''From the Dust Returned'' is a
fix-up
A fix-up (or fixup) is a novel created from several short fiction stories that may or may not have been initially related or previously published. The stories may be edited for consistency, and sometimes new connecting material, such as a frame s ...
fantasy
Fantasy is a genre of speculative fiction involving magical elements, typically set in a fictional universe and sometimes inspired by mythology and folklore. Its roots are in oral traditions, which then became fantasy literature and d ...
novel by
Ray Bradbury
Ray Douglas Bradbury (; August 22, 1920June 5, 2012) was an American author and screenwriter. One of the most celebrated 20th-century American writers, he worked in a variety of modes, including fantasy, science fiction, horror, mystery fictio ...
published in 2001. The novel is largely created from a series of short stories Bradbury wrote decades earlier, centering on a family of Illinois-based
monsters and
ghosts named the Elliotts. The six previously published stories originally appeared in the magazines ''
The Saturday Evening Post
''The Saturday Evening Post'' is an American magazine, currently published six times a year. It was issued weekly under this title from 1897 until 1963, then every two weeks until 1969. From the 1920s to the 1960s, it was one of the most widely ...
'', ''
Mademoiselle'' and ''
Weird Tales
''Weird Tales'' is an American fantasy and horror fiction pulp magazine founded by J. C. Henneberger and J. M. Lansinger in late 1922. The first issue, dated March 1923, appeared on newsstands February 18. The first editor, Edwin Baird, pri ...
'' as well as Bradbury's earlier collections ''
Dark Carnival'' and ''
The Toynbee Convector
"The Toynbee Convector" is a science fiction short story by American writer Ray Bradbury. First published in ''Playboy'' magazine in 1984, the story was subsequently featured in a 1988 short story collection also titled '' The Toynbee Convector' ...
''. Two of the stories, "Homecoming" and "Uncle Einar", were also anthologized in ''
The October Country''.
Three new short stories are included, as well as several chapters to help connect the stories.
The novel features a cover illustration by
Charles Addams, originally created to accompany the publication of the first Elliott story, "Homecoming", in ''Mademoiselle'' in 1946. The Elliotts bear a strong resemblance to Addams' own
Addams Family
''The Addams Family'' is a fictional family created by American cartoonist Charles Addams. They originally appeared in a series of 150 unrelated single-panel cartoons, about half of which were originally published in ''The New Yorker'' over a ...
characters. Bradbury once discussed collaborating with Addams on an Elliott Family history, although that project never came to fruition.
[Bradbury, Ray, ''From the Dust Returned: A Novel''. William Morrow, 2001.]
Contents
* "The Beautiful One Is Here" (Prologue)
* "The Town and the Place"
* "Anuba Arrives"
* "The High Attic"
* "The Sleeper and Her Dreams"
* "The Wandering Witch" (Previously published as "
The April Witch")
* "Whence Timothy?"
* "The House, the Spider, and the Child"
* "Mouse, Far-Traveling"
* "Homecoming" (Previously published in ''
Mademoiselle'' and ''
The October Country'')
* "West of October" (Previously published in ''
The Toynbee Convector
"The Toynbee Convector" is a science fiction short story by American writer Ray Bradbury. First published in ''Playboy'' magazine in 1984, the story was subsequently featured in a 1988 short story collection also titled '' The Toynbee Convector' ...
'')
* "Many Returns"
* "On the Orient North" (Previously published in ''
The Toynbee Convector
"The Toynbee Convector" is a science fiction short story by American writer Ray Bradbury. First published in ''Playboy'' magazine in 1984, the story was subsequently featured in a 1988 short story collection also titled '' The Toynbee Convector' ...
'')
* "Nostrum Paracelsius Crook"
* "The October People"
* "Uncle Einar" (Previously published in ''
Dark Carnival'' 1947 and ''The October Country'')
* "The Whisperers"
* "The Theban Voice"
* "Make Haste to Live" (new)
* "The Chimney Sweeps"
* "The Traveler" (Previously published in ''
Weird Tales
''Weird Tales'' is an American fantasy and horror fiction pulp magazine founded by J. C. Henneberger and J. M. Lansinger in late 1922. The first issue, dated March 1923, appeared on newsstands February 18. The first editor, Edwin Baird, pri ...
'', 1945)
* "Return to the Dust" (new)
* "The One Who Remembers"
* "The Gift" (new)
Film
In 2012,
MGM
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios Inc., also known as Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Pictures and abbreviated as MGM, is an American film, television production, distribution and media company owned by Amazon through MGM Holdings, founded on April 17, 1924 a ...
acquired the rights to create a film adaptation of ''From the Dust Returned''.
[Fleming, Jr, Mike (2012-05-10). MGM Acquires Ray Bradbury’s ''From The Dust Returned'', About An Orphan Who’s Adopted By Monsters. Deadline New York, 10 May 2012. Retrieved on 2013-02-22 from http://www.deadline.com/2012/05/mgm-acquires-ray-bradbury-novel-from-the-dust-returned-about-an-orphan-whos-adopted-by-monsters/.]
References
Bibliography
*
External links
*
Novels by Ray Bradbury
2001 American novels
American fantasy novels
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