Anyone have any inside information on what the next Bradbury release(s) will be?

Thanks!

There's a new biography due out in the not-too-distant future.

Gauntlet Press is publishing IT CAME FROM OUTER SPACE in April 2004, four Bradbury screen treatments he wrote for this film. The book also includes several previously unpublished short stories. More details can be found at www.gauntletpress.com

His latest short story collection,
The Cat's Pajamas, is tentatively
scheduled to be published in July '04.

Not a book...
...but a Ray Bradbury play opening in Los Angeles, near the end of January, 2004. Production is by Ray's own theater company.
(click on, or type into finder http://allegrophoto.com/drunk.htm

Thanks for the update on the new play. I will hopefully have recovered enough from surgery that I am having next week so that I can attend. I would not miss this play for the world. Some of Ray's best stories are from the experiences he had in Ireland writing the screen play for "Moby Dick" for John Huston. "Green Shadows, White Whale" is a great read for anyone who wants the details of that period.

Thanks for the info, everyone! Though the Gauntlet Press title is too dear for my pocketbook, I am looking forward to the new short story collection in July.

Again, many thanks.

When I called him on New Year's Day, he mentioned not only several upcoming Irish plays, but that he's writing a sequel to "Let's All Kill Constance." I said, "What, are you going to write this character's whole life, and is he going to live to be eighty years old?" Because I always considered "Death is a Lonely Business," "A Graveyard for Lunatics," "Green Shadows, White Whale," and "Let's All Kill Constance" to be about the same unnamed narrator. (A big clue would be that the main character in these books knows the same people, such as Constance.) He didn't ask what I was talking about, which seemed to confirm it, said he didn't know but there's at least one more in the works.

This may not be news to anyone, but I haven't seen any explicit posts to this effect:

Amazon.com (and Amazon.co.uk) are taking pre-orders for The Cat's Pajamas. No cover pictures or table of contents as yet.
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/006058565X/qid=1076962650/sr=1-2/ref=sr_1_2/102-9271784-6754539?v=glance&s=books

- Phil

There's a limited anniversary edition of Fahrenheit 451 illustrated (profusely) by Ralph Steadman being published by Vagabond Books. They started taking orders at the LA Book Fair last week. I've seen some of the illustrations and they are dynamic.

Since I stopped by this wonderful treehouse -- the coolest literary clubhouse to be found on the world wide web -- I figured I'd give you a quick and fast, easy-bake, Cliff Notes version of current RB News. One of these times, I would love to bring my laptop over to his house so he can post a message for y'all and read all your amazing, learned, scholarly, brilliant, insights into his life and career. I know he would love this place. Perhaps if the uber-kind Patrick K. reads this post, he can talk R.B. into coming over to his house, taking a seat in the mighty plush leather captain's chair, and visiting this forum. How 'bout it P.K.?

And now the news.....

**Ray finished two new short stories this week.

**If you haven't heard, the cover art for the forthcoming collection, "The Cats Pajamas" (see post above) is drawn by none other than RB himself. It's a wonderful cross between Picasso and Heathcliff.

** Ray also finished the aforementioned (see post above) first draft of the stage script for "Let's All Kill Constance."

**Next weekend marks the last shows of Ray's play, "Drunk and in Charge of a Bicycle," at Theater West in Los Angeles.

**I spoke to Craig Graham yesterday, from Vagabond (see post above) about the forthcoming deluxe edition of Fahrenheit 451. This is going to be one cool book. Most fascinating to me (outside of the Steadman illustrations) is that the Vagabond people are painstakingly using one of Ray's own first edition asbestos copies of F 451 to compare textually with the latest 50th anniversary edition. Their goal is to restore the text to its original form. Most shocking: the latest edition (and the 40th) have copious mistakes and textual omissions. Words are cut here and there, spelling is changed, Craig even found an entire sentence missing in the current book! For purists, this is outrageous.

This edition will be a treasure and it will restore the book to its original and authentic text. Pre-order this low-riding, streamlined bundle of badness while it lasts.

**Pardon any spelling or grammatical missteps! Happy Sunday to one and all. The sun is shining here in Chicago.

Cheers,

Sam Weller






[This message has been edited by Sam Weller (edited 02-22-2004).]

Thanks so much for all the news, Sam. Ray sounds as busy and prolific as ever. If you ever could get him to "talk" to us via this board it would be great, but I won't hold my breath on that one! Cheers from the also sunny Naperville.

[This message has been edited by lmskipper (edited 02-22-2004).]

Sam:

We would love to have Mr. Bradbury visit us here. Unfortunately, this past Thanksgiving, right after the passing away of Mr. Bradbury's wife, some idiot got out here pretending to be Ray. Because of the timing and everything, it was pretty upsetting to a lot of us.

ImSkipper!

Posted news on the bio in a separate post.

Mr.Dark!

I saw that idiot. Unfortunately, that's the nature of the internet. It affords us a wonderful forum like this, and it affords losers a soapbox too. Must be really sad to sit on a computer all day and pretend you're someone else. Best we can do is ignore that crap. As Ray says, "just get your work done."

Hope that you are well!

[This message has been edited by Sam Weller (edited 02-22-2004).]

[This message has been edited by Sam Weller (edited 02-22-2004).]

Sam:

As always, good to see you out here. I also love the internet. I'm involved in some other bulletin boards, also; and really enjoy the worldwide exchanges possible. This forum has been able to maintain a very high level of discourse, which has contributed to making this a great place in which to visit, contribute and learn.

Thanks for your ongoing posts here!


[This message has been edited by Mr. Dark (edited 02-22-2004).]