This 1997 collection is uneven and at times weak. There is less fantasy or science fiction than in many of Ray Bradbury’s earlier works.
In the short story “Remember Me?” we find the theme of meeting a familiar face in a distant place.
The theme of children’s storytelling and kissing games is found in “House Divided”.
The theme of looking up an old flame is in “I Wonder What’s Become of Sally?”
And one of my favorite themes, the revenge of the nerd everybody picked on is the theme of “The Highest Branch on the Tree”.
The book has some terrific moments. Examples are when Bradbury recalls a tiny, dusty, moth-eaten Mexican circus, tells the hilarious story of Irish drinking buddies looking for a safe place in the bogs to take a woman, and yet another tale of perfect love squandered (“Madame et Monsieur Shill”).
If you’re new to Bradbury, this will do nicely, but for veteran readers it’s a bit of same old same old. I guess Bradbury needed another paycheck to allow this to be published. It is not bad, but this is not his best work.
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Published by Jimmie Aaron Kepler, Ed.D.
Jimmie Aaron Kepler is an award-winning writer and poet. Born in San Antonio, Texas, to a career military father and stay at home mother, he lived in six states and attended eight schools before graduating high school. He earned a Bachelor of Arts in History with minors in English and Military Science from The University of Texas at Arlington, Master of Arts and Master of Religious Education degrees from Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, as well as the Doctor of Education degree. His writing awards include the CIPA EVVY 2021 Bronze Winner in the Spiritual/Religion Category and the 2021 NYC Big Book Award Distinguished Favorite for Christian Non-Fiction for Kissing Guilt Goodbye: Breaking Free from the Shackles of Shame (enLIVEn Devotional Series Book 3) for which he was a contributor and the East Texas Christian Writer’s Confernce best short story award. Before writing full time, he worked as a US Army officer for 8-years, religious educator for 18-years, and as an IT software application engineer for over 20-years. He is a widower. He lives in North Texas with his cat Lacey. View all posts by Jimmie Aaron Kepler, Ed.D.
View all posts by Jimmie Aaron Kepler, Ed.D.
This 1997 collection is uneven and at times weak. There is less fantasy or science fiction than in many of Ray Bradbury’s earlier works.
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