Hello.

I'm lloking for original title of the short story. In a russian translation it's called "a scientific method". The plot is next: two girls (Mag and Mary) are choosing the boyfriend. And they use different tests and books to decide, for which of them guy Bob Jones fits better...
There is also another story with these two young girls. In russian it is called "they knew what they wanted".

Will anyone tell the originals?

Is this a joke!? I can't believe these are available in Russian when they are two of Ray's rarest titles in English! They appeared over 50 years ago and to my knowledge have never been reprinted ANYWHERE--not in any Bradbury collection, including the latest book of 100 tales, or even an anthology. They are:
"Love Contest," which appeared in "Saturday Evening Post," May 23, 1952, under the pen name "Leonard Douglas," and "They Knew What They Wanted," which appeared in "Saturday Evening Post," June 26, 1954. Very cute stories about two sisters, not twins, but born less than a year apart. The only way I read them was to find a university library which kept magazines that old.

Dandelion:
Tho that specific copy does not apear to be listed, here's a website with a lot of 'Saturday Evening Posts', and a few Ray Bradbury listings.
Call to your attention that the recent May/June, 2003 issue of 'Saturday Evening Post', had a reprint of one of Ray's stories....

click on, or type into finder: http://users.ev1.net/~homeville/fictionmag/t528.htm


[This message has been edited by Nard Kordell (edited 09-06-2003).]

What a surprise!!!
Well, it explains why it was so hard to find these titles.
Why? Why they are so rare? "Love Contest" is one of the best his works, that i've read. And these two were printed in one of the famous russain Bradbury's collections. "They Knew What They Wanted" is much weaker, but still interesting. First story also has my favourite quote about male in his different ages. Can anyone please tell me this sentence in English?

Is it true, that Ray has 4 daughters? If that is so, than these stories are quite curious to his fans.

Why they are so rare, I really can't answer, as many of Ray's collections contain widely varying tales. How they made their way into a collection in Russia, I can't answer either. Certainly there wasn't a Russian version of "Saturday Evening Post" during the Cold War!? "Love Contest" is comparable to "The Great Fire" in terms of humorous portrayal of the teenage girl's mindset and funny surprise ending, yet "The Great Fire" is reprinted while "Love Contest" languishes. It isn't that one is more dated than the other; they are both equally dated and of equally lasting appeal. Next time I am at a college library I can probably get you that quote. It is true that Ray has four daughters, but they can hardly have inspired these stories. The oldest daughter would have been conceived around the same time as "The Great Fire" and was about two and a half years old when "Love Contest" appeared.

And what is the exact year in which these stories were written?

I think "The great fire" is a weak, dull story. At least in compare with "love contest", which is one of my (and most of russian readers) favourite. I hope that it will be reprinted soon in USA.

Maybe some part of the difference in perception of "love contest" and "great fire" is in the difference of translations, but i don't think that it is great...

Bradbury's oldest daughter Susan was born November 5, 1949, which will strike a chord with anglophiles: Guy Fawkes Day in Great Britain, though as far as I know means nothing much outside the UK. "The Great Fire" was published March 1949. Publication date is (or was, back in
the days of the printed page!) often 3-6 months following acceptance date. You do the math. "Love Contest" appeared May 23, 1952, in other words, less than six months before Susan's third birthday. For some unfathomable reason, Bradbury used his own name on "The Great Fire" and a pen name on "Love Contest." It's unlikely this was an alternate identity for breaking into the slicks as Ray had been doing that for several years by this point and was, in fact, famous following publication of "The Martian Chronicles." "They Knew What They Wanted" appeared June 26, 1954, in the same publication as "Love Contest," but under Bradbury's own
name. Although I called the stories dated, they are not overly so. Times may have changed much, but teen girl behavior in many respects does not, or at least hasn't as far as fixating on relationships with boys. You know, there have been collections of outer space stories, Irish stories, even dinosaur tales. I find it high time for a collection of love stories. These three, plus "Hopscotch," "The Swan," and "These Things Happen," alternate title "A Story of Love," as well as some of the more offbeat such as "The April Witch" would form a nice beginning for a collection well-justified by the inclusion of the two abovementioned, and possibly other, uncollected stories.

By the way, I wonder if the nonexistent "One Timeless Spring" was intended as a collection of love stories. It would certainly supply the ideal title story!

"It's unlikely this was an alternate identity for breaking into the slicks as Ray had been doing that for several years by this point and was, in fact, famous following publication of "The Martian Chronicles." "

m-m-m... i used the dictionary, but couldn't understand the meaning of this sentence (that is also the reason why i can't read a most part of this forum :-(( )

Dandelion, can you please explain it in another words?

Yes, it's a nice idea to make such a collection. I would append there "A love affair" and "A Medicine for Melancholy".

To understand this sentence it is necessary to know that story publications once appeared as printed matter, in physical forms known as magazines, composed of, yes...paper! There were basically two kinds of publications, the pulps (on cheap, high-acid paper which turned yellow and brittle over the years, crumbling to pieces like dry fall leaves--many great pulp stories were preserved in anthologies, but alas, the paper used in some paperback anthologies was not much better--) and the slicks (on better paper, some of which can be found in relatively good condition after 50 years or more if well cared for.) The slicks had a better reputation, with higher prestige and higher pay. It's the prestige to which I referred regarding the pen name. If an author was associated with a genre thought to consist of monsters and bug-eyed aliens, said author might use another name to break into another market. Ray, who was selling to the pulps regularly enough to make a living from about 1942 on, was determined to break into the slicks. This became particularly important following his 1947 marriage, when he had a family to support, but by 1952 should not have posed a problem. Possibly he felt "Love Contest" was too different from the type of work with which his name had become associated, or could have published it under a pen name as an experiment to see what people would think of it without connecting it to his name. Hope this proves of use.

Thank you! Everything became clear. I shake your hand, Dandelion.
(I also understood the original title "Pulp Fiction").

The conclusion is that in 1952 "The Martian Cronicles" was a pulp kind of literature?

And also there are several unknown stories more...

- the story about a man, who owned his own graveyard, and was disgraced by all the people in town. So he revenged them after their death in a awful way.

- the story, which was a plot for "something wicked" - about a "Ferris wheel" and two boys...

... hoping for your patient with my English.

Elron, I believe the two stories you are looking for are (1) "The Handler", which was about an embalmer who did unpleasant things to the deceased before their burial, and in return had very unpleasant things done to him when the dead returned for their revenge; and (2) "The Black Ferris", which was the short story that served as the basis for Ray's novel, SOMETHING WICKED THIS WAY COMES.

[This message has been edited by Richard (edited 09-16-2003).]

Many thanks, Richard! It is certainly for what i was looking for.

And the last stories with titles i can't define:
- "the change" or "the fake" - translated title. A man, who is tired for spending time with women, he loves, and who sends a robots to be with them. One woman guesses and kills the robot. A suicide in the end.

- "time travel". A man, who fakes the time machine and telling tales about great future. And this makes the future really good.

- "a drop of impatience". Man murders his hysterical wife and travels to the past to meet himself young and to prevent him from living with this... angry, evil wife.

- "miracles and wonders!" The imaginary interview with Julius Verne (don't know how to spell this france nane correclty in English). Jule Verne?

Well... all the others 185 stories i have, have already found their original names. :-)

[This message has been edited by elron (edited 09-17-2003).]

"Time travel" sounds like "The Toynbee Convector".

Not sure about "miracles and wonders", but the correct spelling of Jules Verne is... Jules Verne.

- Phil