We’ll Always Have Paris: Stories

Reading and reviewing WE’LL ALWAYS HAVE PARIS: STORIES is an experience that can only (and most diplomatically) be described as profoundly bittersweet. Seeing a new collection of stories by Ray Bradbury immediately gives a lift to the heart and spirits. But knowing that the maestro is in frail health and confined to a wheelchair these days means he is nowhere as productive as he used to be. What is not as well-known, however, is that Bradbury, who often instructs neophyte writers to produce a short story every week, practiced what he preached. Thus, his files contain a huge collection of tales that, for one reason or another, were never submitted for publication when completed (as detailed and listed in the very noteworthy study, RAY BRADBURY: THE LIFE OF FICTION, by Jonathan R. Eller and William F. Touponce). So for the past few years, we’ve seen the first-time publication of such curios as FAREWELL SUMMER, NOW AND FOREVER and "trunk story" collections like THE CAT’S PAJAMAS. This latest book is another collection of “never-before-published” trunk stories. And like its predecessors, it is a disservice to Bradbury’s influential legacy. The opening “Massinello Pietro” is probably the one fully satisfying entry in this collection, detailing the odd and often annoying daily activities of one of Bradbury’s beloved Los Angeles eccentrics and the haunting gap created when complaining neighbors finally do away with him.   But the remaining stories mostly flirt with their intended themes. Such is the case with “The Visit,” where a woman visits the man who received the transplanted heart of her dead son. It tiptoes close to the emotional impact of the premise, but then fails to fully deliver. Similarly, others like “When The Bough Breaks,” “Last Laughs” and “Pieta Summer,” also miss their mark. Then there are those like “Ma Perkins Comes to Stay,” “The Twilight Greens” and the title tale, which try to create much more than either their premise or theme allows.   Hope swells again the moment we learn that “Fly Away Home” is another Martian story. But it, too, disappoints, especially because we know that Bradbury learned to portray the theme much better in the collection of Martian stories that help establish his sterling reputation. The book supplies no clue as to when these stories were written, so we can only guess that they were completed sometime between or during the creation of those other well-known collections. And perhaps the author himself felt at the time that they were better left unpublished. WE’LL ALWAYS HAVE PARIS is probably of value to those scholars or collectors who rejoice at the chance to have more stories in print. But the rest of us will always have THE MARTIAN CHRONICLES, THE OCTOBER COUNTRY, THE ILLUSTRATED MAN and all the other anthologies and novels that remind us why Ray Bradbury is so indispensable, and so cherished. —Alan Cranis Buy it at Amazon.   OTHER BOOKGASM REVIEWS OF THIS AUTHOR: • THE DRAGON WHO ATE HIS TAIL by Ray Bradbury • MASKS by Ray Bradbury • MATCH TO FLAME: THE FICTIONAL PATHS TO FAHRENHEIT 451 by Ray Bradbury • NOW AND FOREVER by Ray Bradbury • SOMEWHERE A BAND IS PLAYING by Ray Bradbury