New York, 1951

This chapter focuses on Ray Bradbury's 1951 trip to New York, describing it as more personally stressful than any of his previous visits. While in New York, Bradbury wrote two new pages for “The Magical Kitchen” and produced a new page for a very short time-travel piece titled “The Dragon.” He also felt that he could handle the unpredictability of the New York publishing world this time around. This chapter begins with a discussion of Bradbury's itinerary in New York, including meetings with magazine editors such as Eleanor Stierham of Today's Woman and a lecture on writing at Columbia University; he also watched a first-run performance of Darkness at Noon, the Sidney Kingsley adaptation of Arthur Koestler's novel. The chapter then turns to a series of unpleasant encounters that unnerved Bradbury, particularly the four editorial parties he attended and his confrontation with a group of ballet dancers. Bradbury articulated his feelings in “A Flight of Ravens,” his highly autobiographical story of the final days of his New York trip.