Contains:
The Toynbee convector --
Trapdoor --
On the Orient, North --
One night in your life --
West of October --
The last circus --
The Laurel and Hardy love affair --
I suppose you are wondering why we are here? --
Lafayette, farewell --
Banshee --
Promises, promises --
The love affair --
One for his lordship, and one for the road! --
At midnight, in the month of June --
Bless me, Father, for I have sinned --
By the numbers! --
A touch of petulance --
Long division --
Come and bring Constance! --
Junior --
The tombstone --
The thing at the top of the stairs --
Colonel Stonesteel's genuine home-made truly Egyptian mummy.

This fine collection of Ray Bradbury short stories (is that a redundant statement?) was published in 1988, and includes 23 pieces written during that late-80s period. Many are anthologized here for the first time, so it’s a worthwhile addition for Bradbury collectors and fans.

Subjects range from whimsy to fantasy to time travel to love stories to straight-up horror – and some are an amalgam of those genres that only Bradbury could pull off.

Favorites include “Trapdoor”, which proves yet again that a good writer of horror can rise the hair on the reader’s neck without ever spilling a drop of blood; “The Love Affair”, which returns to the Martian Chronicles setting with a truly creepy tale; “At Midnight in the Month of June” is a skeevy follow-up to radbury’s classic “The Ravine”; and “One for His Lordship and One for the Road”, which is a whimsical set-up to an old shaggy-dog story, but Bradbury restrains himself from actually quoting the punchline. If you know the story, you’ll figure it out. If not, it’s still delightful. ( )

Extremely average. There are a few stories that stand out, but for the most part this could have been packaged in a big brown box that said BULK RAY BRADBURY PROPERTY US GOVT ( )

N-3

Some fun short stories in this collection. Emphasis on the 'short' as there is not an overly lengthy tale in the bunch. ( )