By Dr Oliver Tearle (Loughborough University)
‘Zero Hour’ is a 1949 short story by the American author Ray Bradbury (1920-2012), included in his 1953 collection The Illustrated Man. In the story, which is set in a future America, a young girl is befriended by an alien who needs her help to invade Earth and kill the adults.
You can read ‘Zero Hour’ here before proceeding to our summary and analysis of Bradbury’s story below. The story takes around fifteen minutes to read.
By Dr Oliver Tearle (Loughborough University)
‘Kaleidoscope’ is a short story by the American author Ray Bradbury (1920-2012), included in his 1952 collection of interlinked tales, The Illustrated Man. ‘Kaleidoscope’ deals with the theme of death, and how human beings respond to their imminent deaths, by focusing on a crew of astronauts who are thrown out into space after their rocket explodes.
By Dr Oliver Tearle (Loughborough University)
‘I See You Never’ is a short story by Ray Bradbury (1920-2012), published in 1947. One of Bradbury’s shortest stories, ‘I See You Never’ is about a Mexican man who, after two-and-a-half years living in the United States, is told he must leave the country because his visa has expired. The story focuses on his emotional farewell to his landlady.
By Dr Oliver Tearle (Loughborough University)
‘The City’ is a short story about revenge best served cold. Written by the American author Ray Bradbury (1920-2012), the story was included in his 1952 collection The Illustrated Man. The story is about a city which has waited twenty thousand years for man to return so that the city can visit a terrible revenge upon Earth for a past crime.
By Dr Oliver Tearle (Loughborough University)
‘Marionettes, Inc.’ is a 1949 short story by the American writer Ray Bradbury (1920-2012). The story was reprinted in Bradbury’s 1952 collection The Illustrated Man. It concerns a company which can manufacture lifelike plastic doubles of people; these ‘marionettes’ can then stand in for the person they resemble while the real person is elsewhere.