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Jun. 7th, 2012 08:10 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
hakujinjoeA few weeks ago I broke out my box set of "The Ray Bradbury Theater" to watch a couple of my more well liked episodes. I'm not exactly sure why but "Skeleton", starring of all people Eugene Levy, is a story about a man who's skeleton is literally rebelling against his body and an evil bone marrow eating "osteopath" named Munigent. Seriously, that's the story, taken from the wonderful short story collection "The October Country"
Considering the span of Bradbury's writing career, it's hard for me to gauge what exactly he is most known for? Fahrenheit 451 I'd guess, a book that most had forced upon them at some point int their schooling career. Though could it be "Something Wicked this way Comes" which received a Disney movie adaptation, or the Martian Chronicles, which seems to be one of his more well regarded Sci-Fi works. For me though, it's "The October Country".
"The October Country" was actually first published in 1955, though a good chunk of the stories in are reprints from the also spectacular "Dark Carnival" collection. It contains a vast array of memorable, interesting, and at times creepy stories. Take for example "The Jar" a story of a man who buys what carnival promoters refer to as "a pickled punk", meaning a kind of organic mass (usually a deformed baby of some kind) in a jar of formaldehyde, that has a sort of mesmerizing effect on some and evil influence over his wife.
"Touched With Fire" is a story of two former insurance adjusters who start a new business trying to save the lives of people using a formula they created that lets them determine who is most likely to be killed. Their first case involves a particularly spiteful woman on a particularly hot day. The ending comes together in a wonderful crescendo of all of their formula.
One of the most memorable from the collection is "The Small Assassin" about a seemingly paranoid woman who believes her baby is trying to kill her. It of course contains a murderous baby.
However, as great as "The October Country" is, the stories in it are, for me, linked inexorably with "The Ray Bradbury Theater", as nearly every one of them is reproduced on that show. I would stay up late on weekends to watch "The Ray Bradbury Theater" along with other horror related TV shows like "The Twilight Zone", "Monsters", "Tales from the Darkside", "Alfred Hitchcock Presents", and "The Hitchhiker". The show looks it's age, ie. early 80's, and even at that time, Ray Bradbury himself, who appears in the opening looks ancient.
Even as a kid I found myself thinking, I can't believe he's still alive and still writing! Who would have guessed that it would June 5th, 2012 when Ray Bradbury finally died at the age of 91. For me, considering the effect his stories have had on me and countless others, it seems weird that there is seemingly less interest or newsworthiness to this than say, the engagement of Miley Cyrus. Hell, he hasn't even broken the top 10 of the "trending now" box on yahoo. That saddens me.
I'm pretty sure that Mars is not heaven, but if there is such a place, I hope it meets what you imagined.
RIP Ray Bradbury.
Considering the span of Bradbury's writing career, it's hard for me to gauge what exactly he is most known for? Fahrenheit 451 I'd guess, a book that most had forced upon them at some point int their schooling career. Though could it be "Something Wicked this way Comes" which received a Disney movie adaptation, or the Martian Chronicles, which seems to be one of his more well regarded Sci-Fi works. For me though, it's "The October Country".
"The October Country" was actually first published in 1955, though a good chunk of the stories in are reprints from the also spectacular "Dark Carnival" collection. It contains a vast array of memorable, interesting, and at times creepy stories. Take for example "The Jar" a story of a man who buys what carnival promoters refer to as "a pickled punk", meaning a kind of organic mass (usually a deformed baby of some kind) in a jar of formaldehyde, that has a sort of mesmerizing effect on some and evil influence over his wife.
"Touched With Fire" is a story of two former insurance adjusters who start a new business trying to save the lives of people using a formula they created that lets them determine who is most likely to be killed. Their first case involves a particularly spiteful woman on a particularly hot day. The ending comes together in a wonderful crescendo of all of their formula.
One of the most memorable from the collection is "The Small Assassin" about a seemingly paranoid woman who believes her baby is trying to kill her. It of course contains a murderous baby.
However, as great as "The October Country" is, the stories in it are, for me, linked inexorably with "The Ray Bradbury Theater", as nearly every one of them is reproduced on that show. I would stay up late on weekends to watch "The Ray Bradbury Theater" along with other horror related TV shows like "The Twilight Zone", "Monsters", "Tales from the Darkside", "Alfred Hitchcock Presents", and "The Hitchhiker". The show looks it's age, ie. early 80's, and even at that time, Ray Bradbury himself, who appears in the opening looks ancient.
Even as a kid I found myself thinking, I can't believe he's still alive and still writing! Who would have guessed that it would June 5th, 2012 when Ray Bradbury finally died at the age of 91. For me, considering the effect his stories have had on me and countless others, it seems weird that there is seemingly less interest or newsworthiness to this than say, the engagement of Miley Cyrus. Hell, he hasn't even broken the top 10 of the "trending now" box on yahoo. That saddens me.
I'm pretty sure that Mars is not heaven, but if there is such a place, I hope it meets what you imagined.
RIP Ray Bradbury.
