Tuesday 30 October 2007

Sci-Fi Novellas

Finished October 28
Now and Forever by Ray Bradbury
This book contains two novellas: Somewhere a Band Is Playing and Leviathan '99. The first is about a reporter who is led by his research to a small town in Arizona. The train doesn't even stop here. When it slows he flings off his luggage and himself and begins to explore the town. He finds that he is expected and, as he explores, he is led to certain knowledge about the town, which the inhabitants don't want him to know. He has been followed by another reporter he has competed for stories with in the past, and finds himself on the town's side against the reporter. He also finds that he has knowledge about the town that the inhabitants are not yet aware of.
This is an interesting idea around what we believe.
The second novella is one that Bradbury has written in radio play form before and keeps rewriting. It was inspired by Moby Dick, and here the ship is a spaceship that travels space looking for a great white comet that may, or may not, destroy the earth. The main character is allowed by a fellow crew member to see into the minds of the captain and other officers to see the direction of their thoughts and how they will affect the outcome of the trip.
An interesting adaptation of the Melville story.

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