The October Country

A brilliant collection of stories centered around what Bradbury called his “autumn people.” Of course, anything by Ray Bradbury is going to be high caliber, but these stories speak to me at the heart. Much like “Something Wicked” the stories focus on worlds very similar to ours, but always a little off.

Bradbury is at his best in short stories and every one in this collection doesn't disappoint. If you like the man at his most eerie, weird, disaffected and dark, this is essential reading.

Worlds of funhouses, quack doctors, catacombs, corpses, skeletons, ancient houses, all tied together by a lonesome, empty street, small town feel. Bradbury, while in some stories all but glorifies the small town, in this collection we see the darkest side the master could conjure up about such places.

It's Ray Bradbury's short stories so of course, they're going to be good. One of my favorite short story writers, no question.

In this collection, I see a theme of characters who become obsessed or deeply neurotic about events/things that lead them into situations they may (or may not) have avoided. A few examples of this are “The Next in Line,” “The Crowd,” and “The Wind.”

The description calls these “macabre” stories and perhaps they are, but I found humor in some of them too, “Skeleton,” “There Was an Old Woman,” and “Homecoming” in particular. It could just be me; it has occurred to me that I have a weird sense of humor.

“Homecoming” was one of my particular favorites, like The Munsters if Marylin had been less well-adjusted.

Fun collection and my favorite Halloween read this year.