The October Country
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| Author | Ray Bradbury |
|---|---|
| Illustrator | Joseph Mugnaini |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Genre(s) | Science fiction, Fantasy |
| Publisher | Del Rey; Reprint edition |
| Released | 1955 |
| Media Type | |
| Pages | 352 (Paperback) |
| ISBN | ISBN 0345407857 |
The October Country is a 1955 collection of twenty macabre short stories by Ray Bradbury. It reprints fifteen of the twenty-seven stories of his 1947 collection Dark Carnival, and adds four more of his stories published elsewhere.
The stories:
- "The Dwarf"
The owner of a Hall of Mirrors and a young carnival-goer observe a dwarf who uses the mirrors to make himself seem taller.
- "The Next in Line"
A couple staying in a small Mexican town comes across a cemetery which holds a shocking policy regarding the interred whose families cannot pay.
- "The Watchful Poker Chip of H. Matisse"
A thoroughly dull man becomes the new avant garde craze precisely because he is boring.
- "Skeleton"
A man becomes convinced his skeleton is out to ruin him, and consults an unorthodox specialist.
- "The Jar"
- "The Lake"
A man revisits his childhood home and recalls a friend who drowned in a lake during childhood.
- "The Emissary"
- "Touched With Fire"
Two old men make it their mission to push fulfillment on unhappy people. They unsucessfully try to do with a woman whose story ends bloodily. It was first published under the title "Shopping for Death".
- "The Small Assassin"
A woman becomes convinced her newborn baby is out to kill her.
- "The Crowd"
A man discovers something odd about the crowds which form around accidents.
- "Jack-in-the-Box"
A boy lives with his mother in a vast secluded mansion, her raising him to be God after telling him his father, the original God, was killed by beasts outside.
- "The Scythe"
A man comes into possession of a powerful scythe and a wheat field. He discovers that the task of reaping is more than meets the eye.
- "Uncle Einar"
One of two stories in this collection to feature members of the Elliot family, a collection of movie monsters and immortal beings. This story focuses on a character named Uncle Einar, who tries to find a way into the skies after damaging his wings.
- "The Wind"
A former travel writer becomes mortally afraid that the winds he has defied around the world are gathering to kill him.
- "The Man Upstairs"
A young boy suspects the man renting the upper room of his house to be more than a man.
- "There Was an Old Woman"
- "The Cistern"
- "Homecoming"
The main story concerning the Elliot family. It concerns their return to the ancestral home for a gathering, and is seen through the eyes of Timothy, a mortal child left on their doorstep who longs to be like them. Einar from Uncle Einar figures prominently. It formed the basis for the 2001 book "From the Dust Returned".
- "The Wonderful Death of Dudley Stone"
Fans track down a writer who chose to withdraw into seclusion and cease writing, and get his story from him.
