A Chapbook for Burnt-Out Priests, Rabbis and Ministers

by Ray Bradbury

A Chapbook for Burnt-Out Priests, Rabbis and Ministers by Ray Bradbury is a major publishing event! An exclusive, hardcover collection containing new poetry, fiction, essays, and other oddities and fancies. A stunning and thought-provoking volume -- just in time for the new century -- featuring classic Bradbury creations, all having to do with the Cosmos, the Universe, Visitations, Annunciations, First and Last Suppers, early Sabbaths and much, much more. This Cemetery Dance Publications edition is the only edition available anywhere in the world!

Genres: Poetry, Religion, Science Fiction

192 pages, Hardcover

First published February 1, 2001

About the author

Ray Douglas Bradbury was an American author and screenwriter. One of the most celebrated 20th-century American writers, he worked in a variety of genres, including fantasy, science fiction, horror, mystery, and realistic fiction.

Bradbury is best known for his novel Fahrenheit 451 (1953) and his short-story collections The Martian Chronicles (1950), The Illustrated Man (1951), and The October Country (1955). Other notable works include the coming of age novel Dandelion Wine (1957), the dark fantasy Something Wicked This Way Comes (1962) and the fictionalized memoir Green Shadows, White Whale (1992). He also wrote and consulted on screenplays and television scripts, including Moby Dick and It Came from Outer Space. Many of his works were adapted into television and film productions as well as comic books. Bradbury also wrote poetry which has been published in several collections, such as They Have Not Seen the Stars (2001).

The New York Times called Bradbury "An author whose fanciful imagination, poetic prose, and mature understanding of human character have won him an international reputation" and "the writer most responsible for bringing modern science fiction into the literary mainstream".

Reviews

[Hákon Gunnarsson · Rating 3 out of 5]

I like Ray Bradbury, he wrote a few of my favorite books, but this is not one of them. It’s a collection of poetry (I didn’t even know he’d written any before I came across this book), part of a screenplay, and essays.

The part of a screenplay is his unfilmed ending for King of Kings, and it is interesting from a film historical perspective, especially if you’ve seen the film, which I actually haven’t. The poetry is too wordy, much too wordy for my taste. It really feel like a novelist trying to cut down his prose to the size of poetry.

I was about to give up when I came to the last two essays in the book “G. B. S.: Refurbishing the Tin Woodman; Science Fiction with a Heart, a Brain, and the Nerve!” and Christ on Improbable Planets”. The first is Bradbury singing a glorious hymn to science fiction, and in the second he is talking about how he has dealt with his beliefs in his fiction. Those two essays save this book for me, because they are just so well written, the rest didn’t really move me.

[Craig · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is a collection of poetry with a few random essays and bits of things mixed in, all on the topic of faith and religion. I've read a previous volume of his poetry (Where Robot Mice and Robot Men Run Round in Robot Towns) and thought it was not great but mildly amusing. Sadly, I didn't enjoy too much about this book. He adopted a faux-ancient tone for much of it, complete with "O!"' s and convoluted word order, and some of the verses he wrote in rhyme sound like Dr. Seuss doggerel. The essays were very hard to follow; I think he was listing Singin' in the Rain as one of the best science fiction films of all time, and George Bernard Shaw as the best science fiction writer, and his observations about NASA and Cape Canaveral sadly never came to fruition. Still, it's Bradbury, and while I unable to embrace (or understand) many of his points, there was no doubting his conviction, faith, and sincerity. I'd recommend this only for hard-core Bradbury completists, or for scholars of religious influence.

[Shanni · Rating 2 out of 5]

Ray Bradbury should have stayed away from poetry at all costs. While his short stories in the collection are decent enough and offer tidbits of insight, I wasn't particularly impressed given the genius in his novels.

[Ruth Flores · Rating 4 out of 5]

Me encanta Bradbury, pero a este libro me costó un poco agarrarle sabor. Conforme fue avanzando comenzó a mejorar, sobre todo en los escritos más largos y no tanto en los versos.
Creo que es notorio el sentimiento que tenía de una muerte cercana, se leen sus dudas, sus teorías y su mente inquieta tratando de encontrar respuestas.
Quiero imaginar que dentro de unos años podré releerlo y encontrar cosas que hoy no soy capaz de ver.
Mis lecturas favoritas fueron "Ven, susúrrame una promesa", "esa mujer en el Césped", "No vayas con ruinas a tu mente" y "Cristo en planetas improbables".

[Dinaset · Rating 5 out of 5]

El origen de mi frase favorita surge aquí :
Ninguna tumba será tan profunda; ningún país será tan lejano para esconder la pena que causa el encontrar un destino que no es el propio.

[Steven · Rating 5 out of 5]

Stuff of Space as Star Dreams are made…

It’s not a denominational read of theology by a semi-agnostic. There are a lot of poetry, and a handful of essays, on the subject of stars, churches, temples, and synagogues, and then space travel. Why get stuck on Earth? Bradbury asked. Why indeed. But this reader wonders. Great poetry to be read. Profound? Depends on any readers’ reaction. Recommended.

[Matt Silverstein · Rating 3 out of 5]

It’s hard for me to rate this, because poetry really isn’t my thing, but I did enjoy it. Many of the poems feel like they went over my head, but the prose is always very flowery from Bradbury and I’m always delighted to see it. There were a few snippets of traditional prose style snippets in here that were entertaining, but wish they were more realized.

[María José Suárez Novo · Rating 3 out of 5]

Distinto a lo que he leído de Bradbury hasta el momento, pero se nota su esencia en sus escritos. Disfruté de algunos párrafos y frases hermosas y bien pensadas. Sus ideas tan singulares y su forma de ver el mundo siempre serán una lectura de provecho.

[Linda · Rating 4 out of 5]

What a fabulous find! Try it, you'll be enchanted.

[Mark Oppenlander · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book was inevitable, I suppose. Given Ray Bradbury's penchant for writing on spiritual or religious themes, his self-proclaimed status as a "lapsed Baptist," his strange mid-life fascination with Catholicism and his willingness to dabble in all sorts of formats for his writing, a collection like this was a natural progression. Here we have nearly every poem Bradbury ever wrote on God, plus some new meditations on the divinity of humanity (or perhaps, more aptly, the parallels between man and God, creature and Creator) as well as a piece of unproduced screenwriting from "King of Kings," an excerpt from a play called "Leviathan 99" and a few new essays. It's a hodge-podge to say the least and the lack of a table of contents makes it feel all the more jumbled.

In his preface Bradbury notes that these poems and essays were selected because he had received fan mail from "priests, rabbis and ministers" about each of them. That may be. But it's still a bit of a mixed bag. Some of Bradbury's metaphors hold together well and others require a bit of stretching. There is also a redundancy to the pieces after a while. I could only read a couple of items at a time.

Nonetheless, at his best, Bradbury draws science, religion and the arts (specifically the literature of science fiction) closer together, showing us that the same yearning impels all of these human endeavors. When his ideas click, there is a sense of wonder that is almost palpable. When it doesn't work, the poetry can be a little bit yawn-inducing or occasionally pedantic.

I enjoyed this book, mostly, but would suggest that it is either for hard-core fans or for those interested specifically in the religious dimensions of Bradbury's work.

[Bev · Rating 3 out of 5]

Dear Ray,

I nearly despaired of you
in the writing of poetry
It's not what I expected
from one of the
fathers of science fiction
Not even free verse

Your rhythm and cadence threw me
I just couldn't see Moby Dick
as a giant spaceship
or Noah in the galaxy
Of course, I'm not
a Melville fan
Maybe that was it

But then--
along came "Christus Apollo"
and you blew me away
with the imagery
and the beautiful language
and "wow"--just wow

And "Joy Is the Grace We Say to God"
Love that one too
A poem about joy
has to be good

I just wish your poems
had been more even
That they all
had been as good
But there are too many
that leave me cold
or scratching
my head

Beautiful language
is your trademark--
even in the oddest of the
science fiction tales
Beautiful rhythm
should hallmark
your poetry in
every verse
Not quite


A decent little outing. And a different look at one of the founding fathers of science fiction. In this collection, Bradbury gives us his spiritual side--his belief in mankind and our place in the universe. Nearly all in free verse with some essays mixed in. Solid work...with a hint of brilliance. Three stars.

[Donald · Rating 2 out of 5]

I really like Ray Bradbury's stuff. He wrote Farenheit 451 and Something Wicked This Way Comes. Those two stories come to mind first when I think of Bradbury.

This book though, contains mostly table scraps. Poems, thoughts, letters. It's just stuff that will fit nowhere else.

But it's Ray's stuff...So I left a book mark in it, on an end table, and every once in a while I'd pick it up and read another bit.