Sunday, July 29, 2012

Final Fifteen: Ray Bradbury Stories

To visit the other posts in the series: first twelve, next twenty-six, next three, next ten, next twelve, next-to-last twenty-two.

The Parrot Who Met Papa
The kidnapping was reported all around the world, of course. 
A story about an oh-so-talkative parrot who knew Ernest Hemingway and possibly knew Hemingway's secrets.

The October Game
He put the gun back into the bureau drawer and shut the drawer.
A despicable horror story. Okay, the main character is the one who is despicable. But still.

Punishment without Crime
"You wish to kill your wife?" said the dark man at the desk.
A futuristic story where a man kills a robot-version of his wife and pays the consequences for it--even though no human life is lost.

A Piece of Wood
"Sit down, young man," said the Official.
A disturbed young man...with an unique gift of sorts...is on a mission for world peace.

The Blue Bottle
The Sundials were tumbled into white pebbles.
Short story set on Mars.

Long After Midnight
The police ambulance went up into the palisades at the wrong hour.
A short story about a tragic suicide.

The Utterly Perfect Murder
It was such an utterly perfect, such an incredibly delightful idea for murder, that I was half out of my mind all across America.
A man decides almost thirty years after the teasing and bullying to get back at his "friend" from childhood days.

The Better Part of Wisdom
The room was like a great warm hearth, lit by an unseen fire, gone comfortable. 
A grandfather visits his son, Tom, and meets Tom's friend, Frank. The grandfather has decided to go and visit all his family in his last days--instead of waiting and hoping that they will come to him. He has quite a long chat with his grandson.

Interval in Sunlight
They moved into the Hotel de Las Flores on a hot green afternoon in late October.
A short story about a toxic marriage.

The Black Ferris
The carnival had come to town like an October wind, like a dark bat flying over the cold lake, bones rattling in the night, mourning, sighing, whispering up the tents in the dark rain.
A short story with a very similar feel to Something Wicked This Way Comes.

Farewell Summer
Farewell Summer.
Grandma looked it.
Grandpa said it.
Douglas felt it.
Farewell summer.
A short story about a bad dream...

McGillahee's Brat
In 1953 I had spent six months in Dublin, writing a screenplay. I had not been back since.
Yet another short story set in Dublin.

The Aqueduct
It leapt over the country in great stone arches.
A horror story, of sorts.

Gotcha!
They were incredibly in love. They said it. They knew it. They lived it. When they weren't staring at each other they were hugging. When they weren't hugging they were kissing.
A relationship begins to decline after the woman SCARES the guy horribly and traumatically. 

The End of the Beginning
He stopped the lawn mower in the middle of the yard, because he felt that the sun at just that moment had gone down and the stars come out.
A story about the start of a space program.

© 2012 Becky Laney of Becky's Book Reviews

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