up. AS of now, i prefer to get this type of horror from writers across the pond.

In short, I love this edition, which replaces a few crumbling paperbacks and the updates to text and apparatus were mostly welcome to these eyes.

Oh, and in case you are wondering, there is to be a volume two that includes Illustrated Man and October Country—can't wait!

[Realini Ionescu · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury, adapted for the BBC

A different version of this note and thoughts on other books are available at:

- https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list... and http://realini.blogspot.ro/

After listening to the unabridged version, it is good to have the chance to be reminded of the great story.
A BBC adaptation has given me that opportunity.

Firemen in this dystopian future no longer extinguish fires.
They are the ones burning the books.

Alas, I fear that the present, unlike this bleak future as it is has a lot to worry us, given that so many do not read.
And the result is about as catastrophic as having books destroyed, if people do not read them and they just sit there.

I am referring to recent elections in so many parts of the world, where it seems that the book haters have won victories:

- From Erdogan’s Turkey, to Trump’s America, from Duterte’s Philippines to Maduro’s Venezuela

The list is much longer and we have the likes of Putin on it, which has an incredible and awful 80% approval rating.
Then there is France:

- On Sunday, they go the polls where Le Pen appears to have a slim chance of winning the presidency
- But the very fact that she is there, in the final round proves the limits of today’s education system and what those who despise books can do

And then so many other people voted in a very wrong, preposterous way- with Melenchon, of the extreme left.

This is a man who wants to join the Bolivarian Revolution, initiated by lunatics like the late Hugo Chavez…
Having lived for twenty five years under a dictatorship of the left, I have no patience and all the contempt for supporters of these murderous ideas.

So I strongly believe that the ideas expressed in Fahrenheit 451 are very relevant in the world of today.
Indeed, the author himself referred to the period he lived through:

In a 1956 radio interview,[5] Bradbury stated that he wrote Fahrenheit 451 because of his concerns at the time (during the McCarthy era) about the threat of book burning in the United States. In later years, he described the book as a commentary on how mass media reduces interest in reading literature

The work has been included on lists of the best books for good reason, for it is magical, thought provoking and fundamental:
I better let some of the quotes of the genius speak for this magnificent, rare treasure of the books that is after all:

- Homage to…Books!

“Stuff your eyes with wonder, he said, live as if you'd drop dead in ten seconds. See the world. It's more fantastic than any dream made or paid for in factories.”
“There must be something in books, something we can’t imagine, to make a woman stay in a burning house; there must be something there. You don’t stay for nothing.”
“The magic is only in what books say, how they stitched the patches of the universe together into one garment for us.”
“The books are to remind us what asses and fool we are. They're Caeser's Praetorian Guard, whispering as the parade roars down the avenue, "Remember, Caesar, thou art mortal." Most of us can't rush around, talking to everyone, know all the cities of the world, we haven't time, money or that many friends. The things you're looking for, Montag, are in the world, but the only way the average chap will ever see ninety-nine per cent of them is in a book. Don't ask for guarantees. And don't look to be saved in any one thing, person, machine, or library. Do your own bit of saving, and if you drown, at least die knowing you were headed for shore.”
“I don't talk things, sir. I talk the meaning of things.”
“Oh God, the terrible tyranny of the majority. We all have our harps to play. And it's up to you to know with which ear you'll listen.”


“It doesn't matter what you do...so long as you change something from the way it was before you touched it into something that's like you after you take your hands away.”

[Keith · Rating 3 out of 5]

As I read them:

The Martian Chronicles ***
With the Library of America’s publication of Bradbury’s works, I decided to read The Martian Chronicles which, of course, I had heard of, but never read. My first impression is how surprisingly dark and pessimistic the book is. It is certainly gloomy.

Secondly, more than anything, it is a portrait of (and commentary on) post-war America. It is the American Chronicles. Racism, warmongering, technological infatuation, etc. Although the story is set in the “future” (early 21st century), the characters and situations are 1950s America. Unheard of technology, like androids, are mixed with horse drawn vehicles.

I was also surprised by Bradbury’s anti-science approach. It’s not heavy handed, but the theme is clear: humans can’t handle the advanced technology they’ve been given. There’s also a lot of religion for a science fiction novel.

I was also struck by the fact that in 1950 people could imagine rocket ships to Mars, Androids, and otherworldly settlements, but the idea of Feminism seemed totally unthinkable.

Overall, an interesting read. Granted, it is more a collection of short stories. For me, though, Bradbury characters never seem to come to life. They seem more types than real. It all has a Twilight Zone feel. Big ideas are presented, but never explored in any depth. It’s also a bit (well, maybe a lot) dated.

If you like science fiction, this is a must read for historical reasons if nothing else. The average reader can probably find better science fiction to read. (08/23)

[Allen Herring · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read Fahrenheit 451 from this edition today. It is wonderful to reread something that you have read and it feels and reads fresh and anew. I knew and know the story and then there is reading the story and seeing that it is MORE than what you remember. I think that is one of the problems we face today, people Think the Know their stories, but they are only familiar with the Cliff Notes version, if that. As a result, they don't Know the story. Yes, this is a plot point, but it is a Truth about society today.

[Ken French · Rating 3 out of 5]

I only read Something Wicked in this collection. And while I still love the story (and the eerie atmosphere), I found the language a bit stilted. Bradbury writes it in the style of the 1930s, when the story takes place, but it comes across as stiff and unnatural.

[Mills College Library]

Fiction B798n 2021

[Art · Rating 4 out of 5]

Nice and diverse collection of novels.

[Aildiin · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a book to own for any sci fi fan.
It contains Bradbury greatest works enshrined in a very nice Library of America edition that I can not recommend enough.