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What's New
Review Features
S - Science Fiction
F - Fantasy
H - Horror
Complete Listing
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Adams, Douglas (S)
Asher, Neal (S)
Aylett, Steve (S)
Banks, Iain M (S)
Barclay, James (F)
Barker, Clive (H)
Baxter, Stephen (S)
Brin, David (S)
Bury, Stephen (S)
Card, Orson Scott (S)
Cherryh, CJ (S/F)
Clute, John (S)
Cockayne, Steve (F)
Cook, Glen (F)
Danielewski, Mark (H)
Dick, Philip K (S)
Egan, Greg (S)
Feist, Raymond (F)
Gaiman, Neil (F)
Gibson, William (S)
Goodkind, Terry (F)
Grimwood, Jon C (S)
Hamilton, Peter (S)
Jeter, K.W. (S)
Jordan, Robert (F)
Lethem, Jonathan (S)
McAuley, Paul (S)
MacLeod, Ken (S)
Martin, George RR (F)
McMullen, Sean (S)
Miéville, China (S)
Moran, Daniel K (S)
Morgan, Richard K (S)
Nagata, Linda (S)
Niven, Larry (S)
Noon, Jeff (S)
Robinson, Kim S. (S)
Rucker, Rudy (S)
Simmons, Dan (S)
Smith, Michael Marshall (S)
Stephenson, Neal (S)
Sterling, Bruce (S)
Vinge, Vernor (S)
Westerfeld, Scott (S)
Williams, Sean (S)
Williams, Tad (S/F)
Collections (S/F)
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| The Classics |
Bradbury, Ray (S/H)
Burgess, Anthony (S)
Tolkien, JRR (F) |
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| Ray Bradbury |
| Author Information |
Reviewed Books |
Other Books |
| Notes: (S) - Short Story Collection |
Something
Wicked this way Comes
The Illustrated Man(S) |
Martian Chronicles(S)
Dandelion Wine(S)
Fahrenheit 451
The October Country(S)
A Graveyard for Lunatics
Death is a Lonely Business
The Golden Apples of the Sun |
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 Our
Ranking The Illustrated Man was the first short
story collection of Bradbury's that I read. It flat out blew me away. For the
most part, it is a very dark, collection of science fiction stories. Bradbury
has that fabulous way of just simply and subtly letting the horrific slide into
his stories. Written in the 1950's it still carries to today's world and beyond.
Reading his visions of the future, you get no sense that any of it is dated. Most
of this is due to the fact that he never gets tangled in the "how" of science
fiction, but rather delves into ideas and settings that might occur. He simply
tells a story. Overall there are 18 short stories in this collection, each supposedly
a different tale tattooed on the back of the Illustrated Man himself. Some of
my favorites are the following:
Kaleidoscope - A chilling tale of space travel gone wrong. Bradbury describes
the slow demise of a group of astronaut's whose ship has exploded. The astronauts
are being scattered in different directions, slowly pulling away from each other,
helpless. The ending of this one is permanently burnt into my mind.
The Long Rain - Four soldiers lost on a hostile planet where the rain is never
ending. In search of the only shelter around, a man made "Sundome" the soldiers
trudge through the jungle, trying to remain alive as well as sane. The degeneration
of the soldier's spirit and minds is done wonderfully in this one. You truly feel
the torture of the constant rain as well as the frustration of the troops.
The Veldt - I actually remember reading this one in high school. This was
one of those stories in your English text book, generally the darkest one in the
book. It serves as a nice warning for the future, where a family installs the
latest and greatest of entertainment for their children only to find it slowly
going horribly awry.
Other classics include Marionettes Inc. and The City. To tell you the truth,
there really isn't a bad story in the bunch. This collection truly is a classic
and must be read by any self proclaimed science fiction fan.
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 Our
RankingThis is certainly not the somewhat innocent
movie that Disney did based on the book . (Even though Jonathon Pryce was incredible
as the villain) A rare full length novel from Bradbury, this is one of the few
I've read where he dabbles into horror. Disguised as a simple children's novel,
this has to be one of the scariest novels ever written. It's simplicity and subversiveness
is terrifying. A dark carnival roles into a small town in the dead of night, bringing
with it all of the wonders of the ancient road shows. But hidden beneath these
acts lies a terrible secret and slowly the acts begin to mysteriously represent
the lost souls of the town. Two local children figure out the secret of the carnival
and along with the help of one of their fathers they try to bring it and its dark
leader down. The plot is deceptively simple. Bradbury does a phenomenal job of
bringing out the dark side of the towns citizens. You actually feel their hopelessness,
their fear of getting old, their loneliness, all of their weaknesses as they are
drawn out and used against them. The circus leader is flat out evil. His character
is very well done and you can't help but be chilled by his coldness. Along with
the horror, Bradbury does the little things that make it truly great. His descriptions
of the children portrays young teenage life so wonderfully that you feel as if
you are right there with them. The town is also incredibly painted, leaving you
truly understanding the small town mentality and behavior and how they could become
prey to such a simple trap. In all the book is beautifully done, and is a horror
tale of another type. It doesn't contain the gruesome detail of a Barker or King
book, but rather slowly, so gently terrifies the hell out of you. A must read.
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