Product Description
Over 50 years out of print the October release of DARK CARNIVAL by RAYBRADBURY will be the literary event of the year for Bradbury fans.After many years Ray Bradbury has agreed to allow this classic to bepublished in a LIMITED edition, with bonus material, edited by hislong-time bibliographer Donn Albright. With the space allowed here wecan't provide details of ALL the bonus material, but for completedetails check out the Gauntlet Press website. The cover art is aBradbury oil painting from Albright’s personal collection, painted byBradbury around the time of the original publication of DARKCARNIVAL. We will be reproducing the book as it originally appearedAND then add a host of bonus material, from Albright’s personalarchives.We will be including five additional short stories for thisdefinitive edition of the DARK CARNIVAL. These are stories that didnot appear in the original, with most all but impossible to get a hol!d of. All were originally published in Weird Tales and were at onetime considered for publication in the original version of DARKCARNIVAL. Four stories will appear in the book itself: “TheWatchers” Bradbury’s first anthology sale in Rue Morgue which hesold at the age of 25. There is also “The Poems” “Bang,You’re Dead” and “The Seashells.” Other bonus materialinclude Bradbury’s original proposal for DARK CARNIVAL, a detailedproposal for a ballet with handwritten notes Bradbury made to himself,the original U.S. and U.K. versions of the cover, story notes inBradbury’s own words from a taped session with Donn Albright and farmore. Only 700 numbered copies of this classic will be sold. Afterwe’re sold out Bradbury’s representatives say the book goes back inthe vault (NO further editions, no paperback). Since the book will notbe out until November (but will in all probability be sold out) it'swise to order a copy now. With so few available their value willskyrocket, just like the original.

Note: This book will not be signed by the author, as previouslynoted. -- Gauntlet Press, 10/23/2001. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (13)

Not Free SF Reader
As the title implies, basically a dark fantasy and horror collection, of consistently decent quality, the highlight being The Small Assassin.A 3.43 average for this book.

Dark Carnival : The Homecoming - Ray Bradbury
Dark Carnival : Skeleton - Ray Bradbury
Dark Carnival : The Jar - Ray Bradbury
Dark Carnival : The Lake - Ray Bradbury
Dark Carnival : The Tombstone - Ray Bradbury
Dark Carnival : The Smiling People - Ray Bradbury
Dark Carnival : The Emissary - Ray Bradbury
Dark Carnival : The Traveller - Ray Bradbury
Dark Carnival : The Small A55a55in - Ray Bradbury
Dark Carnival : The Crowd - Ray Bradbury
Dark Carnival : The Handler - Ray Bradbury
Dark Carnival : Let's Play 'Poison' - Ray Bradbury
Dark Carnival : Uncle Einar - Ray Bradbury
Dark Carnival : The Wind - Ray Bradbury
Dark Carnival : The Night - Ray Bradbury
Dark Carnival : There Was an Old Woman - Ray Bradbury
Dark Carnival : The Dead Man - Ray Bradbury
Dark Carnival : The Man Upstairs - Ray Bradbury
Dark Carnival : Cistern - Ray Bradbury
Dark Carnival : The Next in Line - Ray Bradbury


I want to feel the wind beneath my wings. Or I'll cry.

3.5 out of 5


Bone chart discovery.

3.5 out of 5


Known freak contents.

3.5 out of 5


Water girl memory.

3 out of 5


"I mean that I won't sleep in no room with no corpse."

3.5 out of 5


Cutthroat dinner.

3.5 out of 5


Dog and death.

3.5 out of 5


Telepathic head help.

3.5 out of 5


Rugrat's gonna get me, maybe I should get it first?

4 out of 5


Accident cycle.

3.5 out of 5


Undertaking revenge.

3.5 out of 5


Defenestrating death kids.

3.5 out of 5


Flying drying zapped.

3.5 out of 5


Unexpected airy visitor.

3.5 out of 5


Not dead dad.

3.5 out of 5


Aunty Death fighter.

3 out of 5


Alive, maybe not, but definitely smelly.

3 out of 5


Chicken choppin' granny stropper monster stopper.

3.5 out of 5


Well dead.

3.5 out of 5


Don't mind the mummies, sleepy girl.

3.5 out of 5


Well dead.

3 out of 5


Don't mind the mummies, sleepy girl.

3.5 out of 5

Best money I've spent !
I've long been a fan of Ray Bradbury. To own the signed edition with the cover of a painting, also by Bradbury, is a treasure. Stories never seen, and won't be again, lie waiting to take you on magical journeys. I say BRAVO to Gauntlet Press for all their hard work in collaborating with Mr. Bradbury to design the book as he wanted it! (Gauntlet works with authors, including Matheson, Bloch. Check them out). This book is the best of Bradbury. Incuded are his doodles, plus the cover pages of the magazines where the stories first appeared. No author can weave the web of magic that Bradbury does, and this book is a testament to that.
If you love his work, don't pass this rare opportunity to enter the magical edition.

Worth the money.......and then some!
Anyone with any degree of interest in Bradbury's work should buy this book NOW. Not only is it the coveted & long sought-after Dark Carnival, but it contains a TON of other incredible stuff. Chances are Dark Carnival won't see the light of day after this edition is sold out, so treat yourself to this book. Classic, magical, wonderful stories that only Ray could write. A timeless book put together magnificantly by the folks at Gauntlet Press. Bravo!

Book Great but WAY Overpriced
Stories receive 5 Stars. Book Value Regarding Asking Price Receives No stars! I ordered this new limited edition book of Dark Carnival. While the stories are some of the best ever from one of our greatest living writers, this book is a complete RIPOFF! When I ordered this book for a whopping $...I thought this book was supposed to be signed by Bradbury and Clive Barker and come with a slipcase and a CD. I found neither signature in the book (no signature page) and no slipcase or CD. Only a printed facsimile of a letter to Bradbury's parents from 1947. I later found out that I would have to shell out another $...for a slipcase and the CD.Pricing an unsigned book with no slipcase at $... on a book that should be priced as a trade edition for about $...-$... is outrageous. Although I love the stories, Gauntlet is overpricing this book, especially when they are misleading as to what customers are actually getting for this money. Of the handful of signed limiteds I own, many have much higher production value for a lot less money. I would hope that more writers would take caution when allowing their books to be published here, and they should know what customers are getting for these signed limiteds. This prohibitively priced book that lacks a lower priced trade edition means that only 700 people will be able to own the book. What about the 1000's of other Bradbury fans?

45 Years Waiting
For about 45 years I hoped to read, and possibly to own, Ray Bradbury's Dark Carnival. It was through Amazon.com that I found out that a new limited edition was printed in 2001.

After reading some of the stories that were reprinted in The October Country and a few other places, I finally got to acquire the whole thing.

Bradbury and Arkham House were finally cajoled into allowing this new edition to happen, after years of refusal. Bradbury himself has brief introductions to each of the origianl stories. And four more stories from Weird Tales have been added--all very worthy ones. Plus that there are extra pieces at the beginning and end of the book by editor Donn Albright, Bradbury, and others. ... Read more

Product Description
Green Town, Illinois stands at the very heart of Ray Bradbury Country. A lovingly re-imagined version of the author's native Waukegan, it has served as the setting for such modern classics as Dandelion Wine, Something Wicked This Way Comes, and Farewell Summer . In Summer Morning, Summer Night, Bradbury returns to this signature locale with a generous new collection of twenty-seven stories and vignettes, seventeen of which have never been published before. Together, they illuminate some of Green Town's previously hidden corners, and reaffirm Bradbury's position as the undisputed master of a unique fictional universe.

In the course of this volume, readers will encounter a gallery of characters brought vividly to life by that indefinable Bradbury magic. Included among them are a pair of elderly sisters whose love potion carries an unexpected consequence; a lonely teacher who discovers love on Green Town's nocturnal streets; a ten-year-old girl who literally unearths the intended victim of a vicious crime; and an aging man who recreates his past with the aid of a loaf of pumpernickel bread.

Each of these stories is engaging, evocative, and deeply felt. Each reflects the characteristic virtues that have always marked the best of Bradbury's fiction: optimism, unabashed nostalgia, openness to experience, and, most centrally, an abiding generosity of spirit. Summer Morning, Summer Night is both an unexpected gift and a treasure trove of Story. Its people, places, images, and events will linger in the reader's mind for many years to come. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (5)

The Lure and Satisfaction of Nostalgia...
An extremely special surprise! Vivid, new vignettes of iconic Green Town, Illinois. Powerful tales of longing and contemplation and loneliness and mystery. I first read "Dandelion Wine" as a youth of sixteen, and this book completely transported me back to that time and place, even more so than did "Farewell Summer." An eerie, deep and disconcerting feeling, welcomed like an old friend not seen in forty-one years, yet oddly unchanged. I know now that nostalgia can be as strong a human need as love, or food and drink, or rest...Live Forever, Ray!

Few authors are as gifted as Ray Bradbury
This book contains 27 of Ray Bradbury's short stories.This particular selection was published in 2008 and contains stories back to 1948(Eve of Summer) four stories from the first half of the 1950s, one each from 1979 and 2002, with the majority undated.

So what binds these stories - is there a theme?

I confess that I was not looking for a single theme, or for fantastic literature (as in new worlds of fantasy).What I was looking for and what I found in each story was the joy of well-written prose where each word had its place.Yes, I found optimism, nostalgia and a generosity of spirit as themes central to the stories.

Yes.It is time for me ti read (or reread in some cases) more of Mr Bradbury's prose.I may well start with `Dandelion Wine'.

Jennifer Cameron-Smith

What happened to this book?
This book seems to have been printed for a short time... Why?

One of the four library systems, in my area, had copies so I was able to read the book. Ray Bradbury is a master story teller and most of his stories are wonderful as in this current collection. Most of the stories were not printed in other collections with the exception of the first story (published in Driving Blind)...

It's summertime
Ray Bradbury loves to write stories of small American towns in the Midwest, swathed in colour, magic and sunlight. And that's basically the entire content of "Summer Morning, Summer Night" -- exquisitely written little nuggets of ordinary experiences, with an element of magic and mystery woven into them like golden threads.

A number are vignettes without much actual plot -- a young woman going for a nighttime stroll meets a lover, a loaf of bread brings back memories of childhood summers, a teenage girl have has first kiss with a new boyfriend, an aged woman looks through old calendars full of forgotten memories, old people recount important deaths, and a middle-aged man falls in love with a beautiful young woman he sees in passing.

Then there are the full-blown short stories. Here a chaste romance blossoms between a teacher and her brilliant young student, a beautiful woman's memory lives on long after her death, an elderly woman's long-lost lover may have returned, a spinster seeks perfume, and two old sisters make a secret "love potion" with some unwanted results.

There's no straightforwardly fantastical elements in this book, but there are moments of horror and comedy. On one hand, we have stories where a young girl hears a woman shrieking underground, and a serial killer's excited chase of a woman he's stalking. On the other, a family's scheme to get a pretty cousin married off backfires, and a couple of sweet old people have a day out shopping and having fun.

"Summer Morning, Summer Night" is sort of a Ray Bradbury mosaic -- lots of little fragments making up a sun-filled, warm, shimmering summertime filled with shady trees and warm nights. It's a little like visiting Bradbury's nameless small town for a week at its most lovely, absorbing some of the history of the people there, and then drifting back out.

One thing has never changed is Bradbury's vivid, lush prose ("they were a trio of black velvet and white ermine conspirators, half moon, half shadow"), which is steeped in nature metaphors ("as fine as a maple leaf between winds that blew just right"). His writing is precise enough that he can tackle a taboo subject -- such as love between a teacher and student -- without inspiring outrage.

And he drops in plenty of symbolism -- new shoes, dismantled porches, ribboned hats, first kisses ("it tasted like apricats and fresh apples and as water tastes when you rise at night...").

As the final touch, Bradbury's characters are a colourful, varied lot -- teenage girls, serial killers, legendary beauties, middle-aged men and small children vowing to never forget this summer. Bradbury seems a bit preoccupied with mortality, since many of his characters here are troubled by life and love in their middle or twilight years -- except maybe the Alexanders, who seem happy to frolic into old age together.

Warm, mellow and sweet as an apple, "Summer Morning, Summer Night" is a series of tiny portraits of small town life. But Ray Bradbury manages some surprises along the way.

A wonderful issue
This is a handsome sturdy and beautifully made book and is certainly one of the great Bradbury editions.The stories are magical evocations of people and place and time, without any science fiction or weird stuff, but there is plenty of Bradbury's poetic imagery and writing.Half the book consists of stories written in the late 40s and 50s (8 of them) and there is one from 1979, and the other half of the book consists of 18 stories and sketches of recent years, some quite small. This volume is a treat to read and the publisher has done Bradbury and his fans proud. ... Read more

Product Description

He is an American treasure, a clear-eyed fantasist without peer, and a literary icon who has created wonder for the better part of seven decades. On subjects as diverse as fiction, the future, film, famous personalities, and more, Ray Bradbury has much to say, as only he can say it.

Customer Reviews (8)

Nice read, but
RAY BRADBURY: over the years has been writing about computers and why they are not creative and why they restrict creativity...

He wrote, in his little collection of essays, BRADBURY SPEAKS: "To test my notion, plant me in a room with two hundred chaps, at two hundred computers, give me a number two Red Ticonderoga Pencil and ten cent Red Mowhawk pad and I will outthink and outcreate the whole Goddamn bunch."

Of course, this is a lot of Hoo! Hah! So Ray Bradbury with his pencil and paper is going to sit back and knock off a work of art that will rival SHREK? I'll venture that a man who cannot drive a car, refuses to drive one, is not competent to discuss technology. If he doesn't know how to turn on a computer, he should not criticize what he fails to share and experience.

Of course, a Bradbury fan will applaud this weird statement without thinking. It would sound good on a stage, delivered to a crowd (which it was), get a thunderous round of applause, move the crowd and make everyone nod in approval, but this kind of rabble rousing doesn't carry far, and doesn't reach out on cold print. It just sounds absurd. A computer helped create the book that was published that has this message in it. And when you see it in print, it sounds real dumb.And how are you reading this review?

There are times when being a Luddite isn't worth it. Perhaps in days gone by, the poets complained that when epics were written down, they lost the life they contained. But they were not forgotten. The Maori of New Zealand were disappointed that the young wrote down the names of the elders, instead of committing them to memory. They were not lost or forgotten.

Time will go on, the passions for art will change and how it is created.

And the luddites who cling to old ways of creating may be really losing the thrust that thier writings could give because they cannot change.

Bradbury has been making more absurd staements as he grows older, but this is to be expected. He refuses to change. And the world does change. From being quaint, he now sounds pretty cranky.

There are a lot of good speeches in here, and when he deals with literature, he comes off pretty sound. It is when he approaches something he "instinctively" fears that he is at his worst.

Some of these works don't read very well, because they require the audience feedback and the tone of voice and the interaction between the two. Brabury doesn't write speeches like William James or Mark Twain did, and then again, very few ever did, or will do so again.

Bradbury Speaks...
I got this for my daughter.It was just what she wanted.I got it quickly and it looked in brand new condition.

A rare glimpse into the mind of a brilliant writer...
Ray Bradbury has perhaps been the most author who has most influenced my own writing.When I saw this book, I had to have it.What a wonderful glimpse into the mind of a man who can turn language into music, who can make prose sing like poetry.From the first time I checked out one of his books at the library--when I was around nine or ten years old--he taught me that it's possible to transcend the the borders between genres.What a wonder to get a glimpse into the years that make up his life.The only reason I put four instead of five stars is that I'd like to see a true autobiography, in his own words, that looks over the eighty-plus years he's walked the earth.

An Intimate Portrait in His Own Words.
This book is filled with fascinating stories of his life, his writings, the towns he loved, Paris & Los Angeles, in a series of short familiar essays "in which the writer draws on personal life experience, ideas and the world around him."The one he wrote in 2004, "Remembrance of Books Past," is especially interesting.It's about a fan letter from the great French Renaissance art historian, B. Berenson, and his novel FAHRENHEIT 451, which connected them fifty years ago into a remarkable friendship.

He wrote THE MARTIAN CHRONICLES in 1944 as a collection of stories.He became intersted in the Red Planet as a ten-year-old in Waukegan, Illinois, out looking at the night stars and the "special red fire burning in the dark" sky.He collected Buck Rogers comics, and his favorite was "Buck & Wilma on the Red Planet."He read Edgar Rice Burrough's THE GODS OF MARS.Then, after finishing school, he got a job working on an astronomical program for the Smithsonian Planetarium.He studied some photos of the mysterious universe taken by Lowell Observatory.The started pondering on the Big Bang Theory and the impossibility of so simple (and complex) a creation for our world.

In 2000, at the age of eighty, he remembers how all this early sky watching adn deep thinking had evolved into his science fiction writing.When he was twelve, he became fascinated with the pterodactyl and Tyrannosaurus rex dinosaur ride at the Chicago Century of Progress Fair.The 'Sinclair Oil's frozen-in-place paper-mache prehistoric monsters were on the world's first animatronic display.The moving platform provided a four-minute jaunt back to the Past.

First, he's soared into the future in his imagination toward the cosmos.Using the Grand Canyon as foundation for Space Station #1: Earth, his 'Chronicles' took him first to Space Station #1: the Moon.On to #3, Mars; then take off for the whole Universe.Our Space program since the 1960s has taken us there and back, now we're on a mission to Pluto, the last unexplored planet in the solar system.

When he fell "backward to the future," the dinosaurs "delivered me to tomorrow in ways I could not imagine."The memory of walking backward through Chicago's multimillion-year remembrance enabled him to write the screenplay for 'Moby Dick."From there, he was commissioned to develop a building at the New York World's Fair in 1964, with a ride through America's history.He was asked, "Can you create a four-hundred-year history of America in seventeen minutes flat, with a full symphony orchestra?"He was delivered "to the topmost interior of the United States Pavilion, where, gliding on a circular track as big as a football field, he wept in disbelief that by long ago stepping in reverse, he had fallen into Now."

That led into the grand Disney offer to develop the Epcot Center.Walt's Imagineers had a 50 million-dollar building to transform into the world of tomorrow."Can you write a two-thousand-year communication history in twelve minutes flat with a full symphony orchestra?"He'd made a journey from cave to Ben Franklin's lightning shocks, to Apollo's Moon and beyond.He dedicates this volume "with love to my friends, Loren Eiseley and Aldous Huxley, whose essays showed me the way."

What A Crazy Book
My report was done on Bradbury Speaks Too soon from the cave, too far from the stars. At first this book looked very interesting. It said it would talk about space and how we would get to it and how far have we really come from earlier man. But I was proven wrong by the book. The book discusses Bradbury's life and how he met important people and interviews that went into the stuff described but it was really not at all about the future and space. That was the first sign of trouble.
I then began to actually read the book. Oh boy was that hard. The context of the literature is so hard to understand. This was one of the most challenging books I have ever read. It wasn't hard language it was just the way he used it. I struggled all the way through this book just trying to understand what the heck he meant. When I finally did start too understand the book was still a huge bore.
All he would write about was himself and for all I could read about this book it didn't say anywhere that this was an autobiographical book. It says that the stories are written by students and journalists that have Bradbury. But they all sound like they are his words. Like that they are all in first person and they don't come from an interviewer's point of view. This really ticked me off. This book was down right hard.
Now the stories themselves were really difficult. He wrote as if he had no personality. Giving only facts and making the stories dull and uninteresting. Half of them I couldn't even understand what they were about. They are so factual and have absolutely now pizzazz to them. This book gave me a sense of that no one knows what's going to happen to the human race. The book made me both sad and crazy. Crazy because he can't go directly to the point with out having a confusing remark that sent you off another road of thinking. So you would forget all about what you just read and have to start all over again. This is a book that requires too much attention from one person. All the stories talk about is how he met important people and how he likes the rain. Witch is really stupid. The book followed nothing from what you expect it to be. I would now read it if I were you.
If you want a really good book about the future past and present don't look here. But if you are looking for a dull boring something you would read if you had to this would be the book for you. I lost interest in the book since the first page but I had to keep going because it was for school. Other wise I wouldn't bother with the book. I mean even the really weird Hitchcock films were better that this book. I would sit through one thousand Star Wars Episode I movies if I could not read this book again. I would not suggest this book for my life!
... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Remarkably effective
Who would have thought that Bradbury was such a fine poet?He tended toward the miniature as he grew older, honing these to a mirror finish. This collection contains a number of poems from different periods of his life.

They are not "Mary had a little lamb" type, the mediocore lines of an Alan Ginzberg or the blank verse of T.S Elliot.Each poem carries an apt titled, the language always rich and correct.These are not words of (necessarily) wisdom nor are they deep, obtuse thoughts.Rather they are like his prose, easygoing, informative and flowing.Bradbury's poems have an internal rhthym with a fine meter.

He, unlike many writers of the modern age, does not suffer from xenomania.He was, like Ben Franklin, the quintessential countryman, self-accomplished, hard-working and gifted in both practicality and style.I have one of the first books published on Disney's EPCOT; Bradbury wrote the introduction.This was before the experiment became mired in politics, commercialism, triteness and showmanship.His words captured the moment of both the place and the era...so do his poems. ... Read more

Product Description
SUMMARY:
A beautifully illustrated, fascinating exploration of the mysteries of the cosmos and beyond, featuring original fiction by award-winning science fiction authors and essays by the leading scientists in the field.

In this book, we gather together the scientists, the intellectuals, and the artists, to learn about and speculate upon the cosmos. The world right now desperately needs both the physicist and the dreamer. G-d has blessed us with the most magnificent world imaginable. We have barely made the first steps in seeing all the light in the darkness. Perhaps it is the dreamer who will find out the nature of dark matter; perhaps it is the scientist who will find solutions to needless hunger and mindless war. For them both, the bounty of the Earth and the cosmos is the currency of hope. Humanity must use what it has been blessed with to survive. Then, as in Paul Simon’s phrase, we all might be dancing together “with diamonds on the soles of our shoes.” They will be the diamonds of the stars and it will be a dance of peace. ... Read more

Product Description
Warned not to mix with ordinary people and thus lose her magic powers, a young witch who wants to be in love decides to risk all by trying to experience love through someone else. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Recommend to Twilight fans
I first read this in elementary school and did not exactly understand the young love implications. However, a subsequent reading made this all the more magical as I could finally connect to the longing for passion. I guess I had never thought of Ray Bradbury as writing romance, but his gift for the different made an enchanting fable of a young with who catches spring fever and dares to fall in love with a mortal. Think along the lines of "Twilight". ... Read more

Product Description
It is a rare treat to hear an author of Ray Bradbury's magnitude read these entertaining, provocative tales. This new package of two previously released story collections--The Martian Chronicles and The Illustrated Man--showcases his international reputation as a master storyteller. Bradbury's own introduction to The Martian Chronicles adds significant insights to this work that first established the brilliance of his writing. 4 cassettes. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (4)

Loved It!!!!!
When I frist saw this on Amazon I was so excited I screamed.My excitement only increased when I heard Ray Bradbury read his own work.There is a certain magic hearing any author read their own work and Ray Bradbury is no exception.I have listened to it numerous times and I find it thrilling each and every time.A must have for any Bradbury fan.

Great, yet lacking
When I saw 19 stories on tape, read by Ray Bradbury, written by Bradbury, I rushed to get my copy.Do not get me wrong--I love the tapes.However, there is something lacking in his tone of voice that can cause one topossibly fall asleep or simply drift away when one should be payingabsolute attention to the story.I suppose part of my dissapointment comesfrom the fact that we all read a story a certain way, and sometimes it isdissapointing to see how the author meant for it to be read.It is alsoenlightening, however, to be able to find new meaning in his words as heoriginally intended.I will definitely keep these tapes for a lifetime,and cannot wait to use them in the classroom.

Ray Bradbury creates magical worlds in his readers own homes
The only thing better than reading a Ray Bradbury story is having that story read to you by Ray Bradbury, himself.In this collection of nineteen stories from The Martian Chronicles and The Illustrated Man, this "grand master of inner and outer space" (as the cover of this collection dubs him) comes home with his readers to tell his tales of Mars and the Earth, of the future and the present, of human behavior and human nature.

The passion and honesty of Bradbury's work has found its perfect medium in the audio recording; in no other way could the reader's imagination interact as actively and imaginatively with Bradbury's stories than by listening to him.Every one of his stories is more than just something to be passively experienced by reading.Bradbury would not be the successful writer that he is if it was not for the imaginations which his readers bring with them to his work.These nineteen stories read by Bradbury himself epitomize the accessiblity and the liveliness of his writing style.His written words, coupled with his own voice, take his stories into a new dimension of experience for his readers.

Few authors can create the magical and believable worlds that Bradbury can.This collection of tapes enables the reader to experience these worlds through the compassionate guidance and infintite wisdom of Ray Bradbury.This collection's appeal is not limited only to his die-hard fans; anyone who can appreciate an original tale which is creatively narrated will find these stories entertaining as well as thought-provoking.Whether the story is about Martians or the active imaginations of children, Ray Bradbury's enchanted voice draws his readers into the story, asks them to participate by imagining along with him, and gives them a new perspective on life and on themselves.

Good Stories Read by the Author
Back in the late 1970s, Ray Bradbury performed several short stories on record. This collection is comprised of four tapes, two of which feature stories from The Martian Chronicles and two feature short stories which were released in the 70s under the title The Illustrated Man, although the stories came from a variety of sources.

Of course, all the stories have been published before, so if you are familiar with Bradbury's work, there is a good chance you have already read most of the stories contained on these tapes. In fact, reading The Martian Chronicles will give you eleven of the stories. "There Will Come Soft Rains," included on The Illustrated Man tapes, is actually a late chapter of The Martian Chronicles.

However, listening to a story on tape is different than reading a story, and many of these stories are short enough that you can practically listen to an entire story while driving to the corner story. What you gain from hearing these stories on tape is the sound of Bradbury's voice reciting his own stories and giving them the inflections and patterns in which he conceived the stories. Bradbury's voice is good for reading, without an annoying accent. Furthermore, the technicians set the sound levels properly.

The stories, of course, are vintage Bradbury. Although usually labelled a science fiction author, Bradbury's writings tend more towards the horrific. The terror inherent in "The Illustrated Man," "The Crowd" or "The Third Expedition" ranks with anything traditionally labelled "horror." The unthinking cruelty shown in "The Dwarf" is as applicable in the 1990s as it was when Bradbury published the story in 1953.

In fact, many of these stories by Bradbury have aged quite well and read better in the 1990s than many of the stories published in his most recent collection, Driving Blind.

Although a minority of The Martian Chronicles stories are represented on these tapes, they were chosen well enough that there is still a narrative quality running through those tapes.While The Illustrated Man tapes don't have the same narrative coherence, the stories form a sort of "Best of Ray Bradbury" collection. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (7)

Dinosaur Tales by Ray Bradbury
From Barnes & Noble
In his introduction to this collection of tales, one of the greatest fantasy writers of our time identifies dinosaurs as the inspiration for his chosen career. Here are all of Bradbury's dinosaur stories, old and new, under one volume. Includes: * "A Sound of Thunder"--The classic time-travel story of five men who take a trip back in time to hunt a dinosaur and end up changing the past. * "The Fog Horn"--The atmospheric tale of a prehistoric creature from the deep and its strange rendezvous with a lighthouse. * "Besides a Dinosaur, Whatta Ya Wanna Be When You Grow Up?"--A fabulous fantasy in which a lonely boy harbors a longing to become a Tyrannosaurus rex. Plus, a new Ray Bradbury-Gahan Wilson collaboration; an ode to dancing dinosaurs; more. B&W illustrations by William Sout, Steranko, Moebius, Overton Loyd, Kenneth Smith, and David Wiesner.

From the Publisher
Dinosaur Tales is a Magnificent Collection of Famous Tales by RAY BRADBURY, One of America's Best-Loved and Best-Selling Authors. In This Elegantly Designed and Illustrated Book, Bradbury Presents All of His Dinosaur Stories in One Volume!

Not Free SF Reader
A collection wherein Bradbury expresses his love for the large lizard beasts, in story and poetry.Or, 'dinosaurs and mummies' as he puts it.Could watch old movies with my spousal unit pretty happily by the sound of it.

Anyway, pretty irresitable this one when you see it on the shelf.Dinosaur stories, with Steranko, Moebius and other illustrations.

Dinosaur Tales : Besides a Dinosaur Whatta Ya Wanna Be When You Grow Up? - Ray Bradbury
Dinosaur Tales : A Sound of Thunder - Ray Bradbury
Dinosaur Tales : The Fog Horn - Ray Bradbury
Dinosaur Tales : Tyrannosaurus Rex - Ray Bradbury


Terrible lizard training.

3.5 out of 5


Stay in the lines, you dino hunting dumbarse.

4 out of 5


Mating hopes crushed.

3.5 out of 5


Movie monsters.

3 out of 5

The butterfly effect
After watching the movie "The Butterfly Effect", a friend of mine told me that Ray Bradbury had done something similar and much better in a short tale called "A Sound of Thunder". Since I like Bradbury's work a lot this friend lent this Bradbury anthology.

Bradbury's science fiction is not for everyone. Some readers may find his work too philosophical and sometimes hard. And these qualities are what I like best in his writings. The anthology "Dinosaur Tales" is a good example of some themes that he tackles with in his short stories and novels. And, in this book specifically there is a big plus, the illustrations made by some of the best illustrators in the world.

My favorite tale in the book --and probably the best and most famous-- is "A Sound of Thunder". This tells the story of a safari to the future of a group of people who will hunt dinosaurs, book something wrong happens. It is short, more or less 30 pages, but it is so profound and well written, and that is very moving and even scary if we come to think that it can be true some day. Moreover, it rises so many questions that it is a wonderful tale to read in a group and discuss afterwards. By the way, the line I used in the title refers to this story.

The other tales are quite good too, and also there are two poems that are great. But, like I aforementioned, one of the big plus of this edition are the illustrations made by Moebius, Jim Steranko, William Stout, Kenneth Smith, David Wiesner, Overton Lloyd and Gaham Wilson. All of them have many credits as illustrators and their drawings are unique, and give Bradbury's tales the real dimension of their narratives. In the poem "Lo, the Dear Daft Dinosaurs!" Lloyd's illustration are kind of dream-like abstract, showing a beautiful ballet.

This anthology is a great way of discovering Bradbury's narratives. And since dinosaurs are such a fascinating theme for youngsters, this book comes highly recommended to young readers.

Some of the Best Sci-Fi Ever Written
Ray Bradbury is one of the masters of science fiction.His stories were literate, imaginative, and have left a lasting mark on American culture."Dinosaur Tales" is a collection of several of Bradbury's short stories and poems about dinosaurs with illustrations by Moebius.The stories and illustrations evoke a sense of wonder.It was nice to see dinosaurs drawn in a mythic way.This helped to give the stories a timeless feel.This is a collection of poems and stories about people and their themes remain as strong today as when they were originally written.

Good collection
This might be a good way to deal with a little kid's "dinosaur phase." It's a short collection of Ray Bradbury stories and poems, and this edition is illustrated with six different artists' work and Bradbury's foreword from the eighties.

"Besides a Dinosaur, Whatta Ya Wanna Be When You Grow Up?" features a young boy who wants to be a dinosaur when he grows up -- with bizarre results. "A Sound of Thunder" follows a time-travel safari that goes horribly wrong. The eerie "Fog Horn" calls a strange, ancient creature. "Tyrannosaurus Rex" is involved in filmmaking, and the two poems "Lo, the Dear Daft Dinosaurs!" and "What If I Said, The Dinosaur's Not Dead" add a note of whimsy to it.

As with all Bradbury story collections, this is a pretty unusual bunch of stories -- there's humor, there's horror (the second story in particular) and dwelling on children in the Midwest with that odd knack he seems to have.The writing is spare and hard-hitting, and the publisher, ibooks, adds to the entertainment with illustrations. The cover art is the best, very bright and colorful. Inside the text of the stories is often lined with smaller pictures and patterns; the illustrations can be weird and funny, or realistic and almost frightening. The only letdown was Moebius's rather childlike illustrations.

If you have a kid who's obsessed by dinosaurs, or ever were one yourself (fess up! Everyone does it!) then this will be a good collection of dinosaur stories to share. And even if you already have this book in another edition, you may want to get it just for the illustrations. ... Read more

Product Description

“The Definitive Ray Bradbury Book”

“I volunteered for the Moorpark College newsroom assignment. Thespeech changed my life just listening to Bradbury speak. I thought he wasthe greatest orator I had ever heard and thought to myself, “If he can writeas well as he can talk, I’ll read everything he’s written and seek outmagazines to sell an article about him.” Back then (1968), I had started myfreelance writing career and was always looking for new ideas. That firstBradbury speech changed my life and his advice gave me my life’sphilosophy: ‘Follow your loves! Don’t listen to anyone else—even yourown spouse. However, if you have the love of a good spouse and severalgood friends, you’ll be successful. If you don’t yet know what you wantto do in life, go out and find your loves and you’ll have a happy life.’”

You’ll find this biography may be more of a self-help book and “thedefinitive Ray Bradbury” revealed like no other book has yet done.Whether you are a science fiction fan, student, attorney, architect, writer,priest, or just a person trying to find your mission on planet Earth, there isa piece of the jigsaw puzzle to your life awaiting you in this book. If youare going on a trip or simply want something to read for a weekend, thisbook is designed as a quick, entertaining read for all people. And you neednot know anything about science fiction to enjoy reading the study of thisgenius and American icon. Enjoy!

—Gene Beley, author

Customer Reviews (1)

Fun and informative...
Ray had a crazy life, I never would've guessed about! This book covers a lot of stuff and provides a very unique perspective on this epic author! ... Read more

Product Description
Ray Bradbury's first poetry collection to be published outside the U.S. First published by Salmon in 2002, this 2008 edition is updated with additional poems. This volume is a gift to generations who have read and loved his remarkable work. Most of the.poems in this collection from the unquenchable Bradbury are new, but all have his evergreen touch - accessible, humorous, quietly emotional. Bradbury can't long restrain his usual luxuriating in the sensual wonder of life. Bradbury fans, Hibernophiles, general readers, even some contemporary poetry snobs, will find this a lovely read.""-Publishers Weekly. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

A Note from the Publisher
I Live by the Invisible: New & Selected Poems is Ray Bradbury's first poetry collection to be published outside the U.S. First published by Salmon in 2002, this 2008 edition is updated with additional poems. This volume is a gift to generations who have read and loved his remarkable work.

A master of poetic nuance in his prose work, his poetry is at once immediate, subtle, revealing, political, philosophical and magical. The world of Ray Bradbury has always been a special place. Millions of people have shared in it; shared his longing; his insight; his visionary knowledge of things which humanity holds dear.

These poems are haunting, telling, nostalgic, satirical, funny and wise. In his late 80s, Ray Bradbury is still sharing, and giving so much.

Ray Bradbury, American novelist, short story writer, essayist, playwright, screenwriter and poet, was born August 22, 1920 in Waukegan, Illinois. He graduated from Los Angeles High School in 1938. Although his formal education ended there, he became a "student of life," selling newspapers on L.A. street corners from 1938 to 1942, spending his nights in the public library and his days at the typewriter to become a full-time writer in 1943, contributing numerous short stories to periodicals before publishing the collection, Dark Carnival, in 1947. His reputation as a visionary writer was established with The Martian Chronicles in 1950, which describes the first attempts of Earth men to colonize Mars, and the unintended consequences. Next came The Illustrated Man and then, in 1953, Fahrenheit 451, which many consider to be Bradbury's masterpiece, a scathing indictment of censorship set in a future world where the written word is forbidden. In an attempt to salvage their history and culture, a group of rebels memorize entire works of literature and philosophy as their books are burned by the totalitarian state. Other works include The October Country, Dandelion Wine, A Medicine for Melancholy, Something Wicked This Way Comes, I Sing the Body Electric!, Quicker Than the Eye, and Driving Blind. In all, Bradbury has published seventy-two books of short stories, poems, essays, and plays. His new novel, From the Dust Returned, was published by William Morrow at Halloween 2001. Morrow will release One More For the Road, a new collection of Bradbury stories, in April, 2002. Ray Bradbury's work has been included in three Best American Short Story collections. He has been awarded the O. Henry Memorial Award, the Benjamin Franklin Award, and the PEN Center USA West Lifetime Achievement Award. In November 2000, the National Book Foundation Medial for Distinguished Contribution to American Letters was conferred upon Mr. Bradbury at the National Book Awards Ceremony in New York City. Bradbury has been nominated for an Academy Award (for his animated film Icarus Montgolfier Wright), and has won an EMMY (for his teleplay of The Halloween Tree). He adapted sixty-five of his stories for television's Ray Bradbury Theater. Married since 1947, Mr. Bradbury and his late wife Maggie had four daughters together. Mr. Bradbury lives in Los Angeles. ... Read more

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Customer Reviews (16)

Ray Harryhausen The Master!!!!

Ray Harryhausen An Animated Life is a book you can not miss in a good collection of classic movie fans.

Harryhausen fans will be delighted with the high quality of this book. Fantastic designs, full information, details magnificos. Great editing and a good choice.
The contents of the book tells the story of Ray from its firsts works until his last film with an amazing amount of details.

Ray Harryhausen is the king.

Ray Harryhausen: An Animated Life
I was lucky enough to meet Ray Harryhausen at an Archon convention in Collinsville, IL several years back. What amazed me is how layed back Ray Bradbury and he was with the fans that day. These were Gods in our world and yet they would talk to us like we were sitting playing cards or something. Ray Harryhausen had touched my life long before that when I first saw his B&W movies on TV. The one that truly made my jaw drop though was when I saw the just released color movie "The 7th Voyage of Sinbad" at the Granada theater in Mt. Vernon, IL. I never forgot the magic dream quality of those creatures and so I made sure any other movie he did the special effects for I went and saw. And if someone copied his creatures, "Jack the Giant Killer", et cetera, I went to see them too. This book gives us a great look into his life, art, and stop motion techniques. I highly recommend it to not only fans of Ray and special effects, but to anyone with an interest in movies. Great foreword, writing, pictures, and editing.

CA Luster

A TRUE ARTIST WHO NEVER COMPROMISED HIS ART
So much has already been said & written about this amazingly talented man that although his talents have always been savored like fine wine....talking about his painstaking incredible stop-motion animation abilities almost seems to be redundant. Suffice it to say that so many of us monster kids sat in awe of Ray's work as we watched " The 7th Voyage of Sinbad " circa 1958.Harryhausen has always accomplished more on the movie screen with his special effects techniques than computers will ever be able to do. This book lovingly details all of the richness of Ray Harryhausen----Thanks for a great book, Ray !

Long overdue, but worth the wait.
Die-hard fans of special effects master Ray Harryhausen may recall Jeff Rovin's book "From the Land Beyond Beyond", which arrived in 1977. It was a welcome addition to the Harryhausen legacy, but was too subjective and fan-based for some tastes. Hard to believe it took almost thirty years for this definitive, color version of the Harryhausen story to arrive on the scene. Some will feel it is merely an extension of Ray's previous work, the Film Fantasy Scrapbook, and in many ways, it is, but there's so much detail here that this deluxe volume is worth picking up. Though of course modern special effects have become almost ridiculously complex, it's wonderful to hear Ray describe in great technical detail the processes and techniques he used to bring his animals and fantasy creatures to life in films like "7th Voyage of Sinbad" and "Jason and the Argonauts". He's also candid about which films worked for him (and audiences) and which somehow missed the mark. Even readers who prefer modern spectacles to Harryhausen's classical, stately epics should find something of value here, and there is plenty to inspire any animator, filmmaker, or budding cinematographer. This book isn't just a special effects guide, it's a valuable and integral part of the history of film: Harryhausen's career spanned five decades, and he worked with some of the greats in the industry--not only effects geniuses like Willis O'brien, but actors like Laurence Olivier, Maggie Smith, James Franciscus, Honor Blackman, Richard Carlson, Jane Seymour and Raquel Welch. A little pricey, but worth the cost. A must have for Harryhausen fans, naturally, but anyone interested in the movies will come away satisfied.

A Monument To Creativity
This is a top-notch compilation of genius on the cutting edge of our cultural history. ... Read more