Twice Twenty-Two - The Golden Apples of the Sun, A Medicine For Melancholy

 While searching through my collection of old books I came across a golden oldie. It was like finding buried treasure or reuniting with an old friend.

My copy of TWICE TWENTY-TWO is actually two books in one, THE GOLDEN APPLES OF THE SUN and A MEDICINE FOR MELANCHOLY, a collection that includes some of Ray Bradbury's most famous tales. Mine is a book club edition published in 1966. It's been reprinted since and you can find reasonably priced used copies online.

Ray Bradbury may be best known for THE MARTIAN CHRONICLES and FAHRENHEIT 451 but you would be wrong to think of him as only a writer of science fiction. Many of his best and most classic stories take place in the past, some are emotional vignettes.

These forty-four tales are proof that he is also a master of dramatic fiction, deep characterization and social criticism. For example THE BIG BLACK AND WHITE GAME, written in 1945 and included in this collection, is a controversial tale of racial prejudice. Bradbury writes about a bygone era with keen insight and sensitivity. Whether the stories are contemporary or set in the future quite a few of them revolve around themes of childhood and loneliness such as ALL SUMMER IN A DAY. It's about children living on Venus, but like children everywhere they can be cruel bullies. The story tugs at the heartstrings. Bradbury paints a beautiful setting and like many of his other stories this one contains a lesson applicable today. But there are also stories of aliens, technological advances and a few fantasies such as THE FOGHORN. The stories are short, but each one should be savored for its imagination, beautiful writing, realistic characters and the feelings they will engender in you. With forty-four of Ray Bradbury's short stories in one volume you can't go wrong. Following are brief descriptions of the contents Leave of absence letter due to family illness.

THE GOLDEN APPLES OF THE SUN was named after a W.B. Yeats poem, "The Song of Wandering Aengus." The first story is one of my favorites. When "The Fog Horn" sounds a lonely sea monster comes to call. "The Pedestrian" which takes place in the same world as "Fahrenheit 451" is about a writer, who discovers even the simple pleasure of a walk, is misconduct. "The April Witch" is a creature who takes possession of a young girl so she can experience love. In "The Wilderness" two women face their last night on Earth before they meet their men on Mars. It's an interesting story with outdated stereotypes of women. "The Fruit at the Bottom of the Bowl" is a mystery with a Hitchcock type twist. It's a story of an obsessive compulsive who commits murder and tries too hard to remove the evidence. In "The Invisible Boy" an old woman uses witchcraft to keep a boy with her. In A.D. 400 the Emperor of China sees "The Flying Machine" and makes a farsighted decision. "The Murderer," written in 1953 seems to be a portent of modern times. In "The Golden Kite, The Silver Wind" two cities build and rebuild their walls until they reach the perfect compromise. "I See You Never" is a short tale of a man who leaves Mexico City for a better life. Three women work on their "Embroidery" while they wait for the end of the world. "The Big Black and White Game" is a story about two baseball teams competing in a bygone era of racial prejudice. "The Sound of Thunder" is a tale of time travel gone wrong. An illiterate woman longs for "The Great Wide World Over There." In "Powerhouse" a woman explores faith and being alone. "En La Noche" Mrs. Navarrez cries over her husband's departure and her sleepless neighbors look for a solution. A photographer uses a poverty stricken neighborhood as a backdrop in "Sun and Shadow." "The Meadow" is a movie set, to all but the night watchman. "The Garbage Collector" is satisfied with his job until everything changes. Nobody can put out "The Great Fire" because it's Marianne who's on fire. In "Hail and Farewell" a forty-three year old man who looks like a boy keeps looking for new parents. A ship heads for the sun in "The Golden Apples of the Sun." A MEDICINE FOR MELANCHOLY is another old collection of Bradbury classics first printed in the UK. "In a Season of Calm Weather" a man meets Picasso on the beach. Two men on a moor meet "The Dragon." A family searches for "A Medicine for Melancholy" hoping to cure their daughter's ailment. In "The End of the Beginning" a manned rocket is sent up to build the first space station. Six poor men pool their money to buy "The Wonderful Ice Cream Suit." The doctor assures Charles' parents that he is only having a "Fever Dream" when he complains he's being taken over by his illness. In the "Marriage Mender" a young couple argues and then realizes what's really important. A man gets off a train in "The Town Where No One Got Off" and meets a mysterious old man. "A Scent of Sarsaparilla" in an attic beckons an old man. In "Icarus Montgolfier Wright" an astronaut thinks about the history of flight before his rocket is due to take off. A man hopes "The headpiece" will help him win a woman. "Dark They Were and Golden-eyed" takes place on a future Mars where stranded colonists start seeing changes in themselves. In "The Smile" hatred for a past which destroyed their world has people waiting in line to spit on the Mona Lisa painting. In "The First Night of Lent" a cab driver gives up drink. An old man with a premonition of death decides it's "The Time of Going Away." "All Summer in a Day" takes place on Venus where it always rains, except for two hours every seven years. The kids are jealous of a young girl who remembers the sun from a time she lived on Earth and they play a cruel trick on her. On Christmas a boy takes his first rocket ride and is awed by the "The Gift." "The Great Collision of Monday Last" takes place outside an Irish pub. A man and his wife wonder about the couple next door who they've named "The Little Mice." Greedy men find a mermaid on "The Shore Line at Sunset." In "The Strawberry Window" a family on Mars misses their home on Earth.