Goth Chick News: Ray Bradbury’s “The Wish” Brings New Magic to the Holidays
Just about a year ago I finally got around to writing about my first encounter with Ray Bradbury and his story “The Wish.” It isn’t one of his most famous or well known, but when it appeared in the December issue of Woman’s Day magazine in 1973, it touched my 9-year-old self in a deeply personal way. Following its appearance in Woman’s Day, “The Wish” only appeared twice more; once in a compilation called Long After Midnight, which I discovered in my subsequent youthful pursuit of all things Bradbury, and once in a format I only just discovered.
Here is where the magic comes in…
Back in October I received an unusual voicemail on my “day job” phone. The gentleman introduced himself and asked if I was the Sue Granquist who writes for Black Gate. If so, he had something for me. If not, he apologized for bothering me and then left his number for me to call. What was exceptionally strange about this is that I don’t even know my office phone number, not to mention my very strict policy of separation of church and state – no one at the day job knows about my gig at Black Gate.
So how, exactly, did this gentleman track me down there?
With curiosity killing me I rang the number back and met Peter Schneider, former Vice President at Viking Penguin, William Morrow, Prentice Hall and Grove Press; translate that to mean a titan in the publishing world. Now retired, Mr. Schneider’s last gig was as owner of a boutique publishing firm called Hill House Press. He explained that he was the publisher for and personal friend of Ray Bradbury in the ten years before Bradbury’s death in 2012. During that time, he convinced Bradbury to let him publish a limited-edition hard cover book of The Wish; limited as in fifty-two copies were made, each containing an actual photo of Bradbury’s father and a short note about the origins of the tale from Bradbury himself. Mr. Schneider explained that he had copy number 8 in his possession which he found when cleaning out the attic. That made him wonder when the story had first appeared in public so he Googled “The Wish” and what was the first listing that came up?
The article I had written about it, which appeared in Black Gate last December.
