Journey #91 - The Lottery by Shirley Jackson (presented by NBC Short Story)

The residents of an idyllic small town gather once a year to take part in the lottery.

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Guest Hosts: Big Anklevich and Rish Outfield of Dunesteef.com

Shirley Jackson was a popular and controversial American author, who was born in December 14, 1916. She is best known for the short story The Lottery (1948).  She is also well known for the 1959 novel The Haunting of Hill House, which was adapted in the 1963 Robert Wise film The Haunting.  She has influenced such writers as Neil Gaiman, Stephen King, Nigel Kneale, and Richard Matheson.

Jackson's husband, the literary critic Stanley Edgar Hyman, wrote that "she consistently refused to be interviewed, to explain or promote her work in any fashion...She believed that her books would speak for her clearly enough over the years."

NBC Presents: Short Story was a half-hour program offering dramatizations of contemporary American short stories by famed writers such as William Faulkner, F. Scott Fitzgerald, John Steinbeck, and Ray Bradbury. The series premiered February 21, 1951 on NBC and ran in three different incarnations until May 30, 1952.

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Cenizas and the Ash King by Lizzanne Herd on the Dunesteef

Theme music: Liberator by Man In Space

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Journey #90 - The Rocket by Ray Bradbury (presented by NBC Short Story)

Fiorello Bodoni, a poor junkyard owner, dreams of rocketing to the stars. When the opportunity arises, he realizes he can't share it with his family.

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Guest Host: Dave Thompson of Podcastle.org

Episode Art courtesy of Brian Burgess

Ray Bradbury is the world’s greatest science fiction writer. Some may argue, including Ray himself, that he writes fantasy rather than science fiction. He once said that Fahrenheit 451 was his only true science fiction work. His stories may tells us very little about science, but a great deal about the netherworld of imagination buried deep within all of us. In addition to over 1000 short stories, several novels and a handful of plays; Ray Bradbury has written poetry and scenarios. He adapted the novel Moby Dick for the movies, and has seen several of his own stroies made into motion pictures, as well as television radio shows. His writing has appeared in nearly every American magazine publishing quality fiction, and in over 100 anthologies of short stories.

NBC Presents: Short Story was a half-hour program offering dramatizations of contemporary American short stories by famed writers such as William Faulkner, F. Scott Fitzgerald, John Steinbeck, and Ray Bradbury. The series premiered February 21, 1951 on NBC and ran in three different incarnations until May 30, 1952.

Theme music: Liberator by Man In Space

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