The October Country
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4.2 • 45 Ratings
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- $12.99
Publisher Description
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.
Customer Reviews
Classic Works of Dark Fantasy
“The October Country
…that country where it is always turning late in the year. That country where the hills are fog and the rivers are mist; where noons go quickly, dusks and twilights linger, and mid-nights stay. That country composed in the main of cellars, sub-cellars, coal-bins, closets, attics, and pantries faced away from the sun. That country whose people are autumn people, thinking only autumn thoughts. Whose people passing at night on the empty walks sound like rain. . . .”
The October Country was the second collection of short stories by Ray Bradbury, and was originally published in 1955. I recently re-read it to celebrate October. It’s mostly as good as I remember, although one can definitely see how some of the stories were a product of their time.
These 19 stories aren’t quite horror, most would be considered dark fantasy these days. They include a wide variety of types of tales, from a murderous baby to the homecoming of a monstrous family. All have a touch of darkness, but in different ways.
In his 1999 Introduction “Homesteading the October Country” Ray Bradbury discusses his writing and his inspiration for many of the stories. A lot of these were inspired by his own experiences as a child.
There’s a reason that Ray Bradbury is considered a great writer. One can begin to see why in this collection.
What you’d expect from one of the greatest
An excellent collection of stories by a master writer. Bradbury was a pioneer in his craft.
Perfect for an October night.
Wonderful collection of pure irony! October Country does not disappoint. Stories just long enough to complete one in each sitting slowing time between them to savor each one.