It Burns Me Up! by Ray Bradbury Episode #286
Ray Bradbury | October 16, 2024-
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It Burns Me Up! by Ray Bradbury Episode #286
Ray Bradbury
IT BURNS ME UP!
Episode #286· Written by Ray Bradbury · Narrated by Scott Miller
A murdered man lies motionless on his living room floor—yet his mind remains awake, watching the circus of detectives, reporters, neighbors, and a strangely calm wife swarm around his corpse. As the night unravels, he witnesses the living expose their vanity, cruelty, and secrets in ways they never imagined a dead man could see.
It Burns Me Up! is Ray Bradbury’s wickedly sharp, darkly comic meditation on death, ego, and the strange theater of human behavior. The story opens with a man lying murdered on his living room floor—stabbed, slashed, and quite thoroughly dead. Yet his consciousness lingers, forced to witness the flurry of detectives, reporters, curious neighbors, and one disturbingly serene wife as they invade the scene. What follows is a wildly compelling mix of noir, satire, and psychological tension, all narrated by the one person none of them thinks can hear a word: the corpse.
Bradbury uses this bizarre vantage point to expose the living in all their messy glory. The detective blusters for credit, the coroner fusses with clinical pride, the reporters elbow each other for angles, and the neighbors treat the murder like a sideshow. Meanwhile, the dead man’s wife slips through the chaos with feline ease, withholding secrets and wielding her charm with precision. Through it all, the narrator reflects on memory, vanity, spectacle, and the strange fate of becoming a story told by millions before his ashes even cool. It’s a tale that feels at once humorous, unnerving, and painfully accurate in its portrayal of human nature.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Ray Bradbury remains one of the most celebrated voices in speculative storytelling. His fiction transcends genre boundaries, blending science fiction, fantasy, horror, and literary insight into narratives that leave lasting emotional impressions. With iconic works like “Fahrenheit 451,” “The Martian Chronicles,” “Dandelion Wine,” and “Something Wicked This Way Comes,” Bradbury shaped generations of writers, filmmakers, and audio dramatists. His gift lies not only in imagining the impossible, but in revealing the very real humanity beneath it.
Bradbury’s short fiction is especially revered for its tight construction, evocative imagery, and emotional clarity. Stories like “It Burns Me Up!” demonstrate his unmatched ability to turn a single moment—a single body, a single room—into a full universe of motives, personalities, and tensions. His legacy endures because he never simply told stories; he unveiled people, with all their contradictions, flaws, and sparks of wonder. This story is a perfect example of Bradbury’s ability to turn the ordinary and the macabre into something unforgettable.
LISTEN TO THE STORY
Listen to It Burns Me Up! by Ray Bradbury — a dark, witty vintage sci-fi tale of a murdered man observing the living expose themselves in unexpected ways.
RELATED STORIES
Few writers shaped the emotional landscape of classic science fiction the way Ray Bradbury did.
Bradbury did not rely on hardware or technical spectacle to make the future feel real. He filled rockets with longing, placed ghosts in small towns, and turned distant planets into mirrors held up to the human heart. Whether he was writing about children seduced by virtual worlds, lonely travelers on Mars, or quiet suburban lives unraveling under strange pressure, his stories pulse with warmth, dread, nostalgia, and wonder.
On The Lost Sci-Fi Podcast we’ve explored Bradbury’s astonishing range. In The Veldt (also known as The World the Children Made), technology grants children terrifying power over their parents. Asleep in Armageddon traps a lone astronaut on a hostile world where even the wind seems alive. Dwellers in Silence carries us across the red deserts of Mars, where hope flickers against ancient ruins.
Then there are the quieter shocks: Referent, which exposes envy and obsession with razor precision. Defense Mech and The Monster Maker, where invention and ambition twist into unintended consequences. Even in collaborations like Final Victim (with Henry Hasse), Bradbury’s touch is unmistakable.
From the cold Martian well in The One Who Waits, where an ancient entity waits patiently beneath the sand for new flesh and new thoughts, to Martian longing in The Visitor, from the biting irony of Changeling to the haunting unease of Death Wish, these selections reveal a writer who could make a single image linger for decades. Explore the stories below and experience the voice that helped define vintage science fiction for generations.
- The Veldt (The World the Children Made) by Ray Bradbury
- Outcast of the Stars by Ray Bradbury
- The Creatures That Time Forgot by Ray Bradbury
- Jonah of the Jove-Run by Ray Bradbury
- Lazarus, Come Forth by Ray Bradbury
- It Burns Me Up by Ray Bradbury
- Defense Mech by Ray Bradbury
- A Little Journey by Ray Bradbury
- Asleep in Armageddon by Ray Bradbury
- The Monster Maker by Ray Bradbury
- Rocket Summer by Ray Bradbury
- The Visitor by Ray Bradbury
- Morgue Ship by Ray Bradbury
- The Shape of Things by Ray Bradbury
- Referent by Ray Bradbury
- Final Victim by Ray Bradbury and Henry Hasse
- Death Wish by Ray Bradbury
- Changeling by Ray Bradbury
- Undersea Guardians by Ray Bradbury
- The One Who Waits by Ray Bradbury
- Dwellers in Silence by Ray Bradbury
- And Then—The Silence by Ray Bradbury
ABOUT THE LOST SCI-FI PODCAST
The Lost Sci-Fi Podcast is the most listened-to vintage science fiction podcast in the world. Ranked the #1 Science Fiction Podcast in 34 countries and heard in more than 190 countries, the show has surpassed 3.7 million listens.
Each episode features carefully selected stories from the Golden Age of science fiction, professionally narrated. Timeless storytelling the way it was meant to be heard.
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“Excellent narration. I am hard of hearing but the voice is clear and I have no issue understanding the stories. Excellent material along with a great reader makes for an excellent podcast.”
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“Excellent Content. This is a terrific podcast. Vintage sci-fi short stories with a brief, informative introduction. The reader is excellent and doesn’t over-dramatize. Keep up the great work!”
— Missing61
Vintage science fiction. Professionally narrated. Carefully curated.
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