The spectre of death hangs over these twenty-five short stories by Ray Bradbury, but not in the way you'd expect, or in any way that is at all fun or especially interesting. Aging, the end of life, and the regret that accompanies these things are the book's central themes, and although a few of these stories were written while the author was still a young man, they nonetheless come across as insubstantial, dated, (especially in the pieces that deal with relationships), and overly sentimental - certainly not Bradbury at his best. Still, there are a few gems here for those who care to dig, most notably, "Where All Is Emptiness There Is Room To Move," "With Smiles As Wide As Summer," and the heartbreaking, "The Nineteenth," all of which move forward with humour and genuine emotion. For a similarly-themed story collection with sharper teeth, check out Harlan Ellison's 'Angry Candy.' ( )

A collection of short stories by Ray Bradbury, Recently published. Some of these stories were very good, but some seemed forced. Ray’s new stories seem to lack the balls and anger that his older work possessed. Still good, but not his best work. ( )

A mixed bag of stories from the Master. In general these are tales of fantasy and nostalgia and aging. There are some bittersweet and fairly haunting tales, one or two that didn't quite make sense, and I think my fave was "The Laurel and Hardy Alpha Centauri Farewell Tour", which is just what it sounds like and a nice homage to my favorite comedy team. Bradbury has done better, but he is still always worth the read. ( )

One More for the Road is a short story collection by Ray Bradbury. It consists of 24 unrelated stories, 17 of which had never been published before. Bradbury is a master of the genre, and this book contains some really nice stories. It also contained some that fell very flat. A few of the stories grabbed my, and several others were very interesting in concept, but just weren't my style. Unfortunately a lot of the stories didn't meet either of those criteria for me.

The Nineteenth was my favorite. It was a moving story of a man mysteriously encountering he deceased father on a golf course looking for lost balls.

The Dragon Danced at Midnight was a furiously paced story of the rise of a filmmaker via the lucky accident of a drunken projectionist showing the reels of his film out of order.

Autumn Afternoon was a sad tale, of an old woman and her young niece. The niece saves calendar pages as remembrances. When cleaning out her attic the lady finds a stack of her own calendar pages from her youth, but she can't recall why she saved them.

For the rest the tales were mostly forgettable. Not bad really, just not remarkable. If you are a fan of Bradbury, feel free to give this a shot. You may like it more than I did. If you are new to the man, I'd stick with Fahrenheit 451 or the Martian Chronicles.

5 out of 10 ( )