đ A Door to Magical Terrainđ
This anthology of short stories is a door leading to a magical terrain. Behind it may lie the story of a first love and Hemingway's stolen parrot, the evil that spontaneously arose in the heat of summer in human form, and the mechanical Bernard Shaw. You will be transported to a Sunday afternoon in Dublin and spend a vacation at the foot of a volcano in Mexico. All of this is in the author's collection of mature Bradbury. Even though this is probably my least favorite collection of stories I devoured during my Bradbury spree, it has all the themes that are of interest to me lately: death, eternity, the meaning of life, and the origin of religion, especially Christianity.
 đ A Delightful Story: The Messiahđ
"The Messiah" is a beautiful re-working of the "Noli me tangere" episode but with a Martian twist. The story explores themes of faith, identity, and the burdens of divinity. It is set on Mars, where a group of human colonists live in isolation. Amid their loneliness and longing for connection, they encounter a mysterious figure who claims to be the Messiah. This figure, resembling a young man, performs miraculous acts and quickly gains the devotion of the colonists. As he heals the sick and speaks profound truths, the colonists' hope and faith are reignited. However, the Messiah himself is tormented by the weight of his identity and the expectations placed upon him. He confides in Father Peregrine, a Catholic priest, revealing his deep weariness and desire to escape the relentless role he is forced to play. Father Peregrine, sympathetic to the Messiah's plight, grapples with his own faith and the ethical implications of the situation. The story culminates in a poignant and unexpected resolution, as Bradbury weaves a narrative that challenges traditional notions of divinity and explores the human desire for salvation in the face of existential loneliness.
đ Unusual Stories: Interval in Sunlight đ
One of the unusually strange stories, "Interval in Sunlight," is a masterful yet rather painful take on a co-dependent relationship and a woman escaping and then willingly going back to her torturer.
 đ The Tragic Story of Mr. Spallner: The Crowd đ
The tragic story of a man named Mr. Spallner begins when he notices a strange, unusual crowd around the site of an accident. In this crowd were strange people who behaved oddly, and their strangeness was confirmed more than once when Mr. Spallner accidentally witnessed tragic incidents. Gradually, he began his own investigation to find out who and what was behind all these occurrences. These strange people-creatures are always the first to arrive at the scenes of incidents, and around them, a crowd gathers with astonishing speed. They seem to swoop down like vultures on places where the boundary between life and death is most ephemeral. These strange people can simultaneously be in two or even several places at once, being part of the crowd, its spirit, and essence, carrying out their eerie duties within it.
 đľ My Favorite Story: The Blue Bottle đľ
"The Blue Bottle" is about Death as the ultimate human wish. I had no idea my favorite SF coffee chain was named after it. I checked, though, and despite the Marcel Proust quote on their site, they have nothing to do with Bradbury, which is a shame.
The story begins with two men searching for the Blue Bottle, a mysterious Martian artifact that legends claimed held what one most wanted. Craig came along for the ride; it was Beck who drove them from one deserted city to the next. Many had found the bottle, according to various tales, and many had died, but still, the Blue Bottle remained elusive. Beck's search, though intensive and driven, was a strange one: "Only after he had heard of the Blue Bottle had life begun to take on a purpose. The fever had lit him, and he had burned steadily ever since. If he worked it properly, the prospect of finding the bottle might fill his entire life to the brim. Another thirty years, if he was careful and not too diligent, of search, never admitting aloud that it wasn't the bottle that counted at all, but the search, the running and the hunting, the dust and the cities and the going-on."
It is Craig who finds the Blue Bottle, but he doesn't recognize it. He opens it to discover that the bottle is filled with bourbon; he takes a drink from it and discards it. Beck, however, realizes what it is and places it on the table. Sunlight spearing through a side window strikes blue flashes off the slender container. It was the blue of a star held in the hand. It was the blue of a shallow ocean at noon. It was the blue of a diamond in the morning.
Beck picks it up and shakes it: Craig hears it gurgle (some bourbon is still in there), but Beck hears nothing. He is about to open it when a man appears with a gun (another fanatic searcher, obviously), takes the bottle, and drives off. Beck and Craig give chase. They find him by the side of the road, his body dissolving away. They see three men hurrying up a hill. Craig decides enough is enough and is no longer interested in the search, but Beck goes on after them. He finds them dead, their bodies also dissolving. Beck now realizes what is in the Bottle. It is what each searcher desires, and now he knows what he himself desires most.
đ§ A Great Collection for Bradbury Fans đ§
A great collection of short stories that can be easily enjoyed in short sittings. A must if youâre a Bradbury fan, and very worthwhile if youâve never sampled him. You might want to prep for it with some 5-MeO-DMT, found in the milky white venom of the Sonoran Desert Toad - Bufo Alvarius. This experience is often described in positive termsâeven if it was terrifying at the time. Many see it as a process of death and rebirth followed by lasting self-improvements, including mental clarity, increased motivation, enhanced awareness, joy in living, and a sense of inner peace. Some have also had enlightenment experiences, characterized by a sense of inseparability from the universe or of being âall that exists.â Often, these experiences come in waves or reactivations over the following days or weeks. "Long After Midnight" by Ray Bradbury will definitely bring you back to that experience with pretty much every short story. đâ¨
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