Tag: Ray Bradbury

Something Wicked This Way Comes…

On By Christopher TuthillIn 31 Tales of Halloween, Books, Halloween, Horror, Reading, Reviews4 Comments

I was quiet the past few days due to a campout, which was a bracing seasonal treat. It was a gorgeous weekend, the foliage was on full display, we heard owls at night as we enjoyed the fire, saw turkeys and deer and other small critters. It’s great to reconnect with nature when you’re able.

Today I’ll offer three short reviews of seasonal stories, to keep this October project going.

The Halloween Tree by Ray Bradbury (1972)

“Tom Skelton shivered. Anyone could see that the wind was a special wind this night, and the darkness took on a special feel because it was All Hallows’ Eve. Everything seemed cut from soft black velvet or gold or orange velvet. Smoke panted up out of a thousand chimneys like the plumes of funeral parades. From kitchen windows drifted two pumpkin smells: gourds being cut, pies being baked.”

This is a wonderful treat, a book that can be savored and read aloud to kids as the date draws near. I love doing that with my own children, and it holds up so well to repeated readings. It’s the story of a group of friends who go out trick or treating only to find that one of their pals, Pipkin, is extremely ill. To save him, they must accompany the mysterious Mr. Moundshroud on a journey across the world and many different cultures, learning about various rituals of death and the spirit world. This really is the perfect Halloween book for tweens and dreamers of all ages. In 1993, it was made into an animated special starring the great Leonard Nimoy as Moundshroud.

Something Wicked This Way Comes by Ray Bradbury (1962)

“And if it’s around October twentieth and everything smoky-smelling and the sky orange and ash gray at twilight, it seems Halloween will never come in a fall of broomsticks and a soft flap of bedsheets around corners.”

Bradbury was so prolific and wrote so many fine tales that it is hard to narrow it down to his best. In fact, you could have a list of 31 Bradbury stories for the season. But this one is a personal favorite of mine, bringing together all of Bradbury’s great themes in one place, in an extremely satisfying story of two friends, Jim Nightshade and Will Holloway, and the strange carnival that comes to Green Town one Halloween. I’ve written essays on this book and have read it a number of times, and to me it just gets better as the years go by. I love this story, and I think anyone who enjoys this season will love it, too. Probably my favorite book on this list, and that is saying something. Bradbury was heavily involved with the feature film from 1983, which is also a lot of fun.

The Witches of Eastwick by John Updike (1984)

“Not until midlife did she truly believe that she had a right to exist, that the forces of nature had created her not as an afterthought and companion—a bent rib, as the infamous Malleus Maleficarum had it—but as the mainstay of the continuing Creation, as the daughter of a daughter and a woman whose daughters in turn would bear daughters.”

John Updike needs no introduction from me or anyone else. I was intrigued by the idea of this book about modern day witches living in Rhode Island, since I knew Updike from his Rabbit books, which I thoroughly enjoyed. I’ve yet to read a better saga about an American everyman in crisis, and find Updike’s prose to be really wonderful. This book is a total departure from that sort of novel, though his poetic command of language makes the book a joy to read. Told from the witches’ point of view, this is a fun, feminist update to these kinds of legends. If you are looking for a great literary read, this book’s for you. It was made into a successful film in 1987, with an all-star cast, directed by George Miller. Updike wrote a sequel in 2008 called The Widows of Eastwick.

The October Country, by Ray Bradbury (1955)

On By Christopher TuthillIn 31 Tales of Halloween, Halloween1 Comment

We start the month with one of the finest collections of seasonal stories ever, by the great Ray Bradbury. Released in 1955, its significance in the genre can’t really be overstated, nor can Ray’s role in shaping Halloween as we know it today. Just leafing through this one is enough to give you a warm feeling of nostalgia and creepiness, to know that autumn is at hand. You start reading and immediately know you’re in the hands of a master.

I first encountered this one many years ago, and I make a point to re-read it nearly every October. The beautiful cover by Joseph Mugniani (with whom Bradbury often collaborated) sets the tone, and it keeps getting better as you read each tale. There are so many memorable stories here that it’s a bit like listening to the Beatles’ greatest hits: The Small Assassin, The Dwarf, Jack in the Box, on and on they go, each one weirder and more wonderful than the last. I love The Dwarf, the tale of a short man who visits a carnival fun house each night to see himself taller and more handsome, only to be cruelly abused by the fun house proprietor. For me, the centerpiece here is “The Homecoming,” which along with “Uncle Einar” are the strangest and most jaw-dropping of these stories. They’re so good that later in his career they became the backbone of another collection, ‘From the Dust Returned,’ which explores the Elliott family in all their glory.

Bradbury wrote so much over his long and storied career that it’s hard to pick just one novel or collection of his, but I think this one is most emblematic of all his best elements. Good-hearted, small-town people meet fantastic beings. Helpless loners and outsiders are treated cruelly by life but keep their souls intact through art and kindness. The wonder and mystery and imagination of the dark side of the world, all told with Bradbury’s poetic prose, heartfelt emotion, and wild imagination. It just doesn’t get any better than The October Country. We were so lucky to have had Ray.

Bradbury often wrote of the importance of feeding one’s imagination. Zen and the Art of Writing is a wonderful book for any writer, with lots of great observations on how to work at your craft. Mostly, he wants writers to stop thinking and just write. The ideas poured forth from his mind when he did this. One oft quoted passage from the book is: “If you did not write every day, the poisons would accumulate and you would begin to die, or act crazy, or both. You must stay drunk on writing so reality cannot destroy you.”

I think there’s a real lesson in this. Overanalyzing things, thinking too much, and soaking up too much information, which is very easy to do in our hyper-connected world, is the enemy of good writing. In my view, Bradbury’s method works. He was drunk on life and ideas and let them spill out in beautiful ways that have resonated with millions of readers for generations. May he keep finding new audiences forever. Thanks for all the stories, Ray.