Friday, December 09, 2011

Forgotten Books: A Memory of Murder -- Ray Bradbury

Yeah, I know. You remember this one, too, but it's been out of print since 1984, so I figure it qualifies. If there's a more recent edition, let us know in the comments.

This is a collection of Bradbury's very early crime stories, some of his first fiction sales. It comes complete with a short but revealing introduction that explains why the book is dedicated to Leigh Brackett.

One of the stories in the book, "Small Assassin," is likely to be familiar to a lot of readers, but that's the only one. The others, from places like Dime Mystery Magazine and Detective Tales, probably aren't. These aren't great stories, but they're interesting if you care about the development of a young writer who really hit his stride a few years after their publication. Not essential, but certainly worth a little of your time.

8 comments:

George said...

I bought A MEMORY OF MURDER for the cover, but enjoyed reading it.

Lawrence Person said...

Looks like there was an omnibus edition with Death is a Lonely Business in 1987. But that appears to be it. Seems like a market opportunity for Subterranean...

Anonymous said...

I thought I'd read this but apparently not. I ordered a copy from PaperbackSwap.com.

Jeff

Stephen B. said...

This book (with it's suspense themed stories) and NO DOORS, NO WINDOWS by Ellison were great additions to my shelf.

I never even found A MEMORY OF MURDER (quite a few stories were collected in other books by Bradbury, but some were not) and one day around 6 or so years ago located a copy on a store shelf - don't see it often at all.

SB said...

Actually, yes, most of the stories are those possibly -only- in this book now that I recall...

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SB said...

[Posted on 12-2016]:

As an estimate, I have something like 30 books and paperbacks by Bradbury I have read and keep around here; I probably have another 15 by R. Matheson; estimate I've read 25 or more Joe Lansdale books and have at least several in hardback, too.


Can you tell that suspense and speculative fiction has kept my attention so far...!