From the Dust Returned


From the Dust Returned is a fix-up fantasy novel by Ray Bradbury published in 2001. The novel is largely created from a series of short stories Bradbury wrote decades earlier, centering on a family of Illinois-based monsters and ghosts named the Elliotts. The six previously published stories originally appeared in the magazines The Saturday Evening Post, Mademoiselle and Weird Tales as well as Bradbury's earlier collections Dark Carnival and The Toynbee Convector. Two of the stories, "Homecoming" and "Uncle Einar", were also anthologized in The October Country. Three new short stories are included, as well as several chapters to help connect the stories.
The novel features a cover illustration by Charles Addams, originally created to accompany the publication of the first Elliott story, "Homecoming", in Mademoiselle in 1946. The Elliotts bear a strong resemblance to Addams' own Addams Family characters. Bradbury once discussed collaborating with Addams on an Elliott Family history, although that project never came to fruition.

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In 2012, MGM acquired the rights to create a film adaptation of From the Dust Returned.