Aka The Martian Chronicles in the USA
I'm a long time Science Fiction (SF not Sci-Fi!) fan and Ray Bradbury was one of my first and all time favourite authors. I adored this book - a collection of short stories which together make a novel about the exploration of Mars, and a former or possibly still existing but mystically evolved civilisation on Mars - the mysterious Red Planet of my 1950s childhood. Although I didn't actually read this book until the 1960s.
Bradbury himself thought of his stories as nearer to fantasy that 'science' fiction though often exploring terrifying aspects of an imagined future world. "Fahrenheit 451" for instance, in some ways echoes George Orwell's vision of a dystopian future society in "1984". His work is often called 'speculative fiction' and I can see that this is probably a better description than SF though I do love the idea of spaceships and astronauts exploring other worlds.
From all the obituaries he was clearly a very attractive personality and a lovely man to know. He even replied to a letter Mr EM sent him some years ago. Now if only I could find it...
Thank you for all the enjoyment your stories have given me over the years, Mr Bradbury. I shall start re-reading The Silver Locusts again tonight. Goodnight and sleep among the stars.
I loved Ray Bradbury too! I haven't read those books in years, I wonder if I would still like them.
ReplyDeleteI love the idea of speculative fiction. I have never read any Ray Bradbury but after reading your review I will try and find a copy of that book.
ReplyDeleteMy husband has a Ray Bradbury book somewhere. I always 'poo-pooed' it. Now you've made me feel some shame.
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