At the time I approached Bradbury about doing a collected edition, he was clearly uneasy about having all of his fanzine materials published. However, I wanted to show how his writing evolved out of fandom, and out of the type of (largely imitative) writing fans do, as part of his creativity. As General Editor of Volume I had then to make the decision about which of Bradbury's non-professional stories to include. All of the "stories" mentioned above exist; I have read them; but they were rejected because 1) they were not much more than 200-500 word anecdotes or jokes anyway 2)I felt that there was nothing about them that reflected the writer that Bradbury later became (that's what "significance" means - if you weren't told, you would never guess they were written by Bradbury). It was simply weak material. Bradbury stood behind my judgement, and the selection I made. Incidentally, this is the only time that the Collected Stories made a selection from his stories. All of the published professional stories will be included in later volumes.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: Bill Touponce,

Thanks for clarifying, Bill!

Wow, great to see prof. Touponce pop in again. That's a valuable clarification.

I was wondering what "retirement" means, as far as future Bradbury-related activity goes?

Bill,

Does this mean the series is going past 3 volumes then? Is there a new number of volumes agreed upon?

Thanks,

Brad

[QUOTE]Originally posted by Bill Touponce:
All of the "stories" mentioned above exist; I have read them; but they were rejected because... QUOTE]

Thank you so much for answering my question and shedding light on these stories! I appreciate all your hard work.

I would hope that the volumes would continue until all of Bradbury's stories are collected. I think that this is the first critical edition of a science fiction author, in English anyway. Reviews of the first volume were generally good, so I am encouraged. But the volume has been a slow seller, so I am uncertain if KSUP will want to continue beyond Volume 3. KSUP is a wonderful press to work for, and they have supported us in our projects at the Center. But it's still a business, you know. In any case, I am now retired, and Jon Eller will continue editing the volumes for as long as he can. As for myself I am editing Vol.4 of the New Ray Bradbury Review, which will contain 100 pages of Bradbury's story openings. Even though he would not want them all collected and remembered, I'm sure Bradbury would have been delighted to know that there are readers out there determined to find and read each of his earliest stories. My best to you all.

It's disappointing, but by no means surprising, to hear that the first volume is a slow seller. This is a scholarly work of the first order - not really the sort of thing that appeals to the general reader.

But what about a commercial edition of each volume? It would involve the definitive versions of each story, without the scholarly apparatus and, needless to say, a sexed up cover and perhaps a new introduction of a page or two, just to explain what the book is. If we make it a paperback, it should be quite an appealing book, and best of all, it would involve virtually no extra work for Jon Eller.

Called, perhaps, The Early Bradbury?

Well in fact that is what usually happens to critical editions, and is actually a part of the planning process (the Melville edition went into Penguin paperback, to take one example). Of course I proposed this at the outset. However, Bradbury's publishers objected that it would cut into their profits, so end of story.

Just placed my preorder for Volume 2, totally forgot it was coming out next week! Cannot wait. Hopefully, the volumes will continue till every story is collected. However long it takes, 12 or 15 volumes. Maybe those juvenile jokes mentioned on the first page could be added latter as another appendix, with proper introduction and explanation that it's just here for completeness and history, so that we have everything.

I've a feeling that all of those "juvenile jokes" will one day be re-published. (And this IS just a feeling - I have no insider knowledge!)

Has anyone received their copy yet from Amazon.com?

quote:

Originally posted by bsaenz24:
Has anyone received their copy yet from Amazon.com?

Amazon reads that the book is Temporarily Out of Stock. And no, I've yet to receive mine.

Only one of the three local suppliers that I deal with even lists the book but a "special order" has to be placed to obtain it. This usually means a fairly long delivery time. There's a postal strike on at the moment (in South Africa) so mail hasn't been arriving.

Amazon.com won't ship to my country, even if they do have stock. Amazon UK might possibly ship the item but doesn't have the book.

So I haven't even placed an order yet. I have ordered Bradbury Unbound, but because of the above problems it hasn't arrived yet. I've no choice but to hold off for a while and see if things improve.

The publisher's own web page for COLLECTED STORIES show the book's status as "pre-order". So I don't think anybody has a copy just yet. Patience is the order of the day...

Looks like the new release date is October 17, 2014, according to Amazon.