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The Small Assassin
by
Ray Bradbury
Thirteen Capsules of Terror - Not to be Taken at Bedtime
Here is a fantastic journey into a world of terror with thirteen of Bradbury's very best. A baby born with the irge to kill... the couple who leave for a honeymoon - in a cemetery... a husband and wife who have an unpleasant experience with some mummified Mexican corpses... the tombstone in the bedroom... a little boy...more
Here is a fantastic journey into a world of terror with thirteen of Bradbury's very best. A baby born with the irge to kill... the couple who leave for a honeymoon - in a cemetery... a husband and wife who have an unpleasant experience with some mummified Mexican corpses... the tombstone in the bedroom... a little boy...more
Paperback
Published
February 19th 1962
by Ace Books
(first published 1962)
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This book...this book influenced my early writing so much, both by teaching me that fantasy - or horror - didn't have to be done a certain way and that there were authors out there who could make a sentence sing like a bird.
Rereading recently, I found sentences I'd magpied and cached, slightly mangled, into my own teenage scribblings as and when I felt there was no better way in existence to put what he had expressed. I don't quite know the little volume by heart, but if I mention that I last re...more
Rereading recently, I found sentences I'd magpied and cached, slightly mangled, into my own teenage scribblings as and when I felt there was no better way in existence to put what he had expressed. I don't quite know the little volume by heart, but if I mention that I last re...more
This a well-crafted collection of short stories that had been written early in the career of this well-known author.
The horror in many of the stories is gradually unfolded with the deteriorating sanity of the protagonist, or with the protagonist's growing awareness that something is not quite right. Deteriorating sanity features in the eponymous story of the collection when a mother fears her newborn wants to kill her; a tourist develops an obssessive desire to leave a Mexican village after see...more
The horror in many of the stories is gradually unfolded with the deteriorating sanity of the protagonist, or with the protagonist's growing awareness that something is not quite right. Deteriorating sanity features in the eponymous story of the collection when a mother fears her newborn wants to kill her; a tourist develops an obssessive desire to leave a Mexican village after see...more
Bradbury has a marvelous way of putting things, and for the last few years he has been counted among my favourite authors for just that reason. The worlds he creates are always so vibrant, full of life. Even the ones found here, though they are primarily about death and decay, and the strange thing is that it is never too much, despite the amount of detail.
But it is a trick....
For as long as I've known him, Bradbury has always possessed the uncanny ability to take those worlds and stitch them se...more
But it is a trick....
For as long as I've known him, Bradbury has always possessed the uncanny ability to take those worlds and stitch them se...more
The first story in this collection is the title story and it is really creepy! A mother nearly die in childbirth and develops the delusion that her new-born baby is trying to murder her - but is it a delusion?
The other stories are a mixture of psychological horror, chillers and "tales of the unexpected". Bradbury successfully conjures up images of stifling small-town America and fever-dreams that are sometimes reminiscent of Edgar Allan Poe. There is also in many of the stories a rye and macbare...more
The other stories are a mixture of psychological horror, chillers and "tales of the unexpected". Bradbury successfully conjures up images of stifling small-town America and fever-dreams that are sometimes reminiscent of Edgar Allan Poe. There is also in many of the stories a rye and macbare...more
Aug 07, 2012
Anne
added it
I can't rate it because every story in this book was in another of his collections. I'm getting confused - trying to read all of his books but there is so much overlap. I should have done my research first, I guess. Still, some of my favorites are in this collection.
The Small Assassin is an excellent collection of 13 horror stories. I didn't find them too gory at all, but I was very disturbed by some of them. Ray Bradbury is an excellent writer and really has the ability to put you in the situation, almost as though you're watching a movie. His descriptive writing is really something to behold.[return][return]There are a complete variety of stories here, and they generally keep you guessing right till the end. One story was written in the 2nd-person, which...more
1) THE SMALL ASSASSIN: omg. I will never have children. Ever. So creepy!
Otherwise the rest so far (I'm at "The Lake") was kinda predictable... mh.. I shall read on.
Now, more than one year later, I've managed to finish it. The thing is...it's not really my genre and I don't like short stories (for no apparent reason. There is only one of Neil Gaiman's short stories that I like and I love his writing to death).
What I liked about it is, how ordinary people and events are turned into creepy occurren...more
Otherwise the rest so far (I'm at "The Lake") was kinda predictable... mh.. I shall read on.
Now, more than one year later, I've managed to finish it. The thing is...it's not really my genre and I don't like short stories (for no apparent reason. There is only one of Neil Gaiman's short stories that I like and I love his writing to death).
What I liked about it is, how ordinary people and events are turned into creepy occurren...more
I'm only referring to the title story; I haven't read the collection. The title story is terrifying and horrifying, in ways modern writers can't match.
This is a collection of short horror-themed stories and despite the fact that I'm not normally a horror person, I really rather enjoyed it. Bradbury's horror isn't that of blood and guts, it's the horror of the mundane with a twist, the familiar suddenly made horribly strange. From a mother whose fear of her baby may be well-founded or may be post-natal depression to the man who believes he's dead, but falls in love.
Written with Bradbury's trademark flair and thoughtfulness this isn't a book tha...more
Written with Bradbury's trademark flair and thoughtfulness this isn't a book tha...more
Cassettes. Better Read.
I wish I would have read Ray Bradbury instead of every Goosebumps book I could get my hands on. A few of the stories in this collection fell flat, but, then, a few others made up for it. I especially liked the evil children stories, which was why I read this collection in the first place.
I had no idea how weird Bradbury was. These stories were more interesting (also, much nastier) than The Martian Chronicles.
May 24, 2013
Shane Hedberg
marked it as to-read
May 23, 2013
Kristen
marked it as to-read
May 10, 2013
Melissa
marked it as to-read
Apr 29, 2013
Simon Edwards
marked it as to-read
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American novelist, short story writer, essayist, playwright, screenwriter and poet, was born August 22, 1920 in Waukegan, Illinois. He graduated from a Los Angeles high school in 1938. Although his formal education ended there, he became a "student of life," selling newspapers on L.A. street corners from 1938 to 1942, spending his nights in the public library and his days at the typewriter. He bec...more
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