Thank goodness for 83-year-old Ray Bradbury. One of America’s finest storytellers is back with “The Cat’s Pajamas” (Morrow, 256 pages, $24.95), a book of 21 short stories and one poem — most of them never before published — written between 1946 and this year.
“The Cat’s Pajamas” includes science fiction, bittersweet nostalgia and horror. Each story is a marvel of simplicity and wondrous in its emotion.
In the nine pages of “We’ll Just Act Natural,” written in 1948, Bradbury breaks our hearts by sharing the poignancy of a woman waiting for an elusive visitor. “Hail to the Chief,” written this year, will elicit laughter as U.S. senators gamble away the nation in an American Indian-run casino. And in the title story, written in 2003, Bradbury takes a cliche and expands it into an unlikely love story.
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Throughout, he masterfully engages the reader. Bradbury is especially good at knowing how much information to leave out — we are invited to employ our imaginations to fill in the blanks. He also can conjure glorious scenes with just a few descriptive sentences.
This collection is a true gift from a powerful writing talent.