Something Wicked This Way Comes
by Ray Bradbury · first published 1962
82% recommend18% neutral
Why HN recommends it
An atmospheric, nostalgic fantasy about a carnival that arrives in a small town in October. Its mood, vivid opening lines, and strong tone stand out, and it fits fans of Bradbury's fiction.
Summarised by Claude from recommending comments
Few American novels written this century have endured in the heart and memory as has Ray Bradbury's unparalleled literary classic SOMETHING WICKED THIS WAY COMES. For those who still dream and remember, for those yet to experience the hypnotic power of its dark poetry, step inside. The show is about to begin. The carnival rolls in sometime after midnight, ushering in Halloween a week early. The shrill siren song of a calliope beckons to all with a seductive promise of dreams and youth regained. In this season of dying, Cooger & Dark's Pandemonium Shadow Show has come to Green Town, Illinois
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…Didion) Flowers for Algernon (Daniel Keyes) The Effect of Gamma Rays on Man-in-the-Moon Marigolds (Paul Zindel) The Things They Carried (Tim O' Brien) This Side of Paradise (F. Scott Fitzgerald) Something Wicked This Way Comes (Ray Bradbury) Essentially a children's sci-fi novel, but it doesn't read that way. A Moveable Feast (Ernest Hemingway) My personal favorite (along with his short stories, which I highly recommend),…
on “Ask HN: I have no commitments for the next 6 months – what books should I read?” ↗…Islands in the Net, Zenith Angle and Schismatrix). "Foundation" trilogy + prequel by Isaac Asimov. "Brave New World", Aldous Huxley. "Deepness in the Sky" / "Fire Upon the Deep" by Vernor Vinge. "Something wicked this way comes" by Ray Bradbury. And a couple of comics/visual novels: "V for Vendetta" and "Watchmen" by Alan Moore (David Lloyd/ Tony Weare and Dave Gibbons / John Higgins). Dave Sims: "Cerebus" (I don't think…
on “Ask HN: What are some must read books?” ↗Wow, sad day. RIP, Mr. Bradbury. Fahreneheit 451 is a book that I consider one of the most influential I've ever read (along with Nineteen Eighty Four), and I also enjoyed Something Wicked This Way Comes, and all the other Bradbury works I've read. There are still quite a few of his works that I haven't read, so maybe I'll pick up something else of his and read it soon as a tribute.
on “R.I.P. Ray Bradbury, Author of Fahrenheit 451 and The Martian Chronicles ” ↗Ironically, the first time I remember being struck by an opening line was from Something Wicked This Way Comes by Ray Bradbury: "The seller of lightning-rods arrived just ahead of the storm." It's almost too forward — but I loved the visual. It's hard to not be hooked by the impending storm.
on “How to Start a Novel” ↗…Orwell Fahrenheit 451 - Bradbury Brave New World - Huxley Snow Crash - Stephenson The Shockwave Rider - Brunner The Fountainhead - Rand Cryptonomicon - Stephenson The Foundation trilogy - Asimov Something Wicked This Way Comes - Bradbury Strangers - Koontz After Dark - Murakami It - King The Lord of the Rings - Tolkien The Hobbit - Tolkien Perdido Street Station - Miéville Permutation City - Egan Glasshouse - Stross…
on “Ask HN: What are some must read books?” ↗"First of all, it was October, a rare month for boys." - this line always makes me settle back in my chair. 'Something Wicked This Way Comes', Ray Bradbury. It's mysterious and nostalgic and sets the tone for the book right away, like any good first line should.
on “Show HN: Opening lines of famous literary works” ↗Something Wicked This Way Comes. Perhaps Dandelion Wine.
on “The Toynbee Convector” ↗You've almost certainly come across them by now, but his novels are fantastic. I started with The Martian Chronicles and then The Illustrated Man, but ended up loving Something Wicked This Way Comes and even Dandelion Wine. There's something about good fiction and youth that just went together so well -- maybe people who did a lot of, say, swimming in their formative years feel that way about "good…
on “Book people think they know why 9-year-olds stop reading for fun” ↗I think that’s a fair take. A lot of his stuff is straight fantasy, some is very nearly realism; a lot of time he seems to enjoy ignoring the lines while he colors. Try “Something Wicked This Way Comes,” perhaps; almost zero science to it :)
on “There Will Come Soft Rains (1950) [pdf]” ↗My personal favorite was "Something Wicked This Way Comes".
on “The Toynbee Convector” ↗…Colorless Tsukuru Tazaki and His Years of Pilgrimage (Haruki Murakami) 11. Freedom TM (Daniel Suarez) 12. Lightning (Dean Koontz) 13. Daemons (Daniel Suarez) 14. Foundation and Earth (Isaac Asimov) 15. Something Wicked This Way Comes (Ray Bradbury) 16. Fear and Loathing in Las Veges (Hunter S. Thompson) 17. Foundation's Edge (Isaac Asimov) 18. The Doors of Perception (Aldous Huxley) 19. Cryptonomicon (Neal Stephenson) 20. Tortilla…
on “Ask HN: Books you read in 2016?” ↗…this, for instance. Then there's the unofficial but somewhat widely-implemented HTTP status code "451", which denotes unavailability for political—i.e. censorship—reasons] Other major novels include Something Wicked This Way Comes and Dandelion Wine. He wrote a fairly famous short story collection that functions something like a concept album—it's sometimes classed as a kind of structurally-unconventional novel, in fact—in that…
on “The Toynbee Convector” ↗I currently have a copy of Something Wicked This Way Comes laying here in front of me.
on “2.7M Americans Still Get Netflix DVDs in the Mail” ↗