In the mid-nineties RB published a short story called Mr. Pale where a doctor has the opportunity to kill Death and does. After sealing an ailing death into a room he says to his wife something like "How would you like to spend eternity together". Considering recent events I think this story is timely.

I haven't seen the story, and am not sure which recent events you're referencing. Is the story available in any collections or anything? Do you have specifics of where/when it was published?

It's collected in "Driving Blind."

Thanks, Dandelion. I'll check it out. Grasstains: What specific recent events are you talking about? It'll help me pay attention to what you're commenting on while I read.

The death of Mrs. Bradbury.

Yes, thank you Dandelion. I read it in David Hartwell's Third Annual Best Of SF anthology which also included a homage to F-451 by Gregory Benford entitled "The Voice". That story follows the same theme and has a direct reference to F-451 when it's refered to as "Centigrade 233". An instant classic in it's own right and a must-read for die-hard Bradbury fans.

[This message has been edited by grasstains (edited 12-30-2003).]

You can also find this story in David G. Hartwell's anthology Best SF of the Year #3. This marks an extremely rare appearance of a Bradbury story in a "Year's Best" collection in the science fiction genre. The year covered was 1997.

Enjoyed reading Mr. Pale. You're right that the doctor in the story asks his wife if she would like to "be married to [him] for another ten million years".

The question of eternity is always interesting, and this story raises some of the issues as to whether or not eternal life would really be a good thing. Mr Pale (death) lists the following problems with eternal life (the question is whether or not he's asking honest questions, or whether he's just putting these ideas out there to convince the doctor to turn over persons to him (Mr. Pale) so he can "consume" them and live further):

(1) If we lived forever we would have to deal with the boredom of each day being the same. While that might seem fine, Mr. Pale is confident it would become -- at best -- unpleasant (his term is insanity).

(2) The burden of memory. Not only (I assume) is he talking about the infinite accumulation of good memories; but I imagine he is talking about the fact that you would collect all of your bad memories and that that accumulation would be an immense burden. (Of course, I forget things all the time now. If people live forever, does that necessarily mean they will remember everything?)

(3) Death is necessary in order to make life worth living. The possibility of death is what (Mr. Pale claims) gives life value and contrast, and is what makes life worth living.


[This message has been edited by Mr. Dark (edited 01-03-2004).]

I like that story and thought that the sickly patient was God.

I didn't think it was a good idea to actually kill Death off. They should have sealed him in a room he couldn't escape and every once in awhile throw in some tiresome person they didn't like just to keep him going.

"I have a little list...they never will be missed."

For some reason I could have sworn this story was in The Martian Chronicles, but since I don't have any of my books with me at the time, I couldn't check. Correct me if I'm wrong. I also don't remember it being in Driving Blind, which I read not too long ago.

I KNOW it's in Driving Blind, as that's the book I read it in. I don't THINK it's in Martian Chronicles, as I don't remember reading it before.

Ok, I thought I might have been wrong, just had a feeling though. Sometimes it's hard to keep track of where I've read which stories by Bradbury since there are so damn many...not that I'm complaining.

It's a candidate for MC II whenever that gets done.

dandelion, are you saying there will be another Martian Chronicles?