I've been searching for a book I read sometime in the 80's and someone suggested that it was bradbury I cant remember title or author. It was some time ago so Im not quite clear on the description but am pretty sure it was about a boy who wakes up on his birthday to find everyone has vanished and he is left to the care of a robot some kind of automated household (?) I sort of remember the robot wanting to go about its routine and the boy getting angry but dont remember if he eventually left the house but was afraid of what was out there get the impression the house was in the middle of nowhere? would love to find this book. someone suggested also emergence by David Palmer but dont think thats it. thanks in advance!
christine

Not an exact match, but perhaps "Jack-in-the-Box" from October Country?

Hi my mum has told me about a book she read of Ray Bradbury's in which a man starts to commit evil acts and becomes more and dangerous such as pushing someone under a train track!! can anyone help me find out the title as she wants to reread it. Thanks

"The Town Where No One Got Off" is about a man who thinks about killing someone as revenge against everyone who has wronged him, and there is a train involved, but no actual series of crimes or deaths. Can't think of any other Bradbury story just like this.

thanks shes still not sure (mum's!!) but she says that this man is bored working in his office and throws his typewriter out of the window and starts moving papers around the office. Then on the way home he pushes a woman under a train!!

Regarding the first story, within the last month, two similar stories appeared on the Abebooks Booksleuth forums at http://forums.abebooks.com
One was identified as "The Silver Crown," by Robert O'Brien. The other, still unidentified, was attributed to Ray Bradbury. I posted saying that wasn't correct, and added yours under the same query to move the thread up. As far as that one being attributed to Bradbury, someone could have been confusing details of his short stories "Jack-in-the-Box" and "There Will Come Soft Rains," but that still doesn't solve this. No ideas on the second story except the one I already named, so I will post that in the usual places as well.

Regarding the second story, the following reply came from anxious triffid by way of the newsgroups rec.arts.books.childrens and rec.arts.sf.written:

Possibly "The Demon" by Hubert Selby Jr. There is certainly the escalation of minor evil acts leading to murder in that one. I can't immediately
recall if someone is pushed under a train, but I believe the protagonist does feel the temptation.

These replies came by way of the BookSleuth Forums at Abebooks.

From:� Cori
Not sure how much this helps, but here is the plot of another such story found in the Solved Archives of the old Booksleuth:

Man Wakes Up in World with No One in It
In the late 1970's early 1980's I read a wonderful book but have never been able to find it again. The book begins with the main character, a man, waking up to his world, but no one in it. He later discovers that there are "waves of time" like tidle waves pushing across earth changing time and "what if's" as they go along. The main character comes across a baby lion or tiger in the beginning and they travel together trying to stay out of the paths of the surging 'time waves' to discover why they are happening and how to stop them. They do get caught in a 'time wave' or two during their adventure and experience different times and places (in one, he finds himself on a floating raft being guided my people who look like they are part anfibian, part human living in a world of mostly water). In the end, the man solves the riddle of the 'time waves' by visiting the sky (I don't recall the details) and stops them. Please help me to find this book!
SOLVED: Time Storm by Gordon R. Dickson, solved by Ellie in Sydney and JoAnn in Port Jefferson Station, NY
POSTED: Friday April 25, 2003

From:� jbj0882
Hi.� I'm not sure how old this book would be, but it sounds to me like one of the novellas in Stephen King's Four Past Midnight.� It was called the langoliers.� I don't remember a whole lot more about it, except that I read it when it came out, probably about 1991.� Hope this helps

From:� octobercountry
I'm pretty certain that this isn't The Missing Persons League, nor the King story either. Though in fact, most of the books mentioned above sound like they would be worth investigating!� I would certainly recommend The Missing Persons League, though... For some reason, I remember the act of reading that book very clearly...sitting at the edge of a cornfield looking out over the hills on a late summer afternoon, smoking cigarrettes while reading the book... Ah, careless youth...how I miss it!� (But it is a good story...)

From:� jent
'fraid not jb, the Langoliers was mainly about aircraft travel and the hideous happenings were all set in the airport terminal.��I�still threaten my kids with it ! �Cheers for 2004.
Jen in Melbourne