Bradbury 100 returns - new episode!

Bradbury 100 returns for 2026 with another "Chronological" episode, this time starting us off with the year 1945. In this year, Ray published no fewer than thirteen stories.

In this episode, I cover the first four stories: 

• "The Poems" (Weird Tales, January 1945 - online here)
• "I’m Not So Dumb!" (Detective Tales, February 1945 - no online version)
• "Hell’s Half Hour" (New Detective, March 1945 - no online version)
• "The Tombstone" (Weird Tales, March 1945 - online here)

There's a mixture here of two genres still favoured by Ray as a professional short story writer, namely the detective story and the weird tale; none of that science fiction stuff...

In my coverage of "The Poems", I also review Ray's "about the author" text which he supplied to Weird Tales magazine. It contains some interesting insights into his writerly process back when he was a mere twenty-four years old. 

In future episodes of the podcast, I will review the remaining stories from 1945, including the two short stories called "Skeleton".

You can find the new pod episode using your podcast app, or through any of the podcast platforms listed at the bottom of this post.

Or you can simply click play, right here:

 

 

Bradbury 100 · Bradbury 100 - episode 73 - Chronological Bradbury 1945 (part 1)

 

 

 

 

Please subscribe to the Bradbury 100 podcast - it's totally free on all platforms. Where to find it:

 

Main platforms:

 
Apple Podcasts - Soundcloud - Spotify

 

 

 

Other platforms include: 

Amazon Music - Audible - Castbox - Deezer - Fountain - Listen Notes - Player FM - Pocket Casts - Podbean - Podcast Addict - Podcast Index - Podcast Republic - Podchaser - Podfriend - Podlink - TuneIn - YouTube

 

 

New BRADBURY 100 Episode - Chronological Bradbury: 1942

Time for another new episode of my Bradbury 100 podcast, and it's another one of the occasional "Chronological Bradbury" series. This time, we hit 1942, the year when Ray broke through to the two leading science fiction and fantasy pulp magazines of the time: Astounding Science Fiction and Weird Tales.

It's actually a fairly quiet year, as Ray only published two stories in 1942. (But he was evidently busy writing, because the following years will be full of professional appearances.)

The two stories I cover today are "Eat, Drink and Be Wary", from July 1942, which you can read in full here...

...and "The Candle", from November 1942, which is available here.

I hope you enjoy the episode!

 

 

Bradbury 100 · Bradbury 100 - Episode 55 - Chronological Bradbury 1942

 

 

 

Please subscribe to the Bradbury 100 podcast - it's totally free on all platforms. Where to find it:

 

 

Main platforms:

 
Apple Podcasts  - Google Podcasts - Soundcloud - Spotify

 

 

 

Other platforms: 

Amazon Music - Audible - Bullhorn - Castbox - Deezer - Listen Notes - Player FM - Pocket Casts - Podbean - Podcast Addict - Podcast Index - Podcast Republic - Podchaser - Podfriend - Podlink - TuneIn

 

The Jar

Seventy-six years ago, in November 1944, Weird Tales magazine debuted a classic Ray Bradbury short story: "The Jar".

 

 

It's a simple short story, involving the purchase of a jar with mysterious, unfathomable contents. Something preserved in formaldehyde, perhaps? No one can be quite sure.

The story remains one of Bradbury's most popular, and it has been anthologised and collected dozens of times over the years. A quick skim of its history at the Internet Speculative Fiction Database indicates about 74 appearances! Nowadays you can find it in two of Ray's books: The October Country and The Stories of Ray Bradbury.

And, of course, "The Jar" is a perennial favourite in adaptation. It was adapted magnificently for The Alfred Hitchcock Hour, in a version directed by Norman Lloyd; re-adapted (badly) for the 1980s revival of Alfred Hitchcock Presents, where it was directed by Tim Burton; and adapted again (competently) for The Ray Bradbury Theater, with a script by Bradbury himself. It's also been done for radio and occasionally for the stage.

You can read my reviews of the various TV versions here:

Hitchcock (original)

Hitchcock (revival)

Bradbury

 

The actual jar from the original Hitchcock version survives to this day. For decades Ray Bradbury had it in his basement office, and after he died it was gifted to the Center for Ray Bradbury Studies in Indianapolis. The waters within the jar are even murkier now than they were back in the 1960s when the episode was filmed, but you still get a sense that there's something in there looking out at you...