Welcome to a land Ray Bradbury calls “the Undiscovered Country” of his imagination–that vast territory of ideas, concepts, notions and conceits where the stories you now hold were born. America’s premier living author of short fiction, Bradbury has spent many lifetimes in this remarkable place–strolling through empty, shadow-washed fields at midnight; exploring long-forgotten rooms gathering … dust behind doors bolted years ago to keep strangers locked out.. and secrets locked in. The nights are longer in this country. The cold hours of darkness move like autumn mists deeper and deeper toward winter. But the moonlight reveals great magic here–and a breathtaking vista.
The October Country is many places: a picturesque Mexican village where death is a tourist attraction; a city beneath the city where drowned lovers are silently reunited; a carnival midway where a tiny man’s most cherished fantasy can be fulfilled night after night. The October Country’s inhabitants live, dream, work, die–and sometimes live again–discovering, often too late, the high price of citizenship. Here a glass jar can hold memories and nightmares; a woman’s newborn child can plot murder; and a man’s skeleton can war against him. Here there is no escaping the dark stranger who lives upstairs…or the reaper who wields the world. Each of these stories is a wonder, imagined by an acclaimed tale-teller writing from a place shadows. But there is astonishing beauty in these shadows, born from a prose that enchants and enthralls. Ray Bradbury’s The October Country is a land of metaphors that can chill like a long-after-midnight wind…as they lift the reader high above a sleeping Earth on the strange wings of Uncle Einar.
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I discovered Ray Bradbury when I was eight years old and devoured everything he wrote over and over, but the story collection that was, is, and undoubtedly will always be my favorite is The October Country.
This unforgettable collection is particularly dark and haunting. My all-time favorite story, The Man Upstairs, is included here. It’s a vampiric tale, but it’s not the man upstairs himself that has always stuck with me, it’s Grandma. We, with young Douglas (very much the Douglas of Something wicked this Way Comes) watch Grandma gut a chicken and prepare it for roasting. He asks if he’s like that inside. She says yes. And from there, we ride along in fascination and horror as Douglas’ childish logic propels him through his dealings with the vampiric lodger. The story works for children and adults.
Other stories that stand out are Skeleton, wherein M. Munigant deals with misbehaving skeletons; The Lake, a touching end-of-summer tale; The Jar – it watches; and especially, The Small Assassin – who doesn’t love a killer baby?
The October Country is the master at his creepy, nostalgic, touching best.
Wow, so this book is really pretty cool. I like to read short story collections, and normally, one recognizes a theme running through the story. October Country, however, is like visiting a big box store on samples day. You can’t predict what you’ll taste next, but, whether good or bad, you’re eager for the next sample. Some of the stories that stood out for me were The Scythe, The Wind, The Watchful Poker Chip…, and The Wonderful Death of Dudley Stone. Honestly, I think the only story I didn’t like was The Next in Line. Prior to reading The October Country, the only writing I had read by Mr. Bradbury was Zen in the Art of Writing. I think it’s time I expanded my repertoire.