Hello all,

Been on here sporadically to say the least. Saw the request for new posts, and had a question, so I thought I'd jump in. Hope this hasn't been covered elsewhere on here. My apologies if that's the case.

I recently bought Famous Monsters' Bradbury tribute issue (#265). If you don't have it, I'd recommend getting it. There isn't really anything earth-shattering in there, but it's a nice tribute to Ray and the layout is really great. One of the articles in the magazine was a 1993 interview of Ray conducted by Famous Monsters founder and long-time Bradbury friend Forrest J Ackerman. It's a fun interview between old friends. Near the end of the interview, Ackerman asks Ray what irons he has in the fire. Ray mentions quite a few things--a few stage productions, etc. What caught my attention, however, was the he said he was working on a new collection of stories called "The Same Only Different" and a new novel called "Seedbed VII." I have never heard of either of these projects and was wondering what became of them. My guess is that the collection was retitled, but what happened to the novel? Was it also retitled before publication? Did Bradbury abandon the project? Is it still sitting in a desk drawer somewhere?

Any information would be appreciated.

I'm not familiar with such a (proposed) work. I'll try to find out more on my next visit to the Center for Ray Bradbury Studies in a few months.

Of course, it could be that Ray was simply joking with his pal...

Thanks! It's fun to think there's a couple of Bradbury books out there, waiting to be discovered. Of course, it's more likely that, in the case of the story collection, it was simply retitled. The novel is more interesting, I think. As you said, it could be that he was just joking around with 4E. Or that the project was abandoned at some point, perhaps very early on. Still, I'd love to hear if you dig anything up!

David