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A review by sowalsky
The October Country by Ray Bradbury
4.0
I should have come to expect it by now, but the consistency of Ray Bradbury's work always surprises me. I'm still waiting to run across a bad book by him. The consistent quality of Bradbury's writing is well illustrated by this collection which, among its 19 stories, includes very few weak spots. As is always the case, Bradbury is a poet at heart, but the concise forms he works in preclude any meandering, thus broadening his appeal. The loose themes around which most of these stories revolve are decay and death, but Bradbury has the inexplicable gift of imbuing his subjects with a striking amiability. And he knows just when and how to pepper the grotesque with the humorous.
This collection of short stories from 1955 does, however, illustrates how frustrating it can be to track down all of Bradbury's works. Of the 19 stories contained in "The October Country," 15 of them were drawn from "Dark Carnival," a collection published in 1947. (Some of these stories were purportedly revised, although I haven't attempted a comparison.) In addition, four more previously unantholgized stories were also included in "The October Country." As a result, Bradbury's short story collections can, on occasion, seem a bit scattershot. But this is a minor quibble, since I can generally pick up Bradbury's works in excellent condition for a pittance at the local used book store.
This collection of short stories from 1955 does, however, illustrates how frustrating it can be to track down all of Bradbury's works. Of the 19 stories contained in "The October Country," 15 of them were drawn from "Dark Carnival," a collection published in 1947. (Some of these stories were purportedly revised, although I haven't attempted a comparison.) In addition, four more previously unantholgized stories were also included in "The October Country." As a result, Bradbury's short story collections can, on occasion, seem a bit scattershot. But this is a minor quibble, since I can generally pick up Bradbury's works in excellent condition for a pittance at the local used book store.