I was excited to pick up two nice old magazines with Ray Bradbury stories.
The first is the Fall 1948 Planet Stories, containing “Mars Is Heaven!,” which of course was collected in the 1949 The Martian Chronicles as “The Third Expedition.” Interestingly, whereas the book gives the date of this mission as the then-magical 2000, in the original pulp it is a very near 1960.
The other magazine is the 28 June 1952 issue of Collier’s. This huge periodical has the first publication of Bradbury’s now-classic “A Sound of Thunder,” with a lovely colorful illustration by Frederick Siebel...though I confess that the depiction of the rifles falls a tad flat to my taste.
In any event, speaking of huge, when I say acquired this magazine, I don’t mean that I was able to purchase that single issue, as I did for, say, the 30 August 1947 “Flight to the Future” article by Robert A. Heinlein and Caleb B. Laning. No, no—nothing quite so simple. Due to the vagaries of the online market, what was available just then was the entire volume 129 of the magazine, meaning every issue from April and May and June of 1952, bound in a great big 2-inch-thick hardcover, as was done for libraries back then. Wow. This creates some slight puzzles in the shelving in my own library, but that tome sure is a neat slice of mid-century American history.
Oh, finally— Remember how the familiar version of the story, as printed in The Golden Apples of the Sun, ends with Travis, the guide, clicking off the safety of his rifle, followed by, ahem, a sound of thunder? Well, apparently this was too edgy for Collier’s, so when the agonized Eckles asks if somehow they can go back fix things, the story here ends with the scared and angry Travis simply shaking his head. Ouch... Oh, well—the magazine was still a wonderful pick-up!
The first is the Fall 1948 Planet Stories, containing “Mars Is Heaven!,” which of course was collected in the 1949 The Martian Chronicles as “The Third Expedition.” Interestingly, whereas the book gives the date of this mission as the then-magical 2000, in the original pulp it is a very near 1960.
The other magazine is the 28 June 1952 issue of Collier’s. This huge periodical has the first publication of Bradbury’s now-classic “A Sound of Thunder,” with a lovely colorful illustration by Frederick Siebel...though I confess that the depiction of the rifles falls a tad flat to my taste.
In any event, speaking of huge, when I say acquired this magazine, I don’t mean that I was able to purchase that single issue, as I did for, say, the 30 August 1947 “Flight to the Future” article by Robert A. Heinlein and Caleb B. Laning. No, no—nothing quite so simple. Due to the vagaries of the online market, what was available just then was the entire volume 129 of the magazine, meaning every issue from April and May and June of 1952, bound in a great big 2-inch-thick hardcover, as was done for libraries back then. Wow. This creates some slight puzzles in the shelving in my own library, but that tome sure is a neat slice of mid-century American history.
Oh, finally— Remember how the familiar version of the story, as printed in The Golden Apples of the Sun, ends with Travis, the guide, clicking off the safety of his rifle, followed by, ahem, a sound of thunder? Well, apparently this was too edgy for Collier’s, so when the agonized Eckles asks if somehow they can go back fix things, the story here ends with the scared and angry Travis simply shaking his head. Ouch... Oh, well—the magazine was still a wonderful pick-up!
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