(Found) Ray Bradbury Short Story Search

[Book lover]

I am trying to find a Bradbury short story I read in the 1960s. The plot is that a machine from another planet has landed on Earth and is collecting specimens. A man witnesses the machine killing and preserving animals and is pursued by the specimen collecting machine. He runs all night but cannot shake the machine. He is so exhausted he collapses and the machine comes toward him. The man expects to be killed, but the machine weighs him and rejects him as a specimen because the man does not meet the weight requirement. By running all night, the man has perspired and escapes death because he is severely dehydrated.

I checked out the titles on Wikipedia (along with summaries) but cannot find the story. I would very much like to re-read it. Thank you for any suggestions.

 

[Jo Zebedee]

I am trying to find a Bradbury short story I read in the 1960s. The plot is that a machine from another planet has landed on Earth and is collecting specimens. A man witnesses the machine killing and preserving animals and is pursued by the specimen collecting machine. He runs all night but cannot shake the machine. He is so exhausted he collapses and the machine comes toward him. The man expects to be killed, but the machine weighs him and rejects him as a specimen because the man does not meet the weight requirement. By running all night, the man has perspired and escapes death because he is severely dehydrated.

I checked out the titles on Wikipedia (along with summaries) but cannot find the story. I would very much like to re-read it. Thank you for any suggestions.

You can get a collection of his complete short stories from everyman‘s library (publisher)

 

[Hugh]

You can get a collection of his complete short stories from everyman‘s library (publisher)

It's not a Bradbury, it's "The Ruum" by Arthur Porges.
Memorable story. I read it in the 1960s too and it was a great pleasure to revisit it.
There's a good description in Wikipedia...... I never knew there's a sequel.....

 

[Ravensquawk]

It's not a Bradbury, it's "The Ruum" by Arthur Porges.
Memorable story. I read it in the 1960s too and it was a great pleasure to revisit it.
There's a good description in Wikipedia...... I never knew there's a sequel.....

That was good! It's a good, tense story. Just read it! And only the second story in which I heard of a Malay man-trap. (After probably "The Most dangerous Game" by Richard Connell.)

And that anthology "Things Hunting Men" by David Drake, has some probably equally-tense stories by very big names. Ellison alone could give you daymares.

 

[Hugh]

So, I've just read the sequel to 'The Ruum' in the December 1960 British edition of F&SF, 'A specimen for the Queen'. Perhaps not the greatest of stories, just nine pages long (and summarised in wikipedia). But once I realised there was a sequel, I had to read it.....

 

[Book lover]

Dear Hugh and Jo,
Thank you both for your help. After trying to find this story for years, you solved the mystery. Don't know how I caeme to think that it was a Bradbury story. You know your 'stuff'!

 

[Hugh]

Dear Hugh and Jo,
Thank you both for your help. After trying to find this story for years, you solved the mystery. Don't know how I caeme to think that it was a Bradbury story. You know your 'stuff'!

It's funny with these much loved stories from our distant past - so often there's some detail that's got muddled.

 

[Jo Zebedee]

Dear Hugh and Jo,
Thank you both for your help. After trying to find this story for years, you solved the mystery. Don't know how I caeme to think that it was a Bradbury story. You know your 'stuff'!

To be fair, i wasn’t much help