"Can you oppose the forces that see that people die just when they are supposed to die - not too soon, not too late?"
Fred Humiston (1902-1976) - Illustration for Ray Bradbury's 'The Scythe'
(Weird Tales - July 1943)
West magazine cover, inside is the first story from Bradbury's martian chronicles in Bande Dessines /comic book form
I love bradburys writing, he's a master of gothic, by turns movingly compassionate and truly frightening
“I think the only way we can grow and get on in this world is to accept the fact we’re not perfect and live accordingly.”
— Ray Bradbury, The Illustrated Man
McDunn fumbled with the switch. But even as he switched it on, the monster was rearing up. I had a glimpse of its gigantic paws, fish skin glittering in webs between the finger-like projections, clawing at the tower. The huge eye on the right side of its anguished head glittered before me like a cauldron into which I might drop, screaming. The tower shook. The Fog Horn cried; the monster cried. It seized the tower and gnashed at the glass, which shattered in upon us.
Illustration by Aleta Jenks for The Fog Horn by Ray Bradbury.
“And a last thought from Tom: O Mr. Moundshroud, will we EVER stop being afraid of nights and death? And the thought returned: When you reach the stars, boy, yes, and live there forever, all the fears will go, and Death himself will die.”
― Ray Bradbury, quote from The Halloween Tree
“Without libraries what have we? We have no past and no future.”
— Ray Bradbury
...that country where it is always turning late in the year. That country where the hills are fog and the rivers are mist; where noon go quickly, ducks and twilights linger, and midnights stay. That country composed in the main of cellars, sub-cellars, coal bins, closets, attics, and pantries faced away from the sun. That country whose people are autumn people, thinking only autumn thoughts. Whose people passing at night on the empty walks sound like rain...
Ray Bradbury
“Bees do have a smell, you know, and if they don’t they should, for their feet are dusted with spices from a million flowers.”
Ray Bradbury, Dandelion Wine