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A Little Journey
About the Story: A LITTLE JOURNEY (August 1951) marks Bradbury’s final contribution to the editorial decade of Horace Gold, the editor of GALAXY magazine. Like THE MARTIAN CHRONICLES and THE FIREMAN, the story demonstrates Bradbury’s characteristic blending so early in his career of the sentimental and the transcendent, the homely and the mystical. Bradbury’s old women in space and their strange outcome are reminiscent of his more famous story KALEIDOSCOPE (published in THE ILLUSTRATED MAN) and its conclusion shows unusual if understated power. Bradbury’s THE FIREMAN (the short-form version of FAHRENHEIT 451 which was doubled in length for its book publication in 1953) appeared in the February 1951 issue of GALAXY and further solidified GALAXY’s reputation, as a magazine of unprecedented originality and ambition. Gold’s commitment to the highly ambitious THE FIREMAN was, then, courageous for its time and gave publicity to the editor’s insistence that GALAXY was an entirely new kind of science fiction magazine, one which was far more oriented toward style and controversial social extrapolation than the other markets ever had been. Although THE FIREMAN and THE MARTIAN CHRONICLES had been published earlier to significant attention, Bradbury in 1951 was by no means a writer of substantial reputation and his work was regarded by most science fiction editors and readers as marginal to the genre.
About the Author: Ray Douglas Bradbury (b. 1920) entered science fiction as a teenage Los Angeles fan frantic to sell John W. Campbell and become a major science fiction writer; although he eventually sold Campbell two very short stories in the early ’40s, his career took a different direction, first through the second- and third-level science fiction magazines (PLANET, STARTLING STORIES) and then to the literary quarterlies and women’s magazines (HARPER’S BAZAAR, CHARM) where his distinctive stylistic elegance led him to the Best American Short Stories and O. Henry Prize anthologies. He was regarded with the somewhat similar lyrical short story writer Truman Capote as among the most promising of the emerging generation. With THE MARTIAN CHRONICLES he became famous both inside and outside science fiction; subsequent collections (THE ILLUSTRATED MAN, DANDELION WINE) advanced his reputation. He wrote the screenplay for John Huston’s film adaptation of MOBY DICK (1953), and in the decades to follow hundreds of short stories and novels (A MEDICINE FOR MELANCHOLY), which cemented his reputation. He was awarded a Medal in Literature by George W. Bush in 2004.
About The Galaxy Project: Horace Gold led GALAXY magazine from its first issue dated October 1950 to science fiction’s most admired, widely circulated and influential magazine throughout its initial decade. Its legendary importance came from publication of full length novels, novellas and novelettes. GALAXY published nearly every giant in the science fiction field.
The Galaxy Project is a selection of the best of GALAXY with new forewords by some of today’s best science fiction writers. The initial selections in alphabetical order include work by Ray Bradbury, Frederic Brown, Lester del Rey, Robert A. Heinlein, Damon Knight, C. M. Kornbluth, Walter M. Miller, Jr., Frederik Pohl, Robert Sheckley, Robert Silverberg, William Tenn (Phillip Klass) and Kurt Vonnegut with new Forewords by Paul di Filippo, David Drake, John Lutz, Barry Malzberg and Robert Silverberg. The Galaxy Project is committed to publishing new work in the spirit GALAXY magazine and its founding editor Horace Gold.
About the Author: Ray Douglas Bradbury (b. 1920) entered science fiction as a teenage Los Angeles fan frantic to sell John W. Campbell and become a major science fiction writer; although he eventually sold Campbell two very short stories in the early ’40s, his career took a different direction, first through the second- and third-level science fiction magazines (PLANET, STARTLING STORIES) and then to the literary quarterlies and women’s magazines (HARPER’S BAZAAR, CHARM) where his distinctive stylistic elegance led him to the Best American Short Stories and O. Henry Prize anthologies. He was regarded with the somewhat similar lyrical short story writer Truman Capote as among the most promising of the emerging generation. With THE MARTIAN CHRONICLES he became famous both inside and outside science fiction; subsequent collections (THE ILLUSTRATED MAN, DANDELION WINE) advanced his reputation. He wrote the screenplay for John Huston’s film adaptation of MOBY DICK (1953), and in the decades to follow hundreds of short stories and novels (A MEDICINE FOR MELANCHOLY), which cemented his reputation. He was awarded a Medal in Literature by George W. Bush in 2004.
About The Galaxy Project: Horace Gold led GALAXY magazine from its first issue dated October 1950 to science fiction’s most admired, widely circulated and influential magazine throughout its initial decade. Its legendary importance came from publication of full length novels, novellas and novelettes. GALAXY published nearly every giant in the science fiction field.
The Galaxy Project is a selection of the best of GALAXY with new forewords by some of today’s best science fiction writers. The initial selections in alphabetical order include work by Ray Bradbury, Frederic Brown, Lester del Rey, Robert A. Heinlein, Damon Knight, C. M. Kornbluth, Walter M. Miller, Jr., Frederik Pohl, Robert Sheckley, Robert Silverberg, William Tenn (Phillip Klass) and Kurt Vonnegut with new Forewords by Paul di Filippo, David Drake, John Lutz, Barry Malzberg and Robert Silverberg. The Galaxy Project is committed to publishing new work in the spirit GALAXY magazine and its founding editor Horace Gold.
21 pages, Kindle Edition
First published October 1, 2011
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About the author
Ray Bradbury
2,562 books25.4k followersRay 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".
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".
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 57 reviews
December 19, 2025
It was the gentle, mad dream of old people, the kind of thing you hold onto for a few minutes a day, even though you know it's not true.
(Wassily Kandinsky, Planets and Moons, 1926)
Beware when treading on the dreams of feisty old ladies - their bodies might look like mushrooms or skeletons, or equal an ancient rickety elevator, ready to go up the shaft, but fool them and they can harbour an inner strength that can blow you to pieces.
Out into space. Out and out, and the darkness like a great church, and the stars like candles, and in spite of everything, Mr. Thirkell, the rocket, and the dishonesty, we are going toward the Lord.
A frightened sparrow also flies.
The story can be read here.
Had I the heavens' embroidered cloths,
Enwrought with golden and silver light,
The blue and the dim and the dark cloths
Of night and light and the half light,
I would spread the cloths under your feet:
But I, being poor, have only my dreams;
I have spread my dreams under your feet;
Tread softly because you tread on my dreams.
W. B. Yeats
(Wassily Kandinsky, Planets and Moons, 1926)
Beware when treading on the dreams of feisty old ladies - their bodies might look like mushrooms or skeletons, or equal an ancient rickety elevator, ready to go up the shaft, but fool them and they can harbour an inner strength that can blow you to pieces.
Out into space. Out and out, and the darkness like a great church, and the stars like candles, and in spite of everything, Mr. Thirkell, the rocket, and the dishonesty, we are going toward the Lord.
A frightened sparrow also flies.
The story can be read here.
Had I the heavens' embroidered cloths,
Enwrought with golden and silver light,
The blue and the dim and the dark cloths
Of night and light and the half light,
I would spread the cloths under your feet:
But I, being poor, have only my dreams;
I have spread my dreams under your feet;
Tread softly because you tread on my dreams.
W. B. Yeats
February 24, 2022
I was prompted to read this by a friend’s review. I enjoy Ray Bradbury, and this short story sounded like an enjoyable frippery with added depth and beauty: the “gentle, mad dream” of feisty old ladies, taking flight. I expected something like a more philosophical version of Jenny Joseph’s humorous poem, Warning, which famously opens, “When I am an old woman I shall wear purple”.
It's all those things, but towards the end I read it very differently, and more personally. Unexpectedly cathartic.
Premise
Mrs Bellowes is 85, and has just blown most of her money on a return(!) trip to Mars, from where she will take another trip to be “Nearer My God To Thee”.
Bradbury considered himself a "delicatessen religionist", and “in her fervor to light a path for her delicate, tottering feet”, Mrs Bellowes had also tried various religions and philosophies.
“None of these people had ever shaken Mrs Bellowes' faith, even when she saw them sirened away in a black wagon in the night, or discovered their pictures, bleak and unromantic, in the morning tabloids. The world had roughed them up and locked them away because they knew too much, that was all.”
It's so like someone down the rabbit-hole of QAnon or other conspiracy theories. Despite evidence to the contrary, “she bit at the suspicion and whispered, ‘This time it's real’.”
The desire to believe is strong, and when you’ve nothing left to lose, why not take a(nother) chance?
Image: “My God, it’s full of stars.” (Source)
How it hit me
This mentions how the story ends:
Quotes
• “She had spent the week bathing in limpid waters and erasing the care from her tiny bones, and now she was fidgeting, ready to be loaded into Mr Thirkell's own special private rocket.”
• “She was amazed at the other women in the auditorium. It was like wandering in a carnival mirror-maze, coming again and again upon yourself—the same floury face, the same chicken hands, and jingling bracelets. One after another of the images of herself floated before her. She put out her hand, but it wasn't a mirror; it was another lady shaking her fingers.”
• “It isn't quite the land of milk and honey here on Mars that they said it would be. My room is like a cell, the swimming pool is really quite inadequate, and, besides, how many widows who look like mushrooms or skeletons want to swim? And, finally, the whole Restorium smells of boiled cabbage and tennis shoes!”
Read it free, online
It was published in 1951, four or five pages long, and you can read it in a variety of formats on Gutenberg, HERE.
Note: Some readers may be uncomfortable at the exoticising stereotypes used to describe the Egyptian Mr Thirkell.
It's all those things, but towards the end I read it very differently, and more personally. Unexpectedly cathartic.
Premise
Mrs Bellowes is 85, and has just blown most of her money on a return(!) trip to Mars, from where she will take another trip to be “Nearer My God To Thee”.
Bradbury considered himself a "delicatessen religionist", and “in her fervor to light a path for her delicate, tottering feet”, Mrs Bellowes had also tried various religions and philosophies.
“None of these people had ever shaken Mrs Bellowes' faith, even when she saw them sirened away in a black wagon in the night, or discovered their pictures, bleak and unromantic, in the morning tabloids. The world had roughed them up and locked them away because they knew too much, that was all.”
It's so like someone down the rabbit-hole of QAnon or other conspiracy theories. Despite evidence to the contrary, “she bit at the suspicion and whispered, ‘This time it's real’.”
The desire to believe is strong, and when you’ve nothing left to lose, why not take a(nother) chance?
Image: “My God, it’s full of stars.” (Source)
How it hit me
This mentions how the story ends:
Quotes
• “She had spent the week bathing in limpid waters and erasing the care from her tiny bones, and now she was fidgeting, ready to be loaded into Mr Thirkell's own special private rocket.”
• “She was amazed at the other women in the auditorium. It was like wandering in a carnival mirror-maze, coming again and again upon yourself—the same floury face, the same chicken hands, and jingling bracelets. One after another of the images of herself floated before her. She put out her hand, but it wasn't a mirror; it was another lady shaking her fingers.”
• “It isn't quite the land of milk and honey here on Mars that they said it would be. My room is like a cell, the swimming pool is really quite inadequate, and, besides, how many widows who look like mushrooms or skeletons want to swim? And, finally, the whole Restorium smells of boiled cabbage and tennis shoes!”
Read it free, online
It was published in 1951, four or five pages long, and you can read it in a variety of formats on Gutenberg, HERE.
Note: Some readers may be uncomfortable at the exoticising stereotypes used to describe the Egyptian Mr Thirkell.
February 14, 2022
A Little Journey by Ray Bradbury
A real dodgy character called Mr Thirkell offers to take our elderly main character, Mrs Bellowes, to meet God. His outrageous offer, includes a week on Mars in some sort of Spa Resort (which sounded dreadful), followed by a trip on a rocket to the outer reaches of the Universe. Where God sits.
Mrs Bellowes sounds like a dear old thing, she has been on many pilgrimages during her life, seeking absolute truth, but it seems none as adventurous as this trip. I had a certain sympathy for Mrs Bellowes, she’s doddering towards the end of her life and is seeking the solace of a post-mortem utopia.
I’d classify this short story as a clever satire on belief. There was one underlying emotion in me after reading this, and that was one of overwhelming sadness.
We’re a funny old lot, us humans. Thanks for supplying the link Ilse, here it is for anyone else who may be interested – it’s good.
https://www.gutenberg.org/files/51171...
4-Stars
A real dodgy character called Mr Thirkell offers to take our elderly main character, Mrs Bellowes, to meet God. His outrageous offer, includes a week on Mars in some sort of Spa Resort (which sounded dreadful), followed by a trip on a rocket to the outer reaches of the Universe. Where God sits.
Mrs Bellowes sounds like a dear old thing, she has been on many pilgrimages during her life, seeking absolute truth, but it seems none as adventurous as this trip. I had a certain sympathy for Mrs Bellowes, she’s doddering towards the end of her life and is seeking the solace of a post-mortem utopia.
I’d classify this short story as a clever satire on belief. There was one underlying emotion in me after reading this, and that was one of overwhelming sadness.
We’re a funny old lot, us humans. Thanks for supplying the link Ilse, here it is for anyone else who may be interested – it’s good.
https://www.gutenberg.org/files/51171...
4-Stars
February 6, 2017
"I'm Mrs. Amelia Bellowes," she said quietly, in her best company voice. "I'm from the planet Earth."
I feel like with this book, you get a taste of what it could have been like had Bradbury written The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy.
What happens when a bunch of little old ladies spend their life savings so they can finally see God? They get cheated, of course. "But it was all a fake. I don't know anything about space. He's not out there, anyway. I lied. I don't know where He is, and I couldn't find Him if I wanted to. And you were fools to ever take my word on it."
Written in classic Bradbury style, with rich prose, punctuated with humour, A Little Journey is a little journey indeed. And a delightful one at that.
COME TO MARS!
Stay at the Thirkell Restorium for one week. And then,
on into space on the greatest adventure life can offer!
Send for Free Pamphlet: "Nearer My God To Thee."
Excursion rates. Round trip slightly lower.
"Round trip," Mrs. Bellowes had thought. "But who would come back after seeing Him?" Right you are, Mrs. Bellowes. Right you are.
Read it for free here.
I feel like with this book, you get a taste of what it could have been like had Bradbury written The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy.
What happens when a bunch of little old ladies spend their life savings so they can finally see God? They get cheated, of course. "But it was all a fake. I don't know anything about space. He's not out there, anyway. I lied. I don't know where He is, and I couldn't find Him if I wanted to. And you were fools to ever take my word on it."
Written in classic Bradbury style, with rich prose, punctuated with humour, A Little Journey is a little journey indeed. And a delightful one at that.
COME TO MARS!
Stay at the Thirkell Restorium for one week. And then,
on into space on the greatest adventure life can offer!
Send for Free Pamphlet: "Nearer My God To Thee."
Excursion rates. Round trip slightly lower.
"Round trip," Mrs. Bellowes had thought. "But who would come back after seeing Him?" Right you are, Mrs. Bellowes. Right you are.
Read it for free here.
May 21, 2016
This Ray Bradbury story was published in the August 1951 edition of Galaxy Science Fiction magazine, many issues of which are available at Project Gutenberg. They are fun to read! You can find early works by authors who later became giants of the genre, single stories by writers who seemed to disappear into outer space afterwards, and sometimes an author popular with the editors of the magazine but relatively unknown to nearly everyone else.
The GR blurb for this story concludes with this sentence: . . . Bradbury in 1951 was by no means a writer of substantial reputation and his work was regarded by most science fiction editors and readers as marginal to the genre. Seems odd to read such a thought now, doesn't it?
A Little Journey is a short short story about the efforts Mrs. Bellowes has been making to get closer to God. She had visited a variety of people who always turn out to be swindlers, but she keeps her faith that someone someday will help in her quest. And when she sees an ad in the newspaper one day, inviting people to go to Mars and spend a week in a relaxing spa preparing for a journey on the greatest adventure life can offer she decides that this time she will get to see Him at last. But does her greatest adventure turn out the way she hopes?
I liked the story, even though it did seem predictable. There were interesting spots, such as the assembly after her week is up, some of the similes Bradbury uses, and the ending. But I would not say that this is a totally memorable story. It got the third star because...well, it is Ray Bradbury after all.
The GR blurb for this story concludes with this sentence: . . . Bradbury in 1951 was by no means a writer of substantial reputation and his work was regarded by most science fiction editors and readers as marginal to the genre. Seems odd to read such a thought now, doesn't it?
A Little Journey is a short short story about the efforts Mrs. Bellowes has been making to get closer to God. She had visited a variety of people who always turn out to be swindlers, but she keeps her faith that someone someday will help in her quest. And when she sees an ad in the newspaper one day, inviting people to go to Mars and spend a week in a relaxing spa preparing for a journey on the greatest adventure life can offer she decides that this time she will get to see Him at last. But does her greatest adventure turn out the way she hopes?
I liked the story, even though it did seem predictable. There were interesting spots, such as the assembly after her week is up, some of the similes Bradbury uses, and the ending. But I would not say that this is a totally memorable story. It got the third star because...well, it is Ray Bradbury after all.
December 29, 2017
""Yes," said Mrs. Bellowes, "we were fools. I'll go along on that. But you can't blame us, for we're old, and it was a lovely, good and fine idea, one of the loveliest ideas in the world. Oh, we didn't really fool ourselves that we could get nearer to Him physically. It was the gentle, mad dream of old people, the kind of thing you hold onto for a few minutes a day, even though you know it's not true. So, all of you who want to go, you follow me in the ship.""
This is the best part of the whole story. Full of humor and fantasy of an old age as same as that of a child has been depicted very well by Author.
Enjoyed it fully..
For me it's 4.0/5.0
This is the best part of the whole story. Full of humor and fantasy of an old age as same as that of a child has been depicted very well by Author.
Enjoyed it fully..
For me it's 4.0/5.0
February 18, 2022
PERFECTION. Period. The end.
March 3, 2016
"Here I am," said Mrs. Bellowes, "an ancient rickety elevator, ready to go up the shaft. God need only press the button."
A herd of elderly ladies rebel when they purchase tickets to paradise but find they've been taken for a ride by a con man.
With lines like these:
Mrs. Bellowes, with a secret part of her mind which she constantly had to grip tightly, expected to hear a cheap Chinese gong sound when Mr. Thirkell entered. His large liquid dark eyes were so improbable that one of the old ladies had facetiously claimed she saw a mosquito cloud hovering over them as they did around summer rain-barrels. And Mrs. Bellowes sometimes caught the scent of the theatrical mothball and the smell of calliope steam on his sharply pressed suit.
Before he even began to speak, Mrs. Bellowes saw him picking up each of his words, oiling it, making sure it ran smooth on its rails. Her heart squeezed in like a tiny fist, and she gritted her porcelain teeth.
Is it any wonder Bradbury is considered one of the greats?
A herd of elderly ladies rebel when they purchase tickets to paradise but find they've been taken for a ride by a con man.
With lines like these:
Mrs. Bellowes, with a secret part of her mind which she constantly had to grip tightly, expected to hear a cheap Chinese gong sound when Mr. Thirkell entered. His large liquid dark eyes were so improbable that one of the old ladies had facetiously claimed she saw a mosquito cloud hovering over them as they did around summer rain-barrels. And Mrs. Bellowes sometimes caught the scent of the theatrical mothball and the smell of calliope steam on his sharply pressed suit.
Before he even began to speak, Mrs. Bellowes saw him picking up each of his words, oiling it, making sure it ran smooth on its rails. Her heart squeezed in like a tiny fist, and she gritted her porcelain teeth.
Is it any wonder Bradbury is considered one of the greats?
February 13, 2016
Description: A LITTLE JOURNEY (August 1951) marks Bradbury’s final contribution to the editorial decade of Horace Gold, the editor of GALAXY magazine. Like THE MARTIAN CHRONICLES and THE FIREMAN, the story demonstrates Bradbury’s characteristic blending so early in his career of the sentimental and the transcendent, the homely and the mystical. Bradbury’s old women in space and their strange outcome are reminiscent of his more famous story KALEIDOSCOPE (published in THE ILLUSTRATED MAN) and its conclusion shows unusual if understated power. Bradbury’s THE FIREMAN (the short-form version of FAHRENHEIT 451 which was doubled in length for its book publication in 1953) appeared in the February 1951 issue of GALAXY and further solidified GALAXY’s reputation, as a magazine of unprecedented originality and ambition. Gold’s commitment to the highly ambitious THE FIREMAN was, then, courageous for its time and gave publicity to the editor’s insistence that GALAXY was an entirely new kind of science fiction magazine, one which was far more oriented toward style and controversial social extrapolation than the other markets ever had been. Although THE FIREMAN and THE MARTIAN CHRONICLES had been published earlier to significant attention, Bradbury in 1951 was by no means a writer of substantial reputation and his work was regarded by most science fiction editors and readers as marginal to the genre.
Read here
Opening: None of these people had ever shaken Mrs. Bellowes' faith, even when she saw them sirened away in a black wagon in the night, or discovered their pictures, bleak and unromantic, in the morning tabloids. The world had roughed them up and locked them away because they knew too much, that was all.
And then, two weeks ago, she had seen Mr. Thirkell's advertisement in New York City:
I suppose that any negativity towards Bradbury equates to deal-breaking: he had such a humanist heart and couched it in beautiful writing, and he always added in a dash of humour and a soupçon of darkness. That is the case here.
Read hereOpening: None of these people had ever shaken Mrs. Bellowes' faith, even when she saw them sirened away in a black wagon in the night, or discovered their pictures, bleak and unromantic, in the morning tabloids. The world had roughed them up and locked them away because they knew too much, that was all.
And then, two weeks ago, she had seen Mr. Thirkell's advertisement in New York City:
COME TO MARS!"Round trip," Mrs. Bellowes had thought. "But who would come back after seeing Him?"
Stay at the Thirkell Restorium for one week. And then,
on into space on the greatest adventure life can offer!
Send for Free Pamphlet: "Nearer My God To Thee."
Excursion rates. Round trip slightly lower.
I suppose that any negativity towards Bradbury equates to deal-breaking: he had such a humanist heart and couched it in beautiful writing, and he always added in a dash of humour and a soupçon of darkness. That is the case here.
February 27, 2022
A small gem by Bradbury that easily could have been in the Martian Chronicles.
A small tale of an old lady desperately seeking certainty that there’s an after life as her earthly life draw towards the end.
It can be interpreted as a story of hope, there’s always another frontier and you can find redemption or salvation in the unlikeliest places.
A small tale of an old lady desperately seeking certainty that there’s an after life as her earthly life draw towards the end.
It can be interpreted as a story of hope, there’s always another frontier and you can find redemption or salvation in the unlikeliest places.
September 9, 2022
"A Little Journey" may be short, but it is powerful as a man sells a space trip to old ladies who want to be closer to God.
Bradbury's story may seem whimsical, but the power is carried by its faith and pathos.
Bradbury's story may seem whimsical, but the power is carried by its faith and pathos.
July 21, 2016
Ray Bradbury has written so many great stories that it's easy to underestimate his merely good ones. This is a largely forgotten piece of his, first published in Galaxy in 1951, then left to gather dust for many years before being shoved into the middle of the massive Bradbury: 100 Stories anthology in 2003. It's only now, with the text of this story showing up on Gutenberg, that people are looking at this story again--and it's one that rewards a closer look.
The setup is simple enough: A rich old woman, constantly getting involved in dubious religious movements to chase a spiritual high, goes to Mars (that homeland of Bradbury's imagination) on the promise of getting closer to God. It seems like a fairly straightforward satirical story with flat characters and little emotional weight, along with more than a little sexism. At first that's what it is, although the imagery and writing are a cut above other stories of this kind. (Bradbury's sentences reward--even demand--being read out loud in a way few other SFF writers of the time do.) As the story goes on, though, there's a bit more to it. We see the old woman's mindset and her conflict between really wanting to believe and knowing she's been taken in. And then she finds out for sure and takes charge of the situation. She attains a kind of tragic and heroic quality over the course of the story, and the ending is a mix of humor, sadness and joy.
So even a minor Bradbury story like this one packs in more emotional weight and complexity than you'd expect. It doesn't have the kind of memorable imagery and imagination of a story like The Fire Balloons, which has similar themes. But it's still a well-told tale about the dignity of human aspirations to reach something greater, even at their most venal and foolish. I'd probably give it three and a half stars if goodreads allowed it but I rounded it up, because I read it in the context of other SF short stories that weren't as good.
Read on Project Gutenberg.
The setup is simple enough: A rich old woman, constantly getting involved in dubious religious movements to chase a spiritual high, goes to Mars (that homeland of Bradbury's imagination) on the promise of getting closer to God. It seems like a fairly straightforward satirical story with flat characters and little emotional weight, along with more than a little sexism. At first that's what it is, although the imagery and writing are a cut above other stories of this kind. (Bradbury's sentences reward--even demand--being read out loud in a way few other SFF writers of the time do.) As the story goes on, though, there's a bit more to it. We see the old woman's mindset and her conflict between really wanting to believe and knowing she's been taken in. And then she finds out for sure and takes charge of the situation. She attains a kind of tragic and heroic quality over the course of the story, and the ending is a mix of humor, sadness and joy.
So even a minor Bradbury story like this one packs in more emotional weight and complexity than you'd expect. It doesn't have the kind of memorable imagery and imagination of a story like The Fire Balloons, which has similar themes. But it's still a well-told tale about the dignity of human aspirations to reach something greater, even at their most venal and foolish. I'd probably give it three and a half stars if goodreads allowed it but I rounded it up, because I read it in the context of other SF short stories that weren't as good.
Read on Project Gutenberg.
May 10, 2022
Space and rockets, from the days of mystery. "She'd paid good money to see the inevitable... and then had to work to make it happen!" From stucco jungles to a rocket journey into space, we join Mrs. Bellowes on this short trip in her hopes to meet God... maybe. A quick read for those who are fans of author Ray Bradbury.
"I'm Mrs. Amelia Bellowes," she said quietly, in her best company voice. "I'm from the planet Earth."
A great piece for a glimpse into the era of Mars, space travel, and early science fiction.
Clear your mind, relax, and enjoy this work's simplicity.
"I'm Mrs. Amelia Bellowes," she said quietly, in her best company voice. "I'm from the planet Earth."
A great piece for a glimpse into the era of Mars, space travel, and early science fiction.
Clear your mind, relax, and enjoy this work's simplicity.
February 17, 2016
Free download available at Project Gutenberg.
Opening lines:
There were two important things—one, that she was very old; two, that Mr. Thirkell was taking her to God. For hadn't he patted her hand and said: "Mrs. Bellowes, we'll take off into space in my rocket, and go to find Him together."
Opening lines:
There were two important things—one, that she was very old; two, that Mr. Thirkell was taking her to God. For hadn't he patted her hand and said: "Mrs. Bellowes, we'll take off into space in my rocket, and go to find Him together."
August 23, 2021
really nice story
June 21, 2021
A con, a trip to Mars and subtle humour. Only the humour wins.
November 14, 2023
So. Good. That’s all.
September 12, 2024
I found the idea of the old ladies cute. Honestly, it was a short, sweet and entertaining story.
November 7, 2016
A wonderful short story by the master story teller - Ray Bradbury. Only about 20 pages (15 minutes using a Librovox recording), but it is an interesting tale of turning the table on a charlatan and a group of old ladies fulfilling their dreams to see the Hand of God.
November 2, 2022
Very nice short story of Ray Bradbury
As often he does, Bradbury weaves a wonderful tapestry of the wonders of Mars as well as discovering the unknown. A nice little metaphysical and sentimental journey.
As often he does, Bradbury weaves a wonderful tapestry of the wonders of Mars as well as discovering the unknown. A nice little metaphysical and sentimental journey.
April 7, 2020
I have arranged my takeaway thoughts into haiku:
"You don't want to be
To blame when that pressure breaks,
When easy marks snap."
"You don't want to be
To blame when that pressure breaks,
When easy marks snap."
October 14, 2022
A nice 5 minute read short story.
February 21, 2017
A good lighthearted story. My favorite Bradbury years are the late 40's to the very early 50's, before he became "literary" and moved from the "pulps" to the "slick" magazines. Who can forget the short story "The Foghorn" which became the inspiration for the movie "The Beast From 20,000 Fathoms", which even as a child I liked better than "Godzilla". Bradbury had started selling a few stories to the "slicks in 1950 including "The Fog Horn" which appeared in the Saturday Evening Post but the novel "Fahrenheit 451" marked this crossover acceptance when it was published in hardcover. He didn't write another novel until "Something Wicked This Way Comes" in 1962 that was widely accepted but seemed to lack the dark punch of Bradbury's fantasy from the late 40's. Check out "Dark Carnival", 1947, for some examples. So it seems that either Bradbury got too literary for my tastes or I'm just not literary enough for his later writings!!!
December 27, 2017
A 'little journey' indeed...to Mars, to heavenly space...O the irony, right from the title...Old Mrs Bellowes wants to fly her rickety life 'up, up and away' on the one final, ultimate adventure...And ultimate it is. But ironically - far from a spiritual journey - the adventure is burdened with character masks and material values. Hindu mystics and Indian philosophers could not satisfy Mrs Bellowes' need to reach God. But the crafty Mr Thirkell offered her tangible transport - for a price - to the final golden handshake. This short story is a playful microcosm of worldly ethics and their possible, quirky outcomes.
MY POETIC REVIEW
Songlines on the Winds
MY POETIC REVIEW
Songlines on the Winds
May 23, 2019
Mrs Amelia Bellowes, an old lady who has spent many years in search of God, finally sees one last chance at meeting Him. Mr Thirkell, who has set up a ‘restorium’ on Mars, promises a trip out—far, far out—for Mrs Bellowes and dozens of other old ladies like her, to meet God.
The premise of this story was quirky (a spaceship crowded with white-haired old ladies, all yearning to meet God?), and there was an element of black humour in this that appealed to me. But the end was too sudden and too quick, the story just a little too short to satisfy me. I’d have liked more, more of Bradbury’s fine storytelling. And perhaps an end that was a little more defined? Right now, I think I know what happened, but I’m not certain that’s what Bradbury meant.
The premise of this story was quirky (a spaceship crowded with white-haired old ladies, all yearning to meet God?), and there was an element of black humour in this that appealed to me. But the end was too sudden and too quick, the story just a little too short to satisfy me. I’d have liked more, more of Bradbury’s fine storytelling. And perhaps an end that was a little more defined? Right now, I think I know what happened, but I’m not certain that’s what Bradbury meant.
July 9, 2025
I liked this one! A little confusing at first, but there's a lot of layers in this story at the end. The old women wanted the chance to meet God, and I think they met him in more ways than one. Their journey to the end of the solar system was purported as a spiritual journey, but if the rocket was bound to be unsuccessful, wouldn't that mean they'd meet their physical end regardless? And since they'd been hurtled into space as the rocket breaks apart due to their mutiny, they do meet their physical end - but maybe the old women will go on to the next life and truly meet God. An interesting question on the physical versus the spiritual!
February 10, 2025
Un breve cuento de Ray Bradbury que con una atmósfera melancólica aborda temas como la fe, la desilusión y la esperanza.
Es considerado un cuento de ciencia ficción pero como suele pasarme con los de la época, tiene mas de fantasía que de ciencia y tenes que tomarlo como una historia simpática con cosas que le pasarían a Winnie Pooh en un cohete que hizo con Patrici0 en el fondo de su casa... y no en una historia fuerte de tono oscuro.
Pero bueno, tiene su toque simpático.
Es considerado un cuento de ciencia ficción pero como suele pasarme con los de la época, tiene mas de fantasía que de ciencia y tenes que tomarlo como una historia simpática con cosas que le pasarían a Winnie Pooh en un cohete que hizo con Patrici0 en el fondo de su casa... y no en una historia fuerte de tono oscuro.
Pero bueno, tiene su toque simpático.
June 8, 2017
The story goes to show that you can make things happen, if you're determined to see it happen.
I liked how Heaven and Hell were represented. The part where Mrs Bellowes witnesses Mr Thirkell heading towards the sun(Hell). She thinks to herself of how good he will be burned, boiled and roasted for his dishonesty. While the rest of the crew pace towards the light (Heaven).
I liked how Heaven and Hell were represented. The part where Mrs Bellowes witnesses Mr Thirkell heading towards the sun(Hell). She thinks to herself of how good he will be burned, boiled and roasted for his dishonesty. While the rest of the crew pace towards the light (Heaven).
May 22, 2020
This short story is another great example of how RAY BRADBURY writes and creates a world out of our imagination somewhere between reality and illusion. His writing it has power to make readers visualize things the way he want to show in the story and still leaves them with the message he want to convey....truly remarkable story.
May 7, 2025
I think the version I read may have had a bit missing in the middle. Doesn't the story start on Earth, promising a trip to Mars? Then, all of a sudden they are on Mars, but still haven't seen Mr. Thirkell's rocket?
What? Did I miss something?
I went back and read it again, but with the same result.
Can anyone explain this, please?
What? Did I miss something?
I went back and read it again, but with the same result.
Can anyone explain this, please?
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