I agree that some of them aren't stories, but I'm happy with the wider term "short fiction"! (RB sometimes talks about Saint-John Perse and his pensées; maybe some of these short fragments would fit under that heading.)

quote:

Originally posted by philnic:
It's also the story that George Clayton Johnson, er, took inspiration from when he wrote a TWILIGHT ZONE episode called "Nothing in the Dark".

It's interesting that GCJ's short story upon which his TZ script was based is considerably shorter and very different from the finished episode! I'll have to ask George more about that next time I see him.

quote:

Originally posted by Doug Spaulding:
...GCJ's short story upon which his TZ script was based is considerably shorter...

Has it been published? Where can I find it?

quote:

Originally posted by philnic:
Has it been published? Where can I find it?

This small company carries it for a start. George gave me my copy. Pulled it out of a plastic grocery bag hanging round his wrist and said, "Here - let me give you a copy of my book."

Thanks, Doug, I shall check it out.

I have studied the chicken entrails closely, and have determined that random story #3 is "Bang! You're Dead!"

This one first appeared as a bonus story in the Gauntlet reissue of Dark Carnival(2001), but it is more accessible in Bradbury Stories (2003).

For a story that was allowed to languish in obscurity for more than half a century, "Bang! You're Dead!" is surprisingly good.

It concerns Johnny Choir, a soldier who doesn't take war seriously. In fact, he is convinced that he can dodge bullets - and to all outward appearances, this is exactly what he does, as he repeatedly skips and dances into a hail of enemy fire, without a scratch.

The truth, of course, is that Johnny is sustained by his very belief that the battle is an elaborate game, and that the thousands of casualties are only pretending to be dead. But what happens when a cynical comrade, Melter, tries to force Johnny to face reality? I think you can easily guess. Fortunately, Johnny's close friend, Smith, is around to protect him and keep his illusions intact.

The story is apparently a sequel to an earlier one called "The Ducker" (which is what Johnny calls himself), which has never been collected, and which I've never seen. That's a pity, because I rather like the conceit involved in "Bang!" Thematically, it's similar to a number of Bradbury's stories in which it is shown that daylight should never be allowed to intrude upon magic.

The dice have rolled, and it has been decided that random story #4 is "Gotcha!"

This is an amazing stroke of luck, because it's one of my favorite Bradbury stories - perhaps my most favorite story. I think I've mentioned it several times around here.

"Gotcha!" is available in only one of Ray Bradbury's books: The Stories of Ray Bradbury (1980). The Harper Voyager edition of 2008 is titled Ray Bradbury Stories Volume 1.

I re-read "Gotcha!", and it's as good as I remember.

Basically, the story concerns a couple of lovers who decide to play a scary game, and things go too far, changing everything between them.

"Gotcha!" is the only type of scary story that I'm really enthusiastic about - one that scares by sheer atmospheric creepiness and suggestion, rather than by gore and violence. It's Ann Radcliffe, rather than Monk Lewis; The Blair Witch Project rather than Prom Night.

Bradbury did both kinds of terror or horror, but his skills are superbly suited to this type of story.

Today I reread Colonel Stonesteel's Genuine Home-Made Truly Egyptian Mummy. Why? Because that's what Ray wanted to hear. We laughed so much at this hilarious story - I had forgotten how funny it was - and he ended the reading by proclaiming it to be "brilliant". I can't argue with you there, Mr B.

That was in Omni magazine, I think. I religiously bought the magazine for several years, just because (or at least partly because) the early advertising and marketing promised that RB would be in it. I waited a long time for that story!

And by the way, "Gotcha!" is also a story that the author himself decreed to be brilliant.

Charles Platt, in a 1979 interview, quotes him as follows:

"I did a short story a year ago called ‘Gotcha!’, which is, damn it, boy, that’s good. It’s terrifying! I read it and I say, oh, yes, that’s good."

Just to offset the many occasions on which our guy has been disarmingly modest

"Gotcha!" is one of my favourite Bradbury shorts. And actually, it's not the scares that make it work for me, it's that it's about a relationship which is put to the test. Some people accuse Bradbury of not being able to do characters. "Gotcha!" proves that he can, I believe.

When Bradbury adapted "Gotcha!" for RAY BRADBURY THEATRE, he created this new bit of business involving a fnacy dress party and the man and woman going as Laurel and Hardy. He later developed this new material, and it became a new short story, "The Laurel and Hardy Love Affair".

quote:

Originally posted by douglasSP:
That was in Omni magazine, I think...

Indeed it was. I also bought OMNI regularly, originally for the science and technology articles, but then realised it contained some terrific fiction with beautiful artwork. Bradbury was there a handful of times, and so was Harlan Ellison, and Roger Zelazny, KAte Wilhelm. Good times! There's a list of OMNI fiction here, and what an astonishing list it is.

I recently indexed my Omni Magazines (just the fiction) and found that I still have a complete run of the first 42 issues. All except one, which I'm sure I have somewhere, but which I seem to have misplaced. And it's a treasure, because it's the one with George R. R. Martin's "Sandkings".

I eventually stopped getting them, partly because I was disappointed that they reduced the fiction content, and partly because a stack of those magazines weigh a ton. I did buy the odd one as late as 1985.