Let us now praise Ray Bradbury, the uncrowned poet laureate of science fiction. The Martian Chronicles established his reputation in 1950 and demonstrated the mainstream literary potential of a pulp-born, previously despised genre. Another indispensable classic is Fahrenheit 451, a powerful tale that remains relevant after more than 50 years.

Considering the enormous impact he's had on the field, Bradbury has written relatively little science fiction, and might better be described as a fantasist. In truth, he's forged a distinctive style to write across all genres. Throughout his long career he's produced works of horror and dark fantasy (Something Wicked This Way Comes), nostalgic tales of small-town American life (Dandelion Wine), mysteries, short stories, poetry, children's books, plays and film scripts.

Last year, the Pulitzer Prize committee awarded him a special citation for lifetime achievement. It was well deserved. And Bradbury, who will be 88 on Thursday, is not finished yet - his latest book is also worth celebrating.

Now and Forever comprises two novellas, one new, the other a reworking of old material. Somewhere a Band is Playing, is the first, a fantasy of classic Bradbury hue that begins with a young man arriving by train at a small town. There, beneath the old-fashioned, cosy exterior, something very strange is going on. The tale becomes a meditation on writing, inspiration, ageing and change, all deep themes lightly handled, both elegiac and suspenseful. “Some stories ... are written as a result of a single, immediate, clear impulse. Others ricochet off various events over a lifetime and come together much later to make a whole,” Bradbury says in his introduction, and lists his sources: the year he spent as a child in Tucson, Arizona; his admiration for Katharine Hepburn; Jerry Goldsmith's music for The Wind and the Lion. Interesting, yes, but it does not explain how Bradbury has worked his magic to produce such a strange and lovely story.

Leviathan '99 is the latest incarnation of Bradbury's long and fruitful passion for Herman Melville's Moby-Dick. After writing the screenplay for John Huston's film, Bradbury was inspired to launch Melville's plot into space, with a great white comet instead of the whale. He wrote a radio play, produced by Radio 4, starring Christopher Lee as the mad captain. Later it was expanded into a stage play, but the critics hated it, Bradbury recognised that he'd lost the plot, and set about reshaping it again.

There are echoes in it not only of Melville, but of Shakespeare, Whitman and Poe. Like so much of his work, this seems to have been written by someone forever young and enthusiastic, a man drunk on words. The language sings, and demands to be read aloud - which suggests that the radio play may have been its proper form after all - but it's good to have another story from the still vigorous imagination of Ray Bradbury.

Now and Forever by Ray Bradbury
HarperVoyager, 233 pp; £7.99 Buy the book here

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