And mine arrived today!

I wonder how many people on the continent of Africa have this book - or even how many will have it eventually. I think it's quite possible that I'm alone.

But whatever the case is, I've seldom been so excited about a book. And make no mistake, I fully intend to read all the geeky bits!

Anyway, it's a joy to have such a thoroughly prepared work.

We'll discuss the stories, too, a while later, when the book has had some time to make itself at home.

I have one question ... for Phil, perhaps, or anyone who knows how the project is going. Why are there three projected volumes? This obviously won't come anywhere near covering all Ray's work, so where is the cutoff point, and why is there one?

Good question, douglasSP. And I don't know the answer! I can only speculate that it's because Ray's short story WRITING output declined in volume over time. Remember that the aim here is to cover the stories in the order of composition, and that many of Ray's stories that were published later in his career had often been in existence for decades.

This first volume goes up to 1943, and I think it covers Ray's most productive short story writing years. From the 1950s his professional attention diverged into film, television, novels, theatre and poetry.

So I am speculating that volumes 2 and 3 will cover longer timespans.

On the other hand, the detailed publication history in THE LIFE OF FICTION counts up 401 published stories (up until the cut-off date of that volume), whereas Vol 1 of the Critical Edition contains 23 stories.

ALL:

I hope you are all enjoying the first volume of The Collected Stories of Ray Bradbury.

The answer to the question about three volumes: most university presses in these strained economic circumstances with declining support for the humanities in general are not going to take on a large project like The Collected Stories of Ray Bradbury without external financing - which we do not have at this point. Read the acknowledgments to the volume and you will see how it was financed from generous private donations - and a lot of volunteered time. KSUP agreed to support us for three volumes, which is really wonderful of them, but beyond that we do not know. If any of you are feeling generous, and would like to see the volumes continue, you can make a donation to the IU Foundation. The link is on the Bradbury Center webpage.

Thanks,

Prof. Touponce
General Editor
The Collected Stories of Ray Bradbury

My copy arrived this morning (finally!) and I can't wait to jump right in. A quick flick through makes this look really appetising!

Short notice, but if anyone happens to be in Indianapolis, you just MIGHT be able to catch this event:

http://events.iupui.edu/event/?event_id=4589