A Sound Of Thunder And Other Stories (2005) - Plot & Excerpts
This book of short stories was hit or miss for me, though more hit than miss, especially the scifi stories.The opening story, "The Fog Horn," was haunting and beautiful. I really enjoyed it, though that's not too surprising since it involved the sea.One day many years ago a man walked along and stood in the sound of the ocean on a cold sunless sure and said, "We need a voice to call across the water, to warn ships; I'll make one. I'll make a voice like all of time and all of the fog that ever was; I'll make a voice that is like an empty bed beside you all night long, and like an empty house when you open the door, and like trees in autumn with no leaves. A sound like the birds flying south, crying, and a sound like November wind and the sea on the hard, cold shore. I'll make a sound that's so alone that no one can miss it, that whoever hears it will weep in their souls, and hearths will seem warmer, and being inside will seem better to all who hear it in the distant towns. I'll make me sound and an apparatus and they'll call it a Fog Horn and whoever hears it will know the sadness of eternity and the briefness of life.The Fog Horn"The April Witch" was definitely creepy, definitely Bradbury.I really enjoyed "The Wilderness" - it was unique and I dug the scifi aspect.They floated in an immense sigh above a town already made remote by the little space between themselves and the Earth, a town receding behind them in a black river and coming up in a tidal wave of lights and color ahead, untouchable and a dream now, already smeared in their eyes with nostalgia, with a panic of memory that began before the thing itself was gone.The Wilderness"The Big Black and White Game" really got to me."The Murderer" was really telling of our current times, and prescient considering it was written in the 1950s."The Great Wide World Over There" was pretty depressing.The morning blew away on a wind, the morning flowed down the creek, the morning flew off with some ravens, and the sun burned on the cabin roof.The Great Wide World Over There"The Great Fire" cracked me up!The second part of the book, sort of second part, which started with a letter from the author, seemed to be made up of mostly scifi stories, which I enjoyed overall. I thought the first story following the note (which had sexist notes but was written in the 60s so I guess I can give it a pass), "R is for Rocket," was really good (again in spite of the sexist tone)."The End of the Beginning," about going into space to build a space station, was full of brilliant writing.All I know is it's really the end of the beginning. The Stone Age, Bronze Age, Iron Age; from now on we'll lump all those together under one big name for when we walked on Earth and heard the birds at morning and cried with envy. Maybe we'll call it the Earth Age, or maybe the Age of Gravity. Millions of years we fought gravity. When we were amoebas and fish we struggled to get out of the sea without gravity crushing us. Once safe on the shore we fought to stand upright without gravity breaking our new invention, the spine, tried to walk without stumbling, run without falling. A billion years Gravity kept us home, mocked us with wind and clouds, cabbage moths and locusts. That's what's so really big about tonight . . . it's the end of old man Gravity and the age we'll remember him by, for once and all. I don't know where they'll divide the ages, at the Persians, who dreamt of flying carpets, or the Chinese, who all unknowing celebrated birthdays and New Years with strung ladyfingers and high skyrockets, or some minute, some incredible second in the next hour. But we're in at the end of a billion years trying, the end of something long and to us humans, anyway, honorable.Tonight, he thought, even if we fail with this first, we'll send a second and a third ship and move on out to all the planets and later, all the stars. We'll just keep going until the big words like immortal and forever take on meaning. Big words, yes, that's what we want. Continuity. Since our tongues first moved in our mouths we've asked. What does it all mean? No other question made sense, with death breathing down our necks. But just let us settle in on ten thousand worlds spinning around ten thousand alien suns and the question will fade away. Man will be endless and infinite, even as space is endless and infinite. Man will go on, as space goes on, forever. Individuals will die as always, but our history will reach as far as we'll ever need to see into the future, and with the knowledge of our survival for all time to come, we'll know security and thus the answer we've always searched for. Gifted with life, the least we can do is preserve and pass on the gift to infinity. That's a goal worth shooting for.The End of the BeginningThere was "A Sound of Thunder," which was essentially the main attraction of this book. A movie by the same name came out a few years ago - and it was pretty laughably terrible. The original story is much better (albeit much shorter as well)."The Exiles" started off really eh but I liked the ending."Here There Be Tygers" was interesting to consider; it could be a Doctor Who story. But the Doctor wouldn't approve of Chatterton, whom I wanted to die right away (though that's not a very Doctor-y thought either). His thoughts were also reminiscent of Avatar.You have to beat a planet at its own game," said Chatterton. "Get in and rip it up, kill its snakes, poison its animals, dam its rivers, sow its fields, depollinate its air, mine it, nail it down, hack away at it, and get the blazes out from under when you have what you want. Otherwise, a planet will fix you good. You can't trust planets. They're bound to be different, bound to be bad, bound to be out to get you, especially this far out, a billion miles from nowhere, so you get them first. Tear their skin off, I say. Drag out the minerals and run away before the nightmare world explodes in your face. That's the way to treat them."Here There Be Tygers"Frost and Fire" was a compelling story.The nightmare of the living was begun.Frost and FireEnjoyed "The Time Machine" - it was sweet despite the subject matter.War's never a winning thing, Charlie. You just lose all the time, and the one who loses last asks for terms.The Time MachineI also enjoyed:- The Flying Machine- I See You Never- The Rocket- The Rocket ManI think this one is worth a read. Final rating: 3.5 stars.
A Sound of Thunder..... and Other Stories (but let's pretend they're not there)I was skimming through the bookshelf at my local independent book store, and I came across this one. Ray Bradbury's A Sound of Thunder and Other Stories, formerly called 'The Golden Apples of the Sun', jumped out at me with its excellent cover art. The basic placement of the Monarch in the center of the bent hand, and the what-looks-like eyes on the wing span of the Monarch looking at you - why wouldn't you pick this book up? Simple, but elegant in my opinion.Having read The Illustrated Man and Fahrenheit 451 recently, I knew that another of Bradburys's short story compilations would be a superb choice.The title also drew me in, it made my imagination come up with copious images of what the sound of thunder could represent, and that made me smile knowing that books can do that us. So of course I slid it off the shelf.'and Other Stories'... this made me laugh. It's like they didn't care about the 'and Other Stories' part of the title; like it didn't matter whether you read them. "Oh yea, and the other stories...meh."This book was enjoyable albeit the funny title; it contained really good, very inspiring writing. Bradbury is a master of the English language. The man can form words and sentences beautifully, keeping the readers eye mesmerized by the art coming off the page. It's like he is doing rhythmic ribbon gymnastics with his writing, it's smooth and wistful. The self titled story was short and sweet, while the others were classic Ray. There were some stories in this that were also featured in The Illustrated Man. It was like friendly 'hello again!' for those few. If you haven't read Bradbury, you're missing out!
What do You think about A Sound Of Thunder And Other Stories (2005)?
The quality of the stories are peaks and valleys. Fortunately, most of the stories are above average or fairly good. The bad news is that there aren't many stand out stories to blow your mind. Well, there are a quite a few that do; the bad news is that you've probably already read them in "The Illustrated Man", "Dandelion Wine", or someplace.Any hardcore Bradbury fan should enjoy this if the reader doesn't mind re-reading or picking through old stories. It works great as an introduction to Bradbury's short stories and early American science fiction.
—Ismael Galvan
It's kind of strange reading a collection of sci-fi short stories from generations ago. In some respects, you have to be able to picture the way the world was when the stories were written. Not doing so makes the stories seem silly when you compare to how life on earth really turned out. Such is the case with Ray Bradbury. He is undoubtedly a sci-fi master and from one of the first generations of sci-fi masters. I think the old masters don't get read by the newer generations because they are not able to picture the world as it was. More the shame for them.This is a decent collection of short stories with one incredible standout, "Frost and Fire". Imagine if you had to pack your entire life from birth to old age and death into 8 short days. How would you choose to live your life? Certainly, not writing a book review! Would you live every day to the fullest or would you work to try to make the world a little better for the next generations?Another standout is "The Exiles". Not for the quality of the story because it is only so-so, but because you can see the seeds of the idea for "Fahrenheit 451" contained therein.
—Jean-Paul
Bradbury is one of the greatest names in science fiction, and I loved reading his stories as a kid and a teenager. I picked up this collection and I wasn't disappointed. What's interesting is reading science fiction written over 50 years ago, when we hadn't even landed on the moon yet -- how the world has changed from the time he wrote these stories that the ideas seem so antiquated, and yet resonate a bit. It's looking into a world that doesn't exist anymore.But there are plenty of classics in here. I think my favourite Bradbury stories usually involve Venus (the ever amazing "All Summer in A Day" set on Venus is my favourite short story of all time). My favourite short stories from this collection: The Garbage Collector, The Golden APples of the Sun, The Rocket Man, The Long Rain (my favourite from this book), and Uncle Einar.
—Amanda
