"Miracles of Jamie" was one of the first Ray Bradbury stories I read and although it has a very sad ending, I am still a little bit fascinated by it.

In this story the main protagonist, Jamie, uses some way of positive make-believe to cope with his problems and just yesterday I read on some website that in the story "The Ducker", from Weird Tales Nov. 1943 (to which I sadly have no access... *sigh*; does anyone know an anthology where I could find this story?), the main protagonist, Johnny Choir, uses a similar strategy to cope with his problems.

Interestingly Johnny Choir succeeds in "The Ducker" with his positive make-believe strategy, but when he realizes in a later story (Bang! You're Dead!) that all his make-believe ist just based on illusions he dies.

To put it in other words: I think that the plot behind "The miracles of Jamie" could be some combination of the plot from "The Ducker" and the plot from "Bang! You're Dead!".

Has anyone of you read all three stories and can confirm this? Are there any other examples of stories with similar plots from Ray Bradbury?

This message has been edited. Last edited by: whoever,

I've read all three and the only similar one I can think of by Bradbury is the Second Expedition story in "The Martian Chronicles"--title escapes me--but it's the one where the people in the insane asylum can project their delusions. I could name several stories by other authors--about people living in their own reality or manipulating it through belief. "The Poems" by Bradbury speaks of someone's artistic talent affecting the real world.

First of all many thanks for you knowledgeable reply! :-)

The martian story is titled "The Earth Men", and yes, you are right, it really has quite a similar plot as "Miracles of Jamie", although I would guess that especially the plot of "Bang! You're Dead!" (still wait for my copy of Bradbury Stories) is still a little bit more similar. Anyway, good to know that this are probably the only Bradbury stories with such a plot structure! Interesting also that the precursor of the Jamie-Plot got darker probably under influence of World War II (Miracles of Jamie were published 1946).

P. S.: I also would be interested in the other titles you mentioned but only of course if it doesn't cause you too much trouble to look them up... ;-)

"The Little Terror," short story by Will F. Jenkins anthologized in "Tomorrow's Children," by Isaac Asmiov.

"The Lonesome Place," short story by August Derleth anthologized in "Horror Times Ten" by Alden H. Norton.

I believe "The Ducker" appeared in a 1977 anthology called Weird Legacies. I've never a seen a copy, and that's all I know.

Many thanks both of you!

@dandelion: I will try to get this stories! :-)

@philnic: I just ordered a copy of "Weird Legacies" (3 Euro from the Netherlands *g*), it appeared 1977 and the Editor was Mike Ashley.