The Toynbee Convector [Mass Market Paperback]

Ray Bradbury (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 1, 1989

Bradbury displays anew the unclassifiable versatility of his imagination in this new collection of twenty stories, the first in eight years. This fall, USA Cable television will rebroadcast six episodes of the HBO Ray Bradbury Theatre series.

--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Bradbury's first collection since the quasi-definitive Stories is a very mixed bag, including, along with the charming and the moving stories, some of the author's weakestfrail conceits feebly decked out in the same stylistic knick-knacks Bradbury has been pulling from his well-used trunk for the past 35 years. Storytelling itself is the theme of a number of these short narratives; Bradbury understands that a primary function of fiction is to act as a guidepost back to the emotional richness of childhood and adolescence. In "On the Orient, North" a ghost, at the point of dissipation, rejuvenates itself by telling scary winter's tales to a group of children. In "Banshee" a screenwriter and a director tell each other disturbing cautionary talesone narrator, to the other's misfortune, is not making it up. The fey souls in "The Laurel and Hardy Love Affair" find their relationship cannot withstand a little hard reality. The title story concerns a man who claims to have traveled into the future and declares that there the world's problems have been resolved. He produces documentation of his claims and lives to see the realization of his vision, even though a vision is all it is. The documentation turns out to be fabrications, but the hope it had inspired allows mankind to bring about its own salvation. The fiction creates the truth in this lovely exercise in utopian dreaming. 30,000 first printing; BOMC alternate.
Copyright 1988 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Library Journal

An old woman learns what it truly means to believe in ghosts in "On the Orient, North"; another woman discovers a mysterious "Trapdoor" in a house she has occupied for years; and an old man attempts to change his own past in "A Touch of Petulance" in this new collection of 23 stories by one of sf's grand masters. Simplicity and warmth shine through even the weaker stories as the author continues to focus his sights on the elusive human heart. Recommended for sf and fantasy collections. BOMC alternate. JC
Copyright 1988 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Product Details

• Mass Market Paperback
• Publisher: Spectra; First Edition edition (May 1, 1989)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0553279572
• ISBN-13: 978-0553279573
• Product Dimensions: 6.7 x 4.2 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 3.2 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (13 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,902,417 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Ray Bradbury has published some 500 short stories, novels, plays and poems since his first story appeared in Weird Tales when he was twenty years old. Among his many famous works are 'Fahrenheit 451', 'The Illustrated Man' and 'The Martian Chronicles'.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Interesting, but only to a diehard fan, July 27, 1997

By A Customer

This review is from: The Toynbee Convector (Hardcover)

I have loved Bradbury since I was a kid. I was anxiously waiting for this book when it came into print, and sadly disappointed when it arrived. A few of the stories (The Toynbee Convector, The Last Circus, The Thing at the Top of the Stairs) have touches of the old brilliance, but in general I found them strangely lacking. Many seem oddly pointless or unfinished, like a thought that faded before it had run its course. Worthwhile to those who really LOVE Bradbury, but at the same time left me bittersweet and unsatisfied. I went back and reread "The Illutrated Man"

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars STORIES THAT SPAN BRADBURY'S CAREER, January 18, 2004

By 

Loren D. Morrison "amateur_reviewer" (Los Angeles County, U.S.A.) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Toynbee Convector (Hardcover)

By reading the information on the copyright page, the reader will note that the stories in this book have been culled from over a half dozen publications, possibly many more. As such, it seems reasonable to assume that they were written over a span of a great number of years. I would have found it helpful had the original copyright dates of each entry been included so one could, in some ways, track Bradbury's development as a writer.

Having said that, I did enjoy this book for the very variety that seems to have put off some of the reviewers here. There are stories that are pure Sci-Fi, others that are perfect examples of the horror genre, some that make us want to laugh and/or cry, and many that combine several of these aspects.

One of the latter that I found particularly moving is "Lafayette, Farewell." In it, an elderly man who knows that he is to die soon begins to relive the air battles he fought as a fighter pilot over France during World War I. Every night, he sees and hears the planes of those brave young men who died as he successfully shot their planes out of the sky. He now feels guilty over taking the lives of those innocent young pilots who, like himself, were sent into a war not of their own making.

He fears that he will be consigned to hell for what he has done, and he asks his neighbor how he can, at this late date, be forgiven. His neighbor suggests that, since they, in their planes, are appearing over his house nightly before parachuting to their deaths in his back yard, he plainly and simply, ask them for their forgiveness. In a very moving scene, he does just that and they indicate that he is forgiven.

This is really a touching story, one of my favorites in the book. There are others equally rewarding to read along with some that are among Bradbury's lesser works. I for one, am glad to see as many of Bradbury's stories as possible anthologized in books such as _THE TOYNBEE CONVECTOR_. I'm afraid that those that aren't, and which appeared in more obscure, older Sci-Fi magazines, may be lost to us forever. In my opinion, all of his writing is worth preserving for readers of the future.

5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Magic, Monsters, Mystery -- A Great Collection, March 2, 2004

By 

Joshua Koppel (Chicago, IL United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Toynbee Convector (Mass Market Paperback)

I was disappointed when I read One More For the Road. That was not on of Mr. Bradbury's better collections. But The Toynbee Convector is full of all the tales and ideas we know Mr. Bradbury is capable of.

We begin with the title story involving time travel. Next we get a dark tale of mysterious trapdoor. From there we meet ghosts, banshees and things that are not there. We return to Green Town, see romances, experience jealousies. and meet writers.

The stories cover a very broad spectrum of Mr. Bradbury's work. Because of that, some who read the collection straight through (as I did) might feel bounced around a little by the changing themes. Others, like myself, will savor each story for what it is, from literary popcorn to written gem.

If you like the author's older collections, then this is one for you. If you thought One More For The Road was his best, there will still be something in her for you.