Today's crossword puzzle in the Chicago Tribune had the clue "Whatsits" for a seven-letter word. The answer? "Doodads"! Nice to know that the now little-used word which was the title of Ray's short story in the September, 1943 issue of John Campbell's ASTOUNDING (which never appeared in any of the collections of his stories) still shows up now and then.

Well, it is of course collected in Volume 2 of the Collected Stories series, edited by Jon Eller (and previously William F. Touponce).

The title in that volume is "Everything Instead of Something", which I'm guessing was Ray's preferred title. But in a sense you're right — Ray never chose it for any collection that he compiled himself.

The link below to a current eBay listing for the September, 1943 issue of ASTOUNDING is likely to work only until the listing expires, but I still wanted to share it. This, of course, is the issue of ASTOUNDING that contains Ray Bradbury's elusive short story "Doodad". I laughed when I saw the listing, because Ray not only signed the issue on the page where "Doodad" appears, but he graded the story as well. The grade he assigned himself? D-. (Ray once signed for me the cover of a fanzine from the early 1940's that he had drawn, and he gave himself an F-, so I guess a D- isn't THAT bad!)

https://www.ebay.com/itm/12499...5:g:8IwAAOSw32FhhtZk