Another wonderful collection by Kiernan. If you're new to Kiernan's work, or just looking for some spectacular sci-fi / fantasy stories, this is the collection for you. It's a pretty significant and massive collection, and there's a lot here to love. I really enjoyed the stories in here, with only a couple exceptions of ones that were not quite my cup of tea, but overall I thought it was a solid collection and I recommend it.

I did enjoy reading this although I felt like sometimes she really draws out a story. I feel like Kiernan has that same dreamlike quality whether it's science fiction or fantasy, although maybe I'm prejudiced because my first book by Kiernan was The drowning girl. If you read this, don't worry about tackling it all at once because it's loooong. Thanks to NetGalley for making this available to me

Wasn't able to review this one, so I'm leaving a neutral rating as to hopefully not affect the average too much

Fantastic storytelling of futures that are distant and seemingly very close. This is a strong collection of short fiction for science fiction and fantasy fans.

A stellar short story collection from Caitlin R. Kiernan. I didn't tear through this anthology, I savored it. Kiernan writes such gross, immersive, compelling scifi. A must for fans of Cronenberg, and Kameron Hurley

At 800 pages, this is a massive collection of sci-fi and speculative short fiction pieces; it’s an anthology you won’t easily finish in one afternoon. There is so much to this collection, giving readers plenty of options to of stories to choose from. As with most anthologies, not every short story in the collection worked well for me. The piece I liked most was the final, titular short story, “Bradbury Weather.” I also enjoyed “Galapagos” and “Zero Summer.”

However, my favorite parts of the collection, by far, were Kiernan’s introductions for each story. These story introductions, simple as they were, served as unique and clever additions to this anthology. I enjoyed reading the history of each short story, and these sections really add to the full effect of the book. I wish more single-author anthologies would follow suit.

If you’re a fan of straightforward and uncomplicated science fiction, this anthology is not for you. However, if your tastes lean toward the weird or the macabre, this is a collection of strange sci-fi and horror-leaning short stories worth your time.

Thanks to Subterranean Press for an ARC of this book for review. All the above thoughts are my own.
Rating 3.5 (rounded up to 4)

Full blog post will go live on release date (Nov. 30, 2023) on Back Shelf Books at the following link: https://backshelfbooks.com/2023/11/30/new-release-review-bradbury-weather-by-caitlin-r-kiernan/

An uneven collection, with a few high highs and a lot of forgettable lows. Looking back at the little notes I made about each story as I finished them, an unfortunately high number of them are some variation on "shrug" or "huh?" -- Kiernan's own author's notes on these stories mention a few times her tendency toward the oblique and unexplained, and a lot of these stories fell flat for me on vagueness grounds. Seems to be a feature, not a bug, of her writing, and perhaps it works better in horror than in science fiction. Kiernan is known primarily as a horror writer (though I have yet to read any of her work in that genre, this being my first foray into her writing) and where this book did shine was in the more horror-inflected moments, whether that be creepy imagery in a science-fictional setting (derelict spacecraft or body horror, say) or stories that are basically just horror stories with a science-fictional gloss. I will particularly highlight the novella "The Dry Salvages" -- which I found delightful, and recommend to any fans of <i>Blindsight</i> -- and the story "Tall Bodies" -- likewise, but substitute "China Miéville". My main takeaway from this collection is that I really ought to go track down more of Kiernan's horror work. She's clearly got a talent for it.

Great, and long collection of stories. I thought this was impressive. Recommended.

Thanks very much for the free copy for review!!

These stories fell all over the spectrum for me but I did really enjoy a lot of the scifi elements and original concepts. My favorite stories from this collection were those dealing with first contact, as that is one of my favorite tropes in science fiction!

From what I have seen, this author primarily writes weird and macabre fiction. This collection is a rarity in that it collects her scattered works of scifi in one place.

With a title like Bradbury Weather, the bar was set pretty high for me for this collection. While I really loved some of the works in this book, others really dragged for me and I did find myself skimming a handful of the stories that I just couldn't get into. My only other complaint for this collection is the sheer length of the book. I can see myself picking this one back up to revisit stories that I skipped or overlooked this time around, but couldn't get through the 800 pages without putting this one down for awhile.

**Thank you to NetGalley and Subterranean Press for the eARC of this title!**