I think it was a Bradbury Twilight Zone short story. I read it in 4th grade. It centered on two boys playing War Games near a military base and much of their play takes place alongside a military fence. Every so often, 2 hovering lights will fly past them near the perimeter of the fence and the boys will duck while pretending they're dodging the enemy. That is until the end of the story where they come across a metal sign either on the fence itself or buried under some weeds in the ground that reads "Speciman's from the Planet Earth, Do not Feed"

Can anyone tell me the name and reassure me it is a Bradbury short story? Thanks

Steve

RB, ?! Sounds like a TZ:
maybe ~ http://tzone.the-croc.com/tzeplist/alike.html

No, I'm afraid that's not it. This was definately about 2 boys around 11 years old playing near what I imagine was their home. It was night time hense everytime a hovering light came by they'd duck and hide pretending to be hiding from the enemy but also thinking it was just some military vehicle or Army MP helicopter hovering by.

Thanks for the link though.


Steve

Only one RB story actually made it to the TZ series, I Sing the Body Electric. Several others were seriously considered, but for reasons discussed on this site at various times (do a site search), none were ever run as an episode.

I just reviewed The Twilight Zone Companion (Marc S. Zicree) and found nothing that seemed to match your description above. I may have overlooked something. Possibly Dandelion could better address this one with her knowledgeable TZ background and uncanny literary i.d. skills.

Two things I can establish:

1. Certainly not classic Ray Bradbury. I've read all his short stories, up to about the last book and a half's worth of collections, as well as many rare uncollected ones, and as it's not among the old ones, and he hasn't written this type of story in a long time...not his.

2. Almost certainly not "Twilight Zone." Although I haven't seen every episode, I have seen many and am often found on a forum devoted to the discussion of TZ, and I've never seen one like this described. One called "People Are Alike All Over" had some similarities. Someone also asked for a short story which turned out to be titled "The Other Side" and had some similarities, but yours has enough differences it must be another story.

This is what I have done in the past with these story IDs and will do again whenever I have time, (which I MUST tell myself I will...someday) but in the meantime it REALLY helps if people do their own.

1. Go to the Abebooks forums. Make sure you are in the "Booksleuth" forum.

http://forums.abebooks.com/abesleuthcom

Post under "Science Fiction." If I were you, I wouldn't crosspost there, although some stories fall into more than one category, i. e. Children's and Science Fiction. This forum houses the most friendly, helpful, useful, knowledgeable folks I've been able to find online.

2. Go to Google Groups (or, if you REALLY MUST, Usenet--same groups in a different form, only Usenet preferers seem to have a less efficient system coupled with a superior, know-it-all attitude.) Start with this one:

http://groups.google.com/group/alt.books.isaac-asimov?lnk=lr

because Asimov is the author most frequently mistaken for Bradbury. Even if the story isn't one of Dr. Asimov's, his fans are polite, helpful, and widely read in other Science Fiction.

When you post there, crosspost to the following groups: rec.arts.books, rec.arts.books.childrens, and rec.arts.sf.written

The worst that will happen is some obnoxious troll, most likely on rec.arts.books.childrens where a number of them have taken up semipermanent residence, who has nothing better to do, will call you rude for crossposting (WHY, I have never determined and refuse to argue it with them.) The best that will happen is you only have to type your question (or copy and paste the one you already typed) once, and it will simultaneously appear in all four groups. If the people who answer just hit "reply" without stripping out the other addresses, all answers will appear in all those groups, so you only have to check one instead of opening up four groups separately. Usenet has a smattering of knowledgeable and helpful folks along with a community of idiots with too much time on their hands, but a lot of people see questions posted there and you may receive semidecent answers.

3. If all these free sources fail, go to:

http://www.logan.com/loganberry/stump.html

They are the ultimate authority and if the question can be solved nowhere else, it is well worth the $2.00 they charge to have it posted to their site, where it will stay on the unsolved pages until solved, without getting "bumped down" the way things do in message board format. It will then go permanently to the solved pages in case anyone else ever has the same question.

4. Lastly, most important! When you get your answer, whether it be right away or months or years later, PLEASE come back and post it here! If your post is no longer near the top, you can find it by clicking "Find" at the top of the page and searching for your username or some other unusual term. It would also be nice to mention from what source the answer came. If it's not posted here, it will end up on my "unsolved" list if and when I do get time to go back through all these, and I'll end up doing all of the above (except for paying for other peoples' stumpers, at which I draw the line) unnecessarily! Thanks!

Hope this helps!

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