An All-Bradbury #24in48 Readathon!

July 21, 2017 at 3:00 pm (Uncategorized)
Tags: #24in48 giveaway, 24in48 readathon, Center for Ray Bradbury Studies, deal me in challenge, Ray Bradbury readathon

The time is nigh for the start of the Bi-annual #24in48 Readathon!

What is the #24in48 Readathon?

From the readathon’s home page, here are some details: “If you’re new to 24in48, this is the basic gist: beginning at 12:01am on Saturday morning and running through 11:59pm on Sunday night, participants read for 24 hours out of that 48-hour period. You can split that up however you’d like: 20 hours on Saturday, four hours on Sunday; 12 hours each day; six four-hour sessions with four hour breaks in between, whatever you’d like.”

(above: Ray Bradbury sitting in the “prop” Time Machine from the eponymous 1960 movie)

What am I Reading?

Now “the rest of the story” is that most participants don’t actually read 24 entire hours, but rather have that as a goal.  In the past, I’ve participated by reading 24 short stories, which is harder than you think.  This year, though, to up the ante, I’m going to try to read 52 stories, all by the master storyteller, Ray Bradbury.  Why? Many reasons, not the least of which being I really enjoy reading his stories. He also doesn’t write many “long-ish” stories, so they might average a short enough length for me to complete 52 in a weekend. The most important reason, though, is that I am hoping to “raise awareness” about a local (for me) literary treasure, The Center for Ray Bradbury Studies. Pay them a visit at the link, and also check out their Facebook page. I’ve had the pleasure of visiting the Center on a couple occasions and it is chock-full of Bradbury artifacts and documents, and a re-creation of his office space. Including his seat of choice, a director’s chair (see photo below).

My Plans – and a Giveaway!

I will try to post here at Bibliophilopolis several times during the weekend, and certainly plan to tweet often about what story I’m on or have just finished, and what I think of it. I plan to do a giveaway at the end of the #24in48 challenge, and anyone who comments or likes a blog post – including this one! – or who replies or likes or retweets one of my tweets, will be entered into a drawing (and yes, if you like/comment/reply/retweet multiple posts or tweets, you will be entered multiple times – limit of one per post/tweet, though), the winner receiving their choice among several books by Bradbury – some in hardcover. (I’ll share what the prize options in an upcoming blog post)  ALSO – If you share in your comment or reply that you have liked or followed their Facebook page, you will be entered into the drawing twice.  Lets see if we can make a modest impact to their total likes tally! The winner will be notified via the same media “channel” (WordPress or Twitter) which they used to earn their entry.

(below: a closer view of some of the memorabilia at the Bradbury Center)

Lastly, this wouldn’t be Bibliophilopolis if I didn’t employ the Deal Me In approach to determine the order of the fifty-two stories I’ll read. I’ve assigned each one to a card in a standard deck of playing cards, and broken the suits into categories as follows:

♦♦♦Diamonds♦♦♦ = “The Director’s Cut” – Stories recommended by the Director of The Center for Ray Bradbury Studies at IUPUI, Jon Eller.

♠♠♠Spades♠♠♠ = Stories from “The Illustrated Man” or “Quicker Than the Eye” collections.

♥♥♥Hearts♥♥♥ = A red suit for a red planet! Stories from “The Martian Chronicles.”

♣♣♣Clubs♣♣♣ = Stories from “Bradbury Stories: 100 of His Most Celebrated Tales”

Any of these stories marked by an asterisk were also recommended by my fellow book bloggers.

(image below found at http://ru.vector.me/search/playing-card-suit)

Here are the stories I will be attempting to read during the #24in48 Readathon:

♦♦♦Diamonds♦♦♦

♦A♦ –  The Whole Town’s Sleeping*

♦2♦ –  And the Rock Cried Out*

♦3♦ – The Dwarf

♦4♦ –  The Man

♦5♦ – The Exiles

♦6♦ – At Midnight, in the Month of June

♦7♦– The Lonely Ones

♦8♦ – Changeling

♦9♦ – The Pedestrian

♦10♦ – The Lifework of Juan Diaz

♦J♦ – Death and the Maiden

♦Q♦ – Zero Hour

♦K♦ – The City

♠♠♠Spades♠♠♠

♠A♠ – The Concrete Mixer

♠2♠ – The Finnegan

♠3♠ – Marionettes, Inc.

♠4♠ – Dorian in Excelsis

♠5♠ – The Rocket Man

♠6♠ – Zaharoff/Richter Mark V

♠7♠ – The Fox and the Forest

♠8♠ – The Witch Door

♠9♠ – The Electrocution

♠10♠ – The Veldt*

♠J♠ – Unterderseaboat Doktor

♠Q♠ – The Very Gentle Murders

♠K♠ – The Ghost in the Machine

♥♥♥Hearts♥♥♥

♥A♥– Ylla

♥2♥ – The Earth Men

♥3♥ – The Third Expedition

♥4♥ – And the Moon be Still as Bright

♥5♥ – The Fire Balloons

♥6♥ – The Musicians

♥7♥ – Way in the Middle of the Air

♥8♥ – Usher II

♥9♥ -The Martian

♥10♥ – There Will Come Soft Rains

♥J♥ – The Million Year Picnic

♥Q♥ – The Silent Towns

♥K♥ – The Settlers

♣♣♣Clubs♣♣♣

♣A♣ – The Watchful Poker Chip of H. Matisse

♣2♣ – All Summer in a Day*

♣3♣ – Let’s Play Poison

♣4♣ – The Dragon

♣5♣ –  Darling Adolf

♣6♣ – And the Sailor, Home from the Sea

♣7♣ – The Drummer Boy of Shiloh

♣8♣ – The April Witch*

♣9♣ – The Wonderful Death of Dudley Stone

♣10♣ – The Machineries of Joy

♣J♣ – The Toynebee Convector

♣Q♣ – The F. Scott/Tolstoy/Ahab Accumulator*

♣K♣ – The Fog Horn*