''Dark Carnival'' is a short story collection by American writer
Ray Bradbury
Ray Douglas Bradbury (; August 22, 1920June 5, 2012) was an American author and screenwriter. One of the most celebrated 20th-century American writers, he worked in a variety of modes, including fantasy, science fiction, horror, mystery fictio ...
, first published October 1947 by
Arkham House
Arkham House is an American publishing house specializing in weird fiction. It was founded in Sauk City, Wisconsin, in 1939 by August Derleth and Donald Wandrei to publish hardcover collections of H. P. Lovecraft's best works, which had ...
. It was his debut book, and many of the stories were reprinted elsewhere.
Contents
# "The Homecoming"
# "Skeleton"
# "
The Jar"
# "The Lake"
# "The Maiden"
# "The Tombstone"
# "The Smiling People"
# "The Emissary"
# "The Traveler"
# "
The Small Assassin"
# "The Crowd"
# "Reunion"
# "The Handler"
# "The Coffin"
# "Interim"
# "
Jack-in-the-Box
A jack-in-the-box is a children's toy that outwardly consists of a box with a crank. When the crank is turned, a music box mechanism in the toy plays a melody. After the crank has been turned a sufficient number of times (such as at the end ...
"
# "
The Scythe"
# "Let's Play 'Poison'"
# "Uncle Einar"
# "The Wind"
# "The Night"
# "There Was An Old Woman"
# "The Dead Man"
# "The Man Upstairs"
# "The Night Sets"
# "Cistern"
# "The Next In Line"
About the stories
''Dark Carnival'' was Bradbury's first published book. 3,112 copies were printed by
Arkham House
Arkham House is an American publishing house specializing in weird fiction. It was founded in Sauk City, Wisconsin, in 1939 by August Derleth and Donald Wandrei to publish hardcover collections of H. P. Lovecraft's best works, which had ...
, under the editorial direction of
August Derleth
August William Derleth (February 24, 1909 – July 4, 1971) was an American writer and anthologist. Though best remembered as the first book publisher of the writings of H. P. Lovecraft, and for his own contributions to the Cthulhu Mythos and the ...
. All but six of the stories had been first published elsewhere, although Bradbury revised some of the texts.
Fifteen of the 27 stories were reprinted in ''
The October Country
''The October Country'' is a 1955 collection of nineteen macabre short stories by American writer Ray Bradbury. It reprints fifteen of the twenty-seven stories of his 1947 collection '' Dark Carnival'', and adds four more of his stories previou ...
'' in 1955, some in revised form. Those stories are "The Next in Line", "Skeleton", "The Jar", "The Lake", "The Emissary", "The Small Assassin", "The Crowd", "Jack-in-the-Box", "The Scythe", "Uncle Einar", "The Wind", "The Man Upstairs", "There Was an Old Woman", "The Cistern" and "The Homecoming".
Of the remainder, eight have been reprinted in one or more collections.
* "The Traveler" and "The Coffin" are in ''
The Stories of Ray Bradbury
''The Stories of Ray Bradbury'' is an anthology containing 100 short stories by American writer Ray Bradbury, first published by Knopf in 1980. The hundred stories, written from 1943 to 1980, were selected by the author himself. Bradbury's work ...
''
* "The Night" is in ''The Stories of Ray Bradbury'' and ''
The Small Assassin'', a British-only collection
* "Let's Play 'Poison'" is in ''
Bradbury Stories: 100 of His Most Celebrated Tales'' and ''The Small Assassin''
* "The Tombstone" is in ''
The Toynbee Convector
"The Toynbee Convector" is a science fiction short story by American writer Ray Bradbury. First published in ''Playboy'' magazine in 1984, the story was subsequently featured in a 1988 short story collection also titled '' The Toynbee Convector' ...
'' and ''The Small Assassin''
* "The Smiling People", "The Dead Man" and "The Handler" are in ''Bradbury Stories'' and ''The Small Assassin''.
"The Night Sets", "The Maiden", "Reunion" and "Interim" have not been anthologized as of 2010.
For many years, Bradbury did not permit ''Dark Carnival'' to be reprinted, since updated versions of many of the stories were collected as ''The October Country.'' However, a limited edition of ''Dark Carnival'', with five extra stories and a new introduction by Bradbury, was printed by
Gauntlet Press
Gauntlet or the gauntlet may refer to:
Common uses
*Gauntlet (glove), protective gloves used as a form of armor
*Running the gauntlet, a form of physical punishment
Arts, entertainment, and media Fictional characters
*Gauntlet (comics), a Marvel ...
in 2001.
On August 22, 2006, "The Homecoming" was published as a stand-alone short story with illustrations by
Dave McKean
David McKean (born 29 December 1963) is an English illustrator, photographer, comic book artist, graphic designer, filmmaker and musician. His work incorporates drawing, painting, photography, collage, found objects, digital art, and sculpt ...
.
See also
*
Ray Bradbury short fiction bibliography
This is a chronological list of short fiction by American writer Ray Bradbury
Ray Douglas Bradbury (; August 22, 1920June 5, 2012) was an American author and screenwriter. One of the most celebrated 20th-century American writers, he worked ...
Sources
*
*
*
*
External links
*
{{Ray Bradbury
1947 short story collections
Short story collections by Ray Bradbury
Horror short story collections
Fantasy short story collections