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13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
An exquisite storyteller, October 31, 2007
This review is from: Now and Forever: Somewhere a Band Is Playing & Leviathan '99 (Hardcover)
The two stories in NOW AND FOREVER are not new. In fact, "Somewhere a Band Is Playing" was begun over 40 years ago. "Leviathan '99" began life as a radio play script that was never produced as television started to grow. Aged though they may be, this is the first they have seen the light of day, finally dusted off, polished and presented to the reading world. As with most of what Ray Bradbury delivers to us, they are gems --- beautiful gifts of wonder and humanity that pull and lure until we, as mere readers, are within the story and seeing it side by side with the characters.
"Somewhere a Band Is Playing" is a tale of eternal youth, of ghost towns and havens, perhaps even heavens, for those fortunate enough to find their way. Sumerton, Arizona isn't found on any map. It is a quiet town in the middle of the desert, soon to fall under the coming onslaught of time and industry as the Interstate will bury it under concrete. James Cardiff arrives in Sumerton to warn its residents, though he does not know why he chose to come or what he can really do. While there, he begins to find a world he never imagined --- a world without death, of cemeteries filled with gravestones bearing birthdates but no mortal dates, an existence with no children, of long-lost stories of history that have been archived for all eternity.
Katharine Hepburn was the inspiration for the story and for its character Nef, who never ages. In his introduction, Bradbury says that he worked on the tale for years, finding inspiration in movies and life, hoping one day to have it ready for Hepburn to star in on stage or screen. She would not see it completed, and Bradbury's admission colors the story with more sorrow and more beauty.
Likewise, "Leviathan '99" was begun in the hopes of having it directed for radio broadcast by Norman Corwin. It was never to be, though Bradbury would eventually continue to redraft the original work until he felt it was suitable for the stage. It failed in that medium, and he tried to rework it back to its more original form until he included it in this book.
The novella came on the heels of his screenplay for MOBY DICK, and it is nothing more than that classic story reworked for a different age. Set in the year 2099 aboard the starship Cestus 7, Ishmael Jones is a crewman caught between his desire for survival and his duty to follow his Captain. Standard exploratory orders have been ignored, and the Captain, blind and mad, pursues Leviathan, the most devastating and impressive comet the universe has ever known. This unnamed Ahab hurtles his crew into certain destruction in his bid to destroy the beast before it can pulverize the Earth --- which is a misguided belief.
Both stories shine, and though so completely different in tone and setting, they bear the trademark Bradbury style. There is a simplicity to the tales, even where a more complex issue or thought is explored, and it permits the reader to just exist within the story. With a writing style so smooth and hypnotic, Bradbury never loses an audience or leads them to believe they are reading --- they experience the story. Were it that more writers could be so brilliant. Then again, that would only serve to undermine what an exquisite storyteller Bradbury has always been and continues to be.
--- Reviewed by Stephen Hubbard
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9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
"And Death will lie silent forever In June and June and more June.", June 9, 2008
This review is from: Now and Forever: Somewhere a Band Is Playing & Leviathan '99 (Hardcover)
If there is something you can take away from this book, then let it be that some stories aren't just cranked out of the typewriter, word processor, or whatever method the author uses to put them onto paper. They are often the product of constant revision and framing that takes place over years, or even decades before the author is satisfied with the final draft. Take for example the two novellas featured in Now and Forever: "Somewhere a Band Is Playing" and "Leviathan '99". The genesis for the former came from 1926 Tucson, Arizona. And the latter story's roots came from the days in which radio was the main source of entertainment.
In "Somewhere a Band Is Playing", a reporter named James Cardiff finds himself mysteriously drawn to the unmapped town of Summerton, Arizona. At first, he doesn't completely understand why he is here of all places. But the more he stays, the stranger the truth is and the clearer his understanding becomes. For instance, there are no children in the town. Even more shocking is how in the town's cemetery, the tombstones have the names and dates of birth engraved upon them; but where the date of death should be is blank, unetched stone.
I am reminded of a cross between a much less sinister version of Bradbury's own "Mars is Heaven" and James Hinton's Lost Horizon: A Novel. Cardiff is in many ways like Hugh Conway, particulary how both of them are torn between paradise and the less perfect world that the rest of us live in. Yet Bradbury infuses the story with more than enough originality and flair, so it is its own unique entity.
"Leviathan '99" is a futuristic take on Moby-Dick or, The Whale. Instead of hearing the call to the sea, Ishmael feels the pull of the cosmos. The whaling vessel Pequod becomes the gigantic starship Cetus 7. The titular white whale of Melville's novel is replaced by a comet that may be on a collision course with Earth. And Captain Ahab is now blind, insane, and will stop at nothing in order to conquer the comet that he blames for taking his sight.
This story is what I have always wanted to read from Bradbury - cosmic fiction of novella length. I say cosmic (not science) fiction since his work entails very little actual science utilized by hard SF giants like Clarke, Asimov, or Heinlein. But I still find it tremendously enjoyable nonetheless even with all the technical innaccuracies. Getting back to the subject, he has more short story collections than novels; none of those really leave the Earthly domain. Here he finally has the space to let his imagination run free, especially when it comes to the Captain's dementedly Shakespearean monologues.
Seeing how he is now 88 years old, Bradbury will probably never put out another book that will create a major cultural impact like Fahrenheit 451 or The Martian Chronicles. However, I find Now and Forever to be another worthy addition to his canon, and so will many of his longtime readers.
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9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
For the Past and the Future., November 23, 2007
This review is from: Now and Forever: Somewhere a Band Is Playing & Leviathan '99 (Hardcover)
NOW AND FOREVER is a collection of two novellas, "Somewhere a Band Is Playing" and "Leviathan `99", from American master-writer Ray Bradbury. The stories are not actually new stories by Bradbury because as he explains in the introduction, he has been working on them in one form or the other for nearly 40 years.
In "Somewhere a Band Is Playing", a newspaperman named James Cardiff, from out East, travels to the mystical town of Summerton, Arizona. He brings with him news of the small city's impending doom with the recent approval of a new interstate schedule to be built right through the middle of the town. Summerton is a quaint, quite, and peaceful place and as Cardiff soon finds out the people there are full of mysteries of their own. He becomes torn between the people he grows to love there and of his former life back East. The story evokes memories of a more simple time and era and is full of threads of nostalgia. As Bradbury explains in the introduction, the story was originally begun as a project for Katherine Hepburn, but he never was able to get the proposed stage play or screenplay adapted before her death.
Whereas "Somewhere a Band Is Playing" evokes warm memories of the past, "Leviathan `99" is a story that looks to the future when humankind has conquered parts of space and is actively engaged in exploring more. Originally intended as a radio play and conceived while Bradbury was writing the screenplay for MOBY DICK, "Leviathan `99" is set in the year 2099 and is told by astronaut Ishmael Jones. Jones is assigned to the jewel starship Cestus 7. The ship is captained by a veteran commander who went blind many years ago while trying to capture a great white comet called Leviathan. Long after the journey begins and while the crew has been in space, the Captain ignores his orders and sets out on a mad quest to meet the comet once again. He convinces most of his crew that this is a necessity because the comet is on a course to destroy Earth, but they later learn that this is not true. Mutiny is threatened as the Captain still sets course to meet the great comet once and for all.
I'm a big fan of Bradbury's writings, especially his short stories. Both tales in NOW AND FOREVER are good examples of Bradbury's simple writing style. Of course, like many of Bradbury's tales, they also include somewhat supernatural events that sometimes confuse casual readers. They aren't necessarily great stories and they don't deal with any pressing issues, but they are easy and fun to read. I read the book in two nights (one for each novella). Recommended for fans of Bradbury or for people just looking for a very light and quick read.
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