The Circus of Dr. Lao and Other Improbable Stories

by Ray Bradbury (Editor), Charles G. Finney, James H. Schmitz

• Introduction (Circus of Dr. Lao and Other Improbable Stories): Ray Bradbury
• The Circus of Dr. Lao: Charles G. Finney
• The Pond: Nigel Kneale
• The Hour of Letdown: E. B. White
• The Wish: Roald Dahl
• The Summer People: Shirley Jackson
• Earth's Holocaust: Nathaniel Hawthorne
• Busby's Petrified Woman: Loren Eiseley
• The Resting Place: Oliver La Farge
• Threshold: Henry Kuttner
• Greenface: James H. Schmitz
• The Limits of Walter Horton: John S. Sharnik
• The Man Who Vanished: Robert M. Coates

Cover Illustration: D. Schwartz

Genres: Fantasy, Short Stories, Fiction, Horror, Anthologies, Science Fiction

210 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published January 1, 1956

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

[Craig · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is one of two anthologies edited by Bradbury (the other was Timeless Stories For Today and Tomorrow); curiously, it seems to have had only a single printing in 1956. There's a quirky introduction by Bradbury in which he defines his perception of the differences between science fiction and fantasy. Finney's titular short novel comprises half of the book, followed by a pleasant mix of classic and modern short fantasy stories by the likes of Nigel Kneale, E.B. White, Roald Dahl, Shirley Jackson, Nathaniel Hawthorne, Loren Eiseley, Oliver LaFarge, Henry Kuttner, and James H. Schmitz. Some of the stories are quite dated, obviously, and some of the more literary pieces seem out of place juxtaposed with pulp adventures, but it's a good assortment of fantasy. Finney was obviously a big influence on Bradbury, as has been often noted.

[Steve Scott · Rating 5 out of 5]

This classic anthology of Bradbury's from 1957 contains Finney's title work, plus a great collection of writers as far back as Nathanial Hawthorne (Earth's Holocaust). Of these Oliver La Farge's "The Resting Place" was likely my favorite, but there were a number that were real gems.

Be aware that Finney's work, "The Circus of Dr. Lao" is ripe with racist language in describing Dr. Lao himself. Lao oscillates between a false stereotype of a Chinese immigrant who can only speak in pidgin English to a man of exceeding and articulate erudition. I got the sense that the "coolie" version of Lao was a character he was playing to mock the simple minded whites portrayed in the story.

Bradbury himself was supposedly inspired by the work in his writing of "Something Wicked This Way Comes" and stories related to it.

This book has been long out of print, but copies can still be had. Some are exceedingly expensive. If you can come by an affordable copy, it's worth reading. The one I had fell apart as I read it. 64 years is a long time for a paperback.

Most reader's won't be familiar with the film "The Seven Faces of Dr. Lao" starring Tony Randall. The film is only very loosely based on the story.

[Arnulfo Velasco · Rating 5 out of 5]

Este libro es una antología de textos de otros autores seleccionados por Bradbury. La principal aportación de ese escritor es un prólogo excelente, en el cual explica (con notable claridad) cuál es la diferencia entre la literatura de ciencia ficción y la literatura de fantasía (él cultivó ambos géneros). A muchas personas, incluyendo otros antologadores, se les debería obligar a aprenderse de memoria este prólogo. Por otro lado, el libro contiene algunos cuentos excelentes, varios buenos y tan sólo uno mediocre (el de Nathaniel Hawrhorne). El relato que la da título al libro es una novela corta sorprendente. Su autor, Charles G. Finney, creo un texto casi experimental, en el cual se van sucediendo una serie de cuentos breves interrelacionados, cada uno relacionado con alguna forma de mito. Pero todo esto salpicado con una ironía constante y un deseo claro de no tomarse demasiado en serio a sí mismo. Otros textos dignos de leerse son los Henry Kuttner y Robert M. Coates. No sé por qué este volumen no ha sido más veces editado.

[TrumanCoyote · Rating 3 out of 5]

The title item completed sucked, but there was some good stuff amongst the remainder. The two best items were probably "The Limits of Walter Horton" and the Hawthorne story ("Earth's Holocaust"). Typically Nathaniel even admits at the end that he was making the whole thing up, and yet it still works. Have no idea what that Loren Eiseley thing was doing in here. White's "The Hour of Letdown" provides a nice shaggy dog, and Shirley Jackson's "The Summer People" just does manage I think to convey a sense of menace without giving way to her usual penchant for over-subtlety. Oh yes, and Coates' contribution ("The Man Who Vanished") was nicely eerie/ethereal--reminiscent somehow or other of John D MacDonald's "Annex."

[David Allen · Rating 3 out of 5]

This 1956 fantasy anthology can still be located with some searching. The first half is Charles Finney's unusual "Circus of Dr. Lao," an imaginative, if plotless, tale of a ragtag circus of mythological creatures in uncomprehending Abalone, Arizona. Of the rest, Shirley Jackson's "The Summer People," John Seymour Sharnik's "The Limits of Walter Horton" and Robert M. Coates' "The Man Who Vanished" are standouts.

[Spauly · Rating 5 out of 5]

Don't remember much about this book, but I remember being blown away by the circus story, and the story about a snake on the floor. I would like to reread this.

[Katherine Bishop]

Quite a few good short stories here, opened with Ray Bradbury’s evocative, if not entirely accurate, distinction between sf & fantasy:

“‘The Circus of Dr Lao’ and the stories which follow are fantasies, not science-fiction. First then, some definitions.

Science-fiction is the law-abiding citizen of imaginative literature, obeying the rules, be they physical, social, or psychological, keeping regular hours, eating punctual meals; predictable, certain, sure.

Fantasy, on the other hand, is criminal. Each fantasy assaults and breaks a particular law; the crime being hidden by the author's felicitous thought and style which cover the body before blood is seen.

Science-fiction works hand-in-glove with the universe.

Fantasy cracks it down the middle, turns it wrong-side-out, dissolves it to invisibility, walks men through its walls, and fetches incredible circuses to town with sea-serpent, medusa, and chimera displacing zebra, ape, and armadillo.

Science-fiction balances you on the cliff.

Fantasy shoves you off.“ (vii)

[Jeremiah · Rating 4 out of 5]

Title story was amazing as was the Summer People by Shirley Jackson. Rest were ok, but those are the only ones I’d say are a must read.