One More for the Road: A New Story Collection: Amazon.ca: Ray Bradbury: Books

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From Publishers Weekly

"You do not build a Time Machine unless you know where you are going.... But I built my Time Machine, all unknowingly, with no destination in mind," explains a bemused time traveler in Bradbury's latest collection. Bradbury, who has taken readers on so many marvelous trips, has a similar approach to navigation. In this new volume of stories (17 of the 24 have never been published before), he maintains his unflinching dedication to the magic of everyday life. Relaxing into his favorite themes memory, loneliness, childhood, love and time he is not afraid to wax sentimental, but the sharp edge of his prose keeps the tales from cloying. Haunted settings are common: the ghost town in "Where All Is Emptiness There Is Room to Move"; the Parisian cemetery PŠre Lachaise in "Diane de Forˆt"; and the L.A. streets of 1939 in "Tangerine," in which Bradbury tells the story of a tragically cool man who'd rather be dead than 30. The writer is at his best when he chronicles the child self he has never lost touch with. In "Autumn Afternoon," Miss Elizabeth Simmons cleans out her attic and discovers calendars she kept as a girl, checking off dates that were once important but are now mysterious. Bradbury, on the other hand, seems to remember everything because at 81, he is still 18 at heart. In "With Smiles as Wide as Summer," a virtual prose poem about being a boy on perpetual vacation, he notes, "Circling, they knocked the echoes with their voices, plunged, rolled over, spun, jigged, shook themselves, raced off, hurtled back, leapt high, mad with summerlight and heat, unable to stop just being alive." The pure joy of earthly existence is something Bradbury has never forgotten. Southern California regional author tour; Harper Audio.
Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal

A collection of 25 new stories and catch the afterword by the author.
Copyright 2001 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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First Sentence
It was while he was eating breakfast that Charles Douglas glanced at his newspaper and saw the date. Read the first page

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Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Back Cover

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Customer Reviews

16 Reviews

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3.8 out of 5 stars (16 customer reviews)

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3.0 out of 5 stars Some Highpoints in this otherwise mediocre Book, July 6 2004

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David (N.J.) - See all my reviews

This review is from: One More for the Road: A New Story Collection (Hardcover)

I am a big fan of Ray Bradbury. There is so much irony in his words. He is one of the last great authors of our time. This collection does not do Him Justice, however. The first story is okay. "Beasts", and "Leftovers" are lacking in most areas. The "Dragon danced at Midnight" is great , "Fore" is one of Ray's Best. If you are not familliar with Bradbury's work this is not a very good place to start. Start with "The Illustated Man". But for seasoned fans, this is not a horrible book, but not His best works. Still, not bad for His early eighties. Keep on writing, Ray!!

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2.0 out of 5 stars The anti-bradbury, Jun 24 2004

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cody knotts (Chardon, OH USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: One More For The Road (Mass Market Paperback)

There's a reason most of these stories had never been published. Ray Bradbury is a master of unveiling events in such a way as to hold the readers interest and keep them guessing. Even until the the end the reader sure isn't quite sure just what is going on and how it will end. His endings are full of ironies that not even the most clarvoyant person can expect. Unfortunately most of these stories lack these tallents. Most of these stories are uneventfull, uninspiring, anticlimactic and contain little or no irony. If you're a Bradbury fan, and want to see a master fail, here's your chance to do it.

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4.0 out of 5 stars Bradbury never fails to enchant, May 9 2004

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Eric San Juan (Brick, NJ USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: One More For The Road (Mass Market Paperback)

"One More For The Road" is the latest short story collection by Ray Bradbury, one of the two still living giants of classic science fiction literature (the other being Arthur C. Clarke). The volume collects tales mostly published over the last few years, though one from 1947 slips into the mix, as well as a couple from the 60s.

Overall the work is not top-to-bottom essential, though few short story collections are. What is most striking about this volume is that Bradbury, now in his 80s, can still flex the creative muscle that made him such an honored writer.

In "One For The Road," Bradbury mixes human drama and classic science fiction "what ifs" with ease. With a few scattered exceptions, the mix works splendidly.

These stories, by and large, are more noticeably "human" than previous works (though Bradbury has always woven tales of ordinary people with tales of the extraordinary). The first hint of science fiction does not appear until the third story in the volume, for instance, one of just a handful.

Bradbury can still connect. His ability to strike a chord with the reader is as potent as it was when he was 30, 40, 50 years old. Certainly Bradbury is not as consistently good as he once was, yet he retains his skill at touching on the human condition with elegance and simplicity. Emotionally impacting his readers is not a weapon lost to Bradbury's arsenal.

So, does "One For The Road" fare well against Bradbury's best work? Bradbury's best is among the greatest works of fiction over the last 50 years, making the question almost unfair. No, this new collection is not the equal of his best. Precious few books are. But it is a wonderful group of stories presented by one of the great authors of our time, sure to please science fiction fans and non-genre readers alike.

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Most recent customer reviews

3.0 out of 5 stars Not his best, but still worth reading
I have decided that short stories must be more difficult to write than novels. I absolutely adored Ray Bradbury's Fareheit 451, but his short story collection One More For the... Read more

Published on July 25 2003 by Heather Charton

4.0 out of 5 stars Better than Most
This is not Ray Bradbury's best work. Yet, this is not a fair statement when he has written works such as Dandelion Wine and The Martian Chronicles. Read more

Published on Mar 9 2003 by papaphilly