I’m a little late for the “pop culture” links for this month’s reading in my SF/F book club, Ray Bradbury’s Something Wicked This Way Comes. (I’m even later with my essay for last month’s book, never mind that!) Back in April we read another Bradbury book, The Martian Chronicles, for our SF/F class and I posted some links as well as my essay.
First, a reminder that you can read a large number of Bradbury’s stories online thanks to Unz.org. But let’s concentrate on this specific book: Something Wicked This Way Comes was published in 1962, so although it’s over 50 years old, it’s still well within copyright protection, which means no legal free copies online. Many editions are available for purchase, including as a full-cast audiobook and in graphic novel format.
The novel was made into the 1983 Disney film Something Wicked This Way Comes, with Bradbury as the screenwriter. In a later interview, Bradbury said that he considered the film one of the better adaptations of his works.
Bradbury’s Pandemonium Theatre Company also debuted a play based on the novel in Los Angeles on October 1, 2003, directed by Alan Neal Hubbs, also associated with the 1970 stage adaptation of Bradbury’s The Martian Chronicles. The play received generally favourable reviews, stating that it captured the lyricism and dark tone of the novel, and praising its special effects.
The novel was also produced as a full-cast radio play by the Colonial Radio Theatre on the Air, and released by Blackstone Audio on October 1, 2007; Bradbury wrote the script, modified for audio from his stage play. It was was produced as a radio play for the BBC Radio 4 Saturday Play series as a different adaptation, and was broadcast on 29 October 2011 and 7 December 2012.
Many popular culture references and influences can be found in television shows, novels, comics, and games, from The Simpsons to South Park. Wikipedia cites no less than six songs or albums named for the book. More generally, just about any creepy travelling carnival, like the one in later seasons of Heroes, or the focus of the excellent HBO mini-series Carnivàle, contains a nod to Bradbury’s novel. Heck, wouldn’t you say that Neil Gaiman’s American Gods, which we read a few months ago, also contained a bit of an homage with its bizarre, carnivalesque entertainments at the House on the Rock?
Ferris wheel at night © David Karp 2007. No copyright challenge intended, it’s just a gorgeous photo that I wanted you to see.
The Reef 