S IS FOR SPACE is the title of a Ray Bradbury short story collection compiled and published in 1966. Although the author's stories were written for adults and often published in adult venues such as PLAYBOY, he became a favorite of teachers and students in the sixties and this was one of several volumes aimed specifically at the young adult market. From Wikipedia, here are the stories included in S IS FOR SPACE:
Contents
- "Chrysalis"
- A science fiction story in which three men anxiously watch their fellow-scientist as he is encased in a mysterious green chrysalis. They eventually come to believe he is undergoing metamorphosis inside the chrysalis.
- "Pillar of Fire"
- A science fiction/horror short novel. Set in the year 2349, it depicts a Utopian society in which all corpses are incinerated for hygienic reasons. All horror literature has also been burned to produce a healthier mindset. When his grave is disturbed, a vampire infiltrates the utopia and launches a vendetta to restore fear.
- "Zero Hour"
- A science fiction story, involving a world-wide befriending of children by sinister aliens.
- "The Man"
- A compelling science fiction parable. A rocket ship lands on an isolated planet, expecting an astounded welcome. However, they find they have been preceded by a much more important Visitor...
- "Time in Thy Flight"
- A science fiction story. A high-school teacher takes three children on a field-trip in a time machine.
- "The Pedestrian"
- A science fiction story about a society addicted to television.
- "Hail and Farewell"
- A fantasy story concerning a middle-aged man who never physically aged past his pre-adolescence.
- "Invisible Boy"
- A comical story about an old woman who convinces a boy she has turned him invisible.
- "Come into My Cellar"
- A science fiction story about mushrooms and alien invasions.
- "The Million-Year Picnic"
- A science fiction story in which a family travels to an unsullied Mars to escape a ravaged Earth.
- "The Screaming Woman"
- A mystery/suspense story, describing a young girl who tries to procure help in digging up a woman buried in an empty lot.
- "The Smile"
- A science fiction story describing a world devastated by nuclear war, whose inhabitants systematically destroy artifacts of the past. The story touches on one boy who is enchanted by Leonardo da Vinci's Mona Lisa.
- "Dark They Were and Golden-Eyed"
- An atomic war on Earth drives prompts a family to flee to a human colony Mars.
- "The Trolley"
- An idyllic story about the last trolley-ride in a small town.
- "The Flying Machine"
- A story set in ancient China, whose Emperor discovers a peasant has invented a flying-machine.
- "Icarus Montgolfier Wright"
- A story concerning the first man to fly a rocket ship.
Connecting one of your posts to another, two of theses stories were produced for radio in the 1950s.
ReplyDelete"Hail and Farewell" & "Zero Hour" were both featured on the show 'X-minus-1."
"The Million-Year Picnic" was part of the Martian Chronicles.
Bradbury often reprinted stories. There is a lot of duplication between "The Martian Chronicles", "S is for Space", and "Rocket is for Rocket"
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