There Will Come Soft Rains, set on August 4, 2026

booksAug 4, 202637302

Readers are marking August 4, 2026, the date Ray Bradbury sets for his short story "There Will Come Soft Rains," by revisiting the 1950 tale about an automated house continuing its routines after its human occupants are gone. The story opens with the house announcing "Today is August 4, 2026" and details empty domestic rituals such as an automated breakfast and paid bills. Leonard Nimoy recorded a reading of "There Will Come Soft Rains" as one of two Bradbury pieces he narrated from The Martian Chronicles, and those Nimoy audio recordings are circulating alongside PDF copies of the story. Posts and listeners are sharing the Nimoy performance and text links so readers can experience the story on the exact date it names. The renewed attention highlights the story’s depiction of an automated home persisting after human extinction and has prompted multiple shared readings and archival audio exchanges today.

Lisa Kadonaga

@tapirtrouble.bsky.social

Soft Rains Day. "Today is August 4, 2026, in the city of Allendale, California. Today is Mr. Featherstone's birthday. Today is the anniversary of Tilita's marriage. Insurance is payable, as are the water, gas, and light bills." RIP Ray Bradbury, 1920-2012

There Will Come Soft Rains
By: Ray Bradbury

In the living room the voice-clock sang, Tick-tock, seven o'clock, time to get up, time to get up, seven o 'clock! as if it were afraid that nobody would. The morning house lay empty. The clock ticked on, repeating and repeating its sounds into the emptiness. Seven-nine, breakfast time, seven-nine!
In the kitchen the breakfast stove gave a hissing sigh and ejected from its warm interior eight pieces of perfectly browned toast, eight eggs sunny side up, sixteen slices of bacon, two coffees, and two
cool glasses of milk.
"Today is August 4, 2026," said a second voice from the kitchen ceiling, "in the city of Allendale, California." It repeated the date three times for memory's sake.
"Today is Mr. Featherstone's birthday. Today is the anniversary of Tilita's marriage. Insurance is payable, as are the water, gas, and light bills."

Source:
https://www.btboces.org/Downloads/7_There%20Will%20Come%20Soft%20Rains%20by%20Ray%20Bradbury.pdf

945h ago

Lord Hræfn, esq.6

There will come soft rains and the smell of the ground, And swallows circling with their shimmering sound; And frogs in the pools singing at night, And wild plum trees in tremulous white, Robins will wear their feathery fire Whistling their whims on a low fence-wire;

Lisa DeBruine

@debruine.bsky.social

Today is the only day you can experience Ray Bradbury’s “There Will Come Soft Rains” on the day it is set. Audio: archive.org/details/brad... PDF: thephilosopher.net/bredberi/wp-...

253h ago

Don Davis

@ddavisspaceart.bsky.social

'There Will Come Soft Rains' tells of the final day of an automated house carrying on the routines for long dead tenants, in a short story within Ray Bradbury's 'The Martian Chronicles'. The date mentioned in the cheerful morning announcement by the house robotic voice is today, August 4, 2026.

355h ago

Simon Varwell

@simonvarwell.bsky.social

Happy There Will Come Soft Rains Day to all who celebrate. (Especially those in Allendale, California.) short-stories.co/@raybradbury...

A screenshot of the beginning of a short story. The title “There Will Come Soft Rains” is at the top, and then the author’s name (Ray Bradbury) then it says it’s a five minute read with a PG-13 rating.

The first view paragraphs of text then read…

In the living room the voice-clock sang, Tick-tock, seven o’clock, time to get up, time to get up, seven o’clock! As if it were afraid that nobody would.

Seven-nine, breakfast time, seven-nine!

In the kitchen the breakfast stove ejected eight pieces of perfectly browned toast, eight eggs sunnyside up, sixteen slices of bacon, two coffees, and two cool glasses of milk.

“Today is August 4, 2026, the city of Allendale, California.”

243h ago

Quoting this

Bob Marshall4

I like Leonard Nimoy's reading... archive.org/details/brad...

Simon Bisson

@sbisson.com

"Today is August 4, 2026," said a second voice from the kitchen ceiling, "in the city of Allendale, California." It repeated the date three times for memory's sake. There Will Come Soft Rains, Ray Bradbury's melancholy obituary for a dead world, is set today.

313h ago

Quoting this

Fourfoot7

Still one of the greatest short stories ever written. share.google/JMUOMqudkXdR...

Nicholas Whyte 白怀珂

@nwhyte.bsky.social

The breakfast stove gave a hissing sigh and ejected from its warm interior eight pieces of perfectly browned toast, eight eggs sunny side up, sixteen slices of bacon, two coffees, and two cool glasses of milk. "Today is August 4, 2026," said a voice… www.libraryofshortstories.com/onlinereader...

173h ago

Quoting this

Mixed Metaphors2

I really loved this story as a youngster. Reading it again today, I realize this story does a better job grappling with the concept of artificial intelligence as it has actually emerged in the current world than 99% of science fiction, including recently written science fiction.

Bruce Sterling @bruces

@bruces.mastodon.social.ap.brid.gy

August 4, 2026 is the day of American nuclear apocalypse in the short story "There Will Come Soft Rains" by Ray Bradbury

74h ago

CaffieneKitty

@caffienekitty.bsky.social

The sci-fi short story “There Will Come Soft Rains” written in 1950 by Ray Bradbury, takes place on August 4th 2026. Aka today. It is a good read, but a real kick in the teeth and a rough go emotionally. It’s available as a pdf online here: www.btboces.org/Downloads/7_...

134h ago

Molly "Mollylele" Lewis

@mollylewis.wtf

Today is August 4th, 2026. mollylele.rocks/track/there-... (read by @unarmedoracle.bsky.social, music'd by me)

72h ago

Stonkers

@stonkers.bsky.social

it’s about nuclear annihilation, but reading There Will Come Soft Rains today you can’t help but think that this is the inevitable destination the tech bros are dreaming of: a fully automated earth with no living creatures left to complain or make it messy

In the kitchen the breakfast stove gave a hissing sigh and ejected from its warm interior eight pieces of perfectly browned toast, eight eggs sunny side up, sixteen slices of bacon, two coffees, and two cool glasses of milk.
"Today is August 4, 2026," said a second voice from the kitchen ceiling, "in the city of Allendale, California." It repeated the date three times for memory's sake. "Today is Mr. Featherstone's birthday. Today is the anniversary of Tilita's marriage. Insurance is payable, as are the water, gas, and light bills."
Somewhere in the walls, relays clicked, memory tapes glided under electric eyes.
Eight-one, tick-tock, eight-one o'clock, off to school, off to work, run, run, eight-one! But no doors slammed, no carpets took the soft tread of rubber heels. It was raining outside. The weather box on the front door sang quietly: "Rain, rain, go away; umbrellas, raincoats for today. .." And the rain tapped on the empty house, echoing.

113h ago

Daniel Solis

@danielsolis.bsky.social

Ray Bradbury's "There Will Come Soft Rains" is set on August 4 and 5, 2026. Internet Archive has a recording read by Leonard Nimoy. It's worth your time. archive.org/details/brad...

93h ago

[👤] 𝚊𝚗𝚍𝚛𝚎𝚠 𝚜𝚖𝚊𝚛𝚝 [🐈‍⬛️] (commissions open)

@owllog.bsky.social

www.btboces.org/Downloads/7_... "Today is August 4, 2026" It's a good day to read 'There Will Come Soft Rains' by Ray Bradbury

63h ago

Lord Hræfn, esq.

@xneardark.bsky.social

64h ago

Clover Buzzoo

@cloverbuzzoo.bsky.social

Streaming time! The first part of my There Will Come Soft Rains Stream is starting! Hope to see you there! www.twitch.tv/cloverbuzzoo

15h ago

Jamie | Veins Full of Static

@veinsfullofstatic.bsky.social

It's August 4th 2026, which means we've officially survived longer than Ray Bradbury thought we would according to There Will Come Soft Rains. Hooray for us I guess. I love this reading of the story by Leonard Nimoy set to music by Zerelli (Carwyn Ellis) zarellimusic.bandcamp.com/album/soft-r...

35h ago

1 source

libraryofshortstories.comThere Will Come Soft Rains by Ray Bradbury

There Will Come Soft Rains, set on August 4, 2026books

There Will Come Soft Rains, set on August 4, 2026

Related