This book traces the origins of Bradbury's 1953 novel Fahrenheit 451. It collects together all of the published and unpublished works where Bradbury developed the ideas that finally coalesced in Fahrenheit 451.
The book has a thematic introduction by William F. Touponce, and a detailed history of all the texts by Jon Eller. There is a preface by Bradbury, and a facsimile of some F451-related correspondence between Bradbury and fellow writer Richard Matheson.
The bulk of the book is made up of various short stories and fragments. Some of them, such as "Pillar of Fire" and "The Pedestrian" are familiar from their already celebrated status as classic Bradbury short stories. Many more are unfamiliar, or even unpublished before now. Some are presented as facsimile manuscript pages. The book is illustrated throughout with Bradbury doodles.
Even if you are not interested in the history of Bradbury's text, this is a strong collection of fiction, and makes a fascinating companion to Fahnreheit 451.
This 484-page Gauntlet hardcover was published in tandem with a 71-page chapbook of overspill material, The Dragon Who Ate His Tail.
Contents:
| Story |
Film/TV
|
Audio
|
Details
of First publication
(and other notes) |
| The
Reincarnate (original unrevised version, written c. 1942-44) |
First
appearance of this unrevised version. The revised (2005) version previously appeared in Dark Delicacies, ed. D.Howison & J.Gelb (Carroll & Graff, 2005). |
||
| Pillar
of Fire (written 1947) |
Planet Stories, summer 1948 | ||
| The
Library (written 1947) |
First appearance. | ||
| Bright
Phoenix (written c.1947-48) |
The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction, May 1963 | ||
| Tiger,
Tiger, Burning Bright (written 1950) |
First appearance. | ||
| The
Mad Wizards of Mars (written 1950) (also known as "The Exiles") |
Maclean’s, September 15 1949 | ||
| Carnival
of Madness (written c.1949) (also known as "Usher II") |
Thrilling Wonder Stories, April 1950 | ||
| The
Mechanical Hound (undated two-paragraph fragment) |
First appearance. | ||
| Bonfire (written c.1950) (also known as "The Bonfire") |
Torquasian Times, Winter 1950-51 | ||
| Cricket
on the Hearth (written c.1950) |
One More For The Road (2002) | ||
| The
Pedestrian (written 1950) |
The Reporter, August 7 1951 | ||
| The
Garbage Collector (written c.1951) (also known as "Garbage Collector") |
The Golden Apples of the Sun (1953) | ||
| The
Smile (written c.1947) |
Fantastic, Summer 1952 | ||
| Where
Ignorant Armies Clash by Night (various fragments of a novel, developed during the 1940s) |
First appearance. | ||
| Long
After Midnight (written1950) (not the same story as the one collected in the book Long After Midnight (1976)) |
First appearance. | ||
|
The Fireman |
Galaxy, February 1951 |
Match to Flame
First published by Gauntlet in 2006.
Picture shows Gauntlet first edition. Cover art by Donn Albright.
Match to Flame: The
Fictional Paths to Fahrenheit 451
edited by Donn Albright