I received this reply from Prof. Touponce regarding the first volume of the Bradbury collections he is working on:

"The first volume is nearing completion here at the Center and will be submitted to the KSU Press on schedule on 1 September. It should be published next year in time for Bradbury's 90th birthday. Remember that this is a scholarly edition of Bradbury's stories (and not just an anthology hastily thrown together), so it takes a lot of time to prepare and especially to locate and compare all versions of the stories, many of which, in this first volume, have never been collected before. You'll have to check with the KSU website over the next months for news on how and when to order. We don't know their exact schedule. As soon as we know, we'll put that information on our website. The second issue of New Ray Bradbury Review will be out by December, this year."

I want that book ... RIGHT NOW!

Great news!

Is there any word on Prof. Jon R. Eller's BECOMING RAY BRADBURY?

The first 100,000 words are completed.

I wonder if prof. Touponce could be prevailed on to supply the contents of the book? It must be pretty much finalized if it's going to printers about now. I'm sure that would help to crank up the anticipation levels for the book.

Great news, thanks for the post!

...and yea, I would love to see a table of contents.

I was with Prof Touponce last week at the Bradbury Center in Indianapolis. I'll write more about my visit later, but for now I can report that the contents of the first volume of "the edition" were having to be modified right up to the deadline due to new manuscript discoveries, although the overall structure of the first volume is fixed. I'm sure a table of contents will be forthcoming soon.

quote:

Originally posted by philnic:
I was with Prof Touponce last week at the Bradbury Center in Indianapolis.

Did you manage to get over to Donn's archives whilst there?

quote:

Originally posted by Doug Spaulding:
...Did you manage to get over to Donn's archives whilst there?

Alas no. However, many of the holdings of the Center for RB Studies are duplicates from Donn's archives.

quote:

Originally posted by philnic:
Alas no. However, many of the holdings of the Center for RB Studies are duplicates from Donn's archives.

That's what Donn told me. He said that the University section was a branch, but the bulk of the collection was in his private residence.

Yes, my understanding is that Donn collects EVERYTHING to do with Bradbury, whereas the CRBS collection is mainly texts (i.e. manuscripts, drafts and discards) and correspondence (letters).

CRBS also has most (but not all) editions of most of Ray's books, and a sizeable collection of books on SF, fantasy and related literature.

quote:

Originally posted by philnic:
Yes, my understanding is that Donn collects EVERYTHING to do with Bradbury...

You're not lyin'!

Here is the line up of stories for Volume One of The Collected Stories of Ray Bradbury:



The Collected Stories of
Ray Bradbury

A Critical Edition


Volume I
1938-1943


General Editor
William F. Touponce



Volume Editors
Jonathan R. Eller and William F. Touponce
Center for Ray Bradbury Studies
Indiana University


Consulting Editor
Donn Albright
Pratt Institute



Volume Introduction
William F. Touponce



KENT STATE UNIVERSITY PRESS
The Collected Stories of Ray Bradbury: A Critical Edition
Volume 1: 1938-1943


Table of Contents

Introduction: The Pulp Origins of a Literary Style 10,000 words

Pendulum (1941) c. 5,000 words
Gabriel’s Horn (1941) c. 5,000 words
Final Victim (1941) c. 5,000 words
The Piper (1941) c. 5,000 words
The Candle (1942) 4,000 words
Is That You, Herb? (1942) c. 2,000 words
The Wind (1942) 5,000 words
Eat, Drink and Be Wary (1942) 1,000 words
Promotion to Satellite (1942) 4,700 words
The Crowd (1942) 6,000 words
Chrysalis (1942) 18,000 words
Subterfuge (1942) 3,500 words
A Blade of Grass (1942) 3,000 words
And Then—The Silence (1942) 1,800 words
The Lake (1942) 2,400 words
Morgue Ship (1943) 4,300 words
A Blade of Grass (1943) 3,000 words
Tomorrow and Tomorrow (1943) 7,000 words
The Monster Maker (1943) 6,000 words
The Scythe (1943) 5,300 words
King of the Gray Spaces (1943) 5,700 words
I, Rocket (1943) 6,500 words
Undersea Guardians (1943) 5,400 words
The Small Assassin (1943) 6,000 words

Appendix A
Selected Amateur Publications (1938-1941) c. 8,000 words
Hollerbochen’s Dilemma (1938)
Hollerbochen Comes Back (1938)
Don’t Get Technatal (1939)
The Pendulum (first version, 1939)
Luana the Living (1940)
The Piper (first version, 1940)
The Secret (1940)
It’s Not the Heat, It’s the Hu— (1940)
Tale of the Mangledomvritch (1941)

Appendix B
Summary of The Unpublished Stories

Chronological Catalog, 1938-1943


Prof. Touponce

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

quote:

Originally posted by philnic:
...I'm sure a table of contents will be forthcoming soon.

How right I was!

I'm speechless with excitement!

All those texts that I've heard of, but had little chance of ever reading, and now at last I can get my grubby paws on them!

Actually, if or when I receive a copy, you can bet my paws will be very scrubbed indeed.

Casting my eye over the contents, I can tell that those dates are dates of composition, not publication. That's extremely interesting and helpful, because the chronology of Ray's stories is quite complicated. When I originally read Ray's story collections, I used to draw conclusions about how the author's style was evolving or how he was discovering new subject matter. But these conclusions were often spectacularly wrong, as I found out when the actual dates of original publication - and, in some cases, the dates of composition - became available to me.