Nine Rarities

St. Swithin Press

About this eBook

This Ray Bradbury collection is comprised of nine early short stories
rarely or never reprinted since first publication. Included are three
stories originally published in Mr. Bradbury's own science fiction
fanzine, Futuria Fantasia.

"Don't Get Technatal": Jumping
Jigwheels! If you enjoy exclamation points, this story was written for
you! In the distant year of 1975 a dissatisfied writer rants about the
state of society! Could robosexuality be the answer he seeks?(!)

"The Pendulum": A delightful little story with delightfully unconventional spelling.

"The Flight of the Good Ship Clarissa": Not entirely lucid but entertaining nevertheless.

"I, Rocket": There may be an unwholesome subtext to this story.
"Mass
is the sexual drive of space, and gravity the intensified yearning of
that mass, the gravitic libido of one tremendous body for the love, the
following of any and all smaller bodies who transgress its void
boundaries."

"Undersea Guardians": Half-naked sea-dwelling zombies battle the Nazi Kriegsmarine!

"Final
Victim": "Hunting a criminal is tough enough, but it's even tougher
when it's on a bit of Hell's own rock in the void of space."

"Defense
Mech": There are no giant, Japanese-speaking robots in this story. It
is, however, a riveting tale of the effects of space on the human
psyche.

"Lorelei of the Red Mist": A second chance in someone
else's body becomes complicated when its previous owner was universally
hated.

"Jonah of the Jove-Run": "They hated this little beat-up
old guy. Even if his crazy cosmic brain could track an asteroid clear
across the Galaxy, why did he have to smash the super-sensitive meteor
detectors?"

About 55,000 words in total.
Punctuation and apparent typographical errors in the Futuria Fantasia stories have been left as originally published.

"Don't Get Technatal" (as Ron Reynolds) Futuria Fantasia (1939)
"The Pendulum" (uncredited) Futuria Fantasia (1939)
"The Flight of the Good Ship Clarissa" (uncredited) Futuria Fantasia (1940)
"I, Rocket" Amazing Stories (May 1944)
"Undersea Guardians" Amazing Stories (December 1944)
"Final Victim" Amazing Stories (February 1946)
"Defense Mech" Planet Stories (February 1946)
"Lorelei of the Red Mist" Planet Stories (May 1946)
"Jonah of the Jove-Run" Planet Stories (Spring, 1948)