Transitions: Bradbury and Don Congdon

This chapter examines some of the transitions in Ray Bradbury's life and career by focusing on the role played by Don Congdon, editorial at Simon & Schuster. It begins with a consideration of Bradbury's deteriorating relationship with Grant Beach, followed by a discussion of challenges on the professional front, including the poor sales of his pulp market stories. It then turns to developments that boded well for Bradbury for the long term, such as the increasing interest being shown by anthologists and New York publishing houses towards his work and the opportunities resulting from his four major market magazine sales in the summer of 1945. It also looks at Bradbury's relationship with Congdon and how he helped him secure major sales for some of his best new fiction such as “Homecoming,” which sold to Mademoiselle. Under Congdon's guidance, Bradbury also saw increased demand for reprints of his short stories such as “Skeleton,” “The Watchers,” and “Invisible Boy.”