often wanders into mysticism and other nonra-
tional fantasy. He began writing more frequently
for general magazines during the 1950s, but the
volume of new work began to slow, and by the
1960s his work was appearing comparatively infre-
quently. Although his later fiction has become
more polished, particularly his detective and crime
stories, the imaginative content has steadily less-
ened, and the tales themselves are less original and
striking.
Bradbury has written for younger readers,
most notably Switch on the Night(1951), The Hal-
loween Tree(1972), and From the Dust Returned
(2001), but none of these evoke the feeling of au-
thentic childhood nearly as well as his adult fiction
featuring young protagonists, such as the nonfan-
tastic novel Dandelion Wine(1957). The wonders
of childhood and the nature of life in a small town
are recurring themes and influences in Bradbury’s
work, and his ability to provide a glimpse of life
through the eyes of a child is particularly effective.
His single major novel of fantasy is SOMETHING
WICKED THIS WAY COMES(1962), a reworking of
material previously published in short form, partic-
ularly “The Black Ferris” (1968). A sinister carni-
val arrives in a small town containing a
merry-go-round that prematurely ages its passen-
gers, a mirror room that steals souls, and other
marvels. Only some of the town’s children recog-
nize the danger. A reasonably effective film version
appeared in 1983 based on Bradbury’s own screen-
play. He also provided the scripts for the short-
lived but high-quality anthology series The Ray
Bradbury Theater.
Bradbury was also the editor of two excellent
early anthologies, Timeless Stories for Today and To-
morrow(1952) and The Circus of Dr. Lao & Other
Improbable Stories(1956). He received a Grand
Master Award from the Science Fiction and Fantasy
Writers of America for his lifetime achievement and
similar recognition from the World Fantasy Conven-
tion. His fiction, particularly his dark fantasy and
horror, has been very influential on other writers in-
cluding Richard MATHESON, Charles BEAUMONT,
and William F. Nolan. The bibliography lists those
of Bradbury’s collections that contain large percent-
ages of fantasy and horror fiction, but many stories
in a similar vein can be found in his other collec-
tions as well. The best selections are those in The
Illustrated Man (1951), The October Country
(1955), and A Medicine for Melancholy(1959). The
most comprehensive collection is The Stories of Ray
Bradbury(1980). His collection One More for the
Road(2002) won the Bram Stoker Award for best
collection.Bradley, Marion Zimmer(1930–1999)
Marion Zimmer Bradley began her career as a sci-
ence fiction writer and is chiefly remembered in
that field for her Darkover novels, a long series set
on a distant planet with a culture very similar to
that of many classic fantasy novels. Some of the
citizens of Darkover possess “laran,” a psychic
power that is analogous to magic, and fantasy fans
may find much of the series, particularly the later
volumes, of interest.
Her first novel of fantasy was Dark Satanic
(1972), a Gothic suspense novel involving a cult of
Satan worshippers. One of the characters is a gen-
uine psychic, but most of the plot is straightfor-
ward and does not involve the supernatural. The
two sequels are both more heavily dependent on
fantastic content. The protagonist of The Inheritor
(1974) is a woman who is sensitive to the dark
spirits that haunt the old house where she is stay-
ing. There is another reluctant psychic in the third
in the series, Witch Hill(1990), a woman who de-
nies her powers until she runs into the satanists.
A second and much better supernatural series
consists of Ghostlight (1995), Witchlight (1996),
Gravelight(1997), and Heartlight(1998), all four of
which are uncredited collaborations with Rose-
mary EDGHILL. The daughter of a famous occultist
decides to write a book on the subject and is soon
beset by poltergeists and other unnatural events.
The later volumes involve a large-scale investiga-
tion into the occult and then the discovery that
magical forces are being used to manipulate the
public. Bradley also wrote two stand alone novels
of the supernatural, Drums of Darkness(1976),
which contains some genuine voodoo, and In the
Steps of the Master(1973), based on a short-lived
television series about a parapsychologist.
Although she started writing fantasy with
some short stories reminiscent of J. R. R. TOLKIENBradley, Marion Zimmer 33