Will write up later, original review posted over on BL ( )

Enjoyable array of short stories. Some SciFi from this era is rather dated, not so in this case: I was surprised at how timely many of these were. ( )

I will confess that my reading of Bradbury has been limited to Fahrenheit 451—a great book, to be sure, but hardly typical of the man's skills as a writer. But I am trying to expand my horizons, and to this end I picked up a copy of this short story collection while on a booking stop at a store not far from Big South Fork. It took a while for me to get to it, but once I did…wow!

Essentially this is a "best of the best" circa mid sixties picked by Bradbury himself, stories he considered of merit in one way or another. They're all at least good and the genres vary wildly…some of the tales are whimsical, some are thought-provoking, and some are downright terrifying. It's hard (if not impossible) to pick a favorite, but the ones I found particularly affecting were "Hail and Farewell", the story of a boy who never grows up; "The Small Assassin", which is exactly what its title says it's about; and "Night Meeting", which is one you'll remember long after you put the volume down. Hopefully it (and what seems to be a follow up of sorts, the closing "There Will Come Soft Rains") are not prescient.

There are also four pieces from "Dandelion Wine", a lovely taste of wonders in store. And monsters, midgets, and aliens. And lions. I didn't mention the holographic lions. Or are they holographic?

This is awesome, mind-blowing stuff. Give yourself a couple of weeks when reading these, you'll want time to savor them all. And then be prepared to go out and fill your shelves with more of Bradbury's work. ( )

With his reputation, I wanted to be wowed, and I wasn't. I think he's dated -- his blend of science fiction and fantasy is neither one nor the other and seems to fall short. I was especially disappointed in Dandelion Wine. It went nowhere. Great writer, but has not aged well. ( )

Full of both Bradbury staples and lesser-known works, this volume was worth reading for "Kaleidoscope" alone, which I encountered here for the first time. It is simply amazing.