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    Now and Forever
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    Now and Forever
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    Now and Forever
    Ebook184 pages2 hours

    Now and Forever

    By Ray Bradbury

    3.5/5

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    About this ebook

    Two dazzling novellas from the celebrated author of Fahrenheit 451.

    Two previously unpublished novellas comprise this astonishing new volume from one of science fiction's greatest living writers. In the first, 'Somewhere a Band is Playing', newsman James Cardiff is lured through poetry and his fascination with a beautiful and enigmatic young woman to Summerton, Arizona. The small town's childless population hold an extraordinary secret which has been passed on for thousands of years unbeknownst to the rest of human civilization.

    In the second novella, 'Leviathan '99', the classic tale of Herman Melville's ‘Moby Dick’ is reborn as an interstellar adventure. It recounts the exploits of the mad Captain Ahab, who, blinded by his first encounter with a gigantic comet called 'Leviathan', pursues his lunatic vendetta across the universe. Born in space and seeking adventure in the skies, astronaut Ishmael Jones joins the crew aboard the Cetus 7 and quickly finds his fate in the hands of an indefatigable captain.

    Published together for the first time in one volume, these two stories twinkle with Bradbury's characteristically intricate metaphors and lyrical phrases. Both are a lasting testament to an older generation of writers that, much like the Leviathan itself, are on the threshold of passing on into the realm of legend.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherHarperCollins UK
    Release dateJun 25, 2012
    ISBN9780007497669
    Unavailable
    Now and Forever
    Author

    Ray Bradbury

    In a career spanning more than seventy years, Ray Bradbury inspired generations of readers to dream, think, and create. A prolific author of hundreds of short stories and close to fifty books, as well as numerous poems, essays, operas, plays, and screenplays, Bradbury was one of the most celebrated writers of our time. His groundbreaking works include Fahrenheit 451, The Martian Chronicles, The Illustrated Man, Dandelion Wine, and Something Wicked This Way Comes. An Emmy Award winner for his teleplay The Halloween Tree and an Academy Award nominee, he was the recipient of the 2000 National Book Foundation Medal for Distinguished Contribution to American Letters, the 2004 National Medal of Arts, and the 2007 Pulitzer Prize Special Citation, among many honors.

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    Reviews for Now and Forever

    3.5/5

    117 ratings18 reviews

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    • 3/5
      Being a Bradbury fan I was dissapointed. Somewhere was 3.5 and I saw the carnivals and mirrors and lawns noted do often in Bradbury. The secocond story was not prodiced for a reason and it dragged the small collection down to a 3.
    • 4/5
      This volume consists of two novellas “Somewhere a Band Is Playing” and “Leviathan ’99.” The first story is about a dream like desert town with a secret. This story is more rewarding that the later. Bradbury muses about life and death and seems to revisit the same youthful nostalgic settings that made “Dandelion Wine” such a classic. The second story is “Moby Dick” in space. Bradbury wrote it around the time he wrote his fantastic screen play for the John Huston movie. It was originally a BBC radio play production starring Christopher Lee. The character of Quell, an alien Queequeg, is interesting, but the dialog is to Shakespearian. Some of the science fiction aspects don’t work. The changes in time and space seem contrived. “Somewhere a Band Is Playing” is a better written novella with nostalgic imagery and more simplistic narrative and dialog.
    • 5/5
      Bradbury is pure poetry. I usually gobble up a book, so I can get to the end, and go on to something else. Not so with Bradbury. He must be read slowly, letting each word form an image in your mind. Read: "There was a desert prairie filled with wind and sun.." That's the opening sentence of Somewhere a Band Is Playing. One of my favorite words is "prairie"--why? It would take pages to describe the images that single word conjures up in my mind. But Bradbury opens his story with a desert prairie and suddenly, two different imagines meet and make perfect sense.
    • 5/5
      This volume showcases two beautiful novellas that have apparently been in the works for years and are now finally making an appearance in their full and perhaps final form. Right off the bat, I will say that the time spent on this has been well worth it. Along with the stories are very short introductions gleaming a little light on to their genesis and making them all the more savory. The first, "Somewhere a Band is Playing", is another of Bradbury's poetic odes to small western towns and the joys they contain, but that is only a thin veneer on the surface of a deeper and more moving work. Its quality may have been increased by the fact that I read it sitting in the sun in front of the general store in my own little village, and was touched by the feelings of love and belonging felt by Summerton's inhabitants. It is, however, the secret they all share that brings the story home.'Leviathan '99' is based around one of the many apparent focuses of Bradbury's career. Born out of his famous screenplay adaptation for 'Moby Dick', 'Leviathan' is a re-imagining of Melville if the Pequot was a space ship, Quequeg an alien, and the great white whale something far more massive and powerful. Amazingly, Bradbury manages to tell the entire story of 'Moby Dick' in fewer than a hundred well-spaced pages, and yet took longer to finish it than Herman's oft hefted, but rarely finished novel. Most fascinating is the way Bradbury finds a place for God in the deep vastness of outer space, just as he has done in 'The Martian Chronicles' and numerous other stories. There are a few times when a plot point or object feels a little contrived, but the spirit of the original is preserved and enhanced.Though both very different, these two short works revolve around themes Bradbury returns to time and time again: the shortness of youth, the love of writing, and the vast expanses of Space to name just a few. It is a sad truth that there is not that much of Ray these days, but even in these advanced years he still shines with wonder, virtuosity, and that simple joy that draws me so to his writings. Stay strong, sir, and peace.
    • 5/5
      In 2007, his novella collection "Now and Forever" was released, offering two new tales from the master writer. The first story -- "Somewhere a Band Is Playing" -- revolves around James Cardiff, an adventurer, if you will, who while sleeping one night hears a strange music when his eyes close. The words of a poem fitting the music etch themselves in his inner vision, and he's drawn to the middle of nowhere in Arizona. There he discovers the town of Summerton, population uncertain, but the residents harbor a great secret, one to which forces James to make a life-changing decision.The story is an effective fantasy spin on what it means to be a writer. Not simply the process of writing, but how it affects the writer and what writing means to the writer.The second novella -- "Leviathan '99" -- is Bradbury's re-telling of the classic Melville novel Moby Dick. He moves the action from the seas of Earth to the more vast sea of stars and space. Ishmael spins his tale of a ship's captain, determined to find the bright white comet that blinded him, no matter the cost to himself or to his crew.I can't think of a better writer to transpose the tale into the expanse of outer space. That sense of wonder and adventure remains intact while still managing to have the spirit of Melville attached to it with how the characters speak and act. (It doesn't hurt that he co-wrote the script for the 1958 film version or re-counted his time spent with the writing in his novel "Green Shadows, White Whale".)"Now and Forever" offers two prime examples of why Bradbury is considered one of the foremost writers. If you've yet to read anything from him, I suggest checking out this one.
    • 5/5
      If the whole book was the nouvella SOMEWHERE THE BAND WAS PLAYING, it would be a five year. I kept saying to myself as I read alooooooowly "this, now, is truly a writer." Bradbury makes me salivate with his prose paintings.. And I do not care if neither story is terribly original (the first modelled after BRIGADOON and the second, of course, Melville's MOBY DICK, they shone with Ray's originality.
    • 3/5
      Somewhere a Band is Playing wasn't really my thing. Bradbury's prose is too saccharine and the ending is a muddle, a poor attempt at some sort of dramatic tension.Surprisingly I preferred Leviathan 99. The prose is a little less sweet this time around, there's more of an edge and Bradbury does a good job of transposing Moby Dick to space. It still has its weak moments but overall it was a fun yarn.If the first tale was two stars, I think the second is probably worth three; so 2.5 overall.
    • 3/5
      Overall I wasn't impressed. Each story has high points and very nice prose, but there's better Bradbury out there.
    • 4/5
      Two novellas in one volume: a format that has, recently, driven me to cynical mutterings about publishers letting under-par or under-length pieces to do the financial legwork of a decent novel. I’m pleased to say that not only are both these offerings perfect for the novella format, they are easily of the expected standard of the author, and both have short introductions which make interesting additional reading.I have read perhaps only a third of Bradbury's stories, but I have read enough to know to expect intriguing and quirky sci-fi. What I wasn’t expecting was the almost indescribably sweet sadness of Somewhere a Band is Playing. Told in brief, visually strong chapters, it describes the discovery by a young journalist of a town where nobody ages or dies, and the affinity he feels for the place and the people. In the introduction, Bradbury tells us all the elements that came together to form, if not the plot, then the atmosphere of Somewhere a Band…; elements that combine to provoke just the right sense of yearning and jeopardy. In comparison Leviathan ‘99 is almost predictable Bradbury; that’s not to say it isn’t clever, moving, interesting or well-written sci-fi – just that those things could have been predicted before I began reading it. I say ‘almost’… a science-fiction retelling of Moby Dick isn’t precisely something I would have foretold (but it does answer the expectation of ‘quirk’). Bradbury’s introduction, wherein he tells us that he’d tried the story – repeatedly – as a radio-play script, speaks to his delight with the idea of relocating and revisiting the epic, obsessive battle. Oddly enough, while Moby Dick is a hefty tome even in its abridged-all-to-hell state, Leviathan ‘99 carries off the same feel in a comparative nutshell. It’s my favourite of the two, and one of my favourite Bradbury tales, although I felt the climax could have been stronger.So, a couple of must-read stories for Bradbury fans, pieces that work well together for their equally emotive poetry. Would I prefer to see them in a longer collection? Of course – but I’m going to make the rare condescension and say that this volume is a worthy addition in itself… I’m not even biased by the nice rough-guillotined edges, one of those nice tactile touches that nearly always push me over the edge of any prevaricating when it comes to book purchases. While I might buy on a whim, I only recommend what I love… and I loved these two tales.
    • 4/5
      “Take two Bradbury and call me in the morning.” Face it; that is a prescription that can be used in any situation. And, accordingly, this book fills that prescription perfectly.This is actually two novellas collected in a single book. The second is okay, the first is a joy. So we will start with the second first (and save the best – the first – for last. Following so far? Good.) “Leviathan ‘99” is a retelling of Moby Dick in outer space. As Bradbury notes in his introduction, it has come to us through a circuitous path including being written as a radio play, doubling its length to a two-hour radio play, whittling back the material that wasn’t really needed, and finally production of this novella. The result is not okay. Bradbury cannot write badly, and it is evidenced here because the final story is so-so. But it is still a fun (if not overly fulfilling) read.But now, to the main course. The first novella is titled “Somewhere a Band is Playing” and it is vintage Bradbury. A man steps off a train into small-town America (this time in Arizona.) He finds there is magic there, a magic he wants to be a part of. The magic is threatened. With that, you can tell that Bradbury is telling a story he has told before. And the story itself leads to an incredibly logical conclusion that is seen long before that end arrives. But that is the skill and talent and wonder that is Bradbury. Every page and every line of this story draws us in with its warmth. Every piece comes together to make us feel glad to be on the voyage. This is Bradbury helping us relive why he thinks life is worth living, and we are all glad to join in his sharing.One story that is good. One that is excellent. Take both and you won’t even have to wait until the morning to feel better about yourself.
    • 3/5
      There are two novella in this collection. The first, Somewhere A Band is Playing is vintage Bradbury; the stuff of his early short stories. I have run across the second, Leviathan in it's previous forms and have never been able to warm up to it. This version is no exception. The language is over the top Melvillian (is that a word?). Think Moby Dick in space...
    • 4/5
      The book is comprised of two novellas, “Somewhere a Band is Playing” and “Leviathan ’99,” both of which Bradbury appears to have been working on, in one format or another, for some decades, thus fitting with his recent trend of expanding shorter works or finishing incomplete ideas. If he didn’t still possess some laudable skill, a reader might be forgiven for assuming he’s putting his affairs in order. Both novellas, though unconnected, are ruminations on Time and, ultimately, Death, and you can really see Bradbury’s flair for the poetic shining through in each. “Somewhere a Band is Playing” really isn’t all that remarkable: it reads like a lighter episode of “The Twilight Zone,” or maybe even “Amazing Stories,” and there’s no surprise that it was intended as a film or TV piece. It picks up on aspects of a lot of Bradbury’s early short stories but doesn’t really offer anything new. “Leviathan ’99,” on the other hand, is a tighter piece, apparently adapted from a radio play, with some wonderful images in the dialogue. It’s a futuristic take on “Moby Dick,” yet it remains essentially Bradbury, concerned with aspects of God in the stars and love in the bravery of men. It’s well worth the read, and if Bradbury has any more ‘leftovers’ along these lines, I’d love to read those, too.
    • 3/5
      These 2 novellas are typical Ray Bradbury. His language is so evocative it often sounds like poetry. I recently heard Neil Gaiman speak and he said the best way to experience Poe was to hear him. I've felt the same way about Bradbury for quite some time.He was one of the few sf authors in our library when I was young, but his tales were too touchy feely for me then. Heinlein was more the thing for a teenage boy. Now, the opposite holds true. I appreciate the wistfulness and emotionality of Bradbury.A problem I always had with Bradbury was that I'd get caught up in the music of his narration and suddenly there would be a plot clunker and the magic was gone.Sometimes it seemed forever before the plot surfaced and by then I had my own conceptions of where it should go. I saw that as a problem. Now I see it as a gift. He got my imagination to soar. I was creating my own stories in my head but I didn't appreciate it. I wanted him to do his job and realize them for me. Reviews? Oh, if you insist."Somewhere a Band is Playing" It seemed like the clunkers were just around the bend but they never came. There were a few bumps but they smoothed out quickly. The magic grew and remained. Heavy on the wistful."Leviathan 2099"I really expected to hate this adaptation of his movie adaptation of "Moby Dick" and the foreword increased my misgivings. I loved it! A dash of Heinlein.There are only 4 CDs to this edition. The stories are over too quickly.
    • 3/5
      These 2 novellas are typical Ray Bradbury. His language is so evocative it often sounds like poetry. I recently heard Neil Gaiman speak and he said the best way to experience Poe was to hear him. I've felt the same way about Bradbury for quite some time.He was one of the few sf authors in our library when I was young, but his tales were too touchy feely for me then. Heinlein was more the thing for a teenage boy. Now, the opposite holds true. I appreciate the wistfulness and emotionality of Bradbury.A problem I always had with Bradbury was that I'd get caught up in the music of his narration and suddenly there would be a plot clunker and the magic was gone.Sometimes it seemed forever before the plot surfaced and by then I had my own conceptions of where it should go. I saw that as a problem. Now I see it as a gift. He got my imagination to soar. I was creating my own stories in my head but I didn't appreciate it. I wanted him to do his job and realize them for me. Reviews? Oh, if you insist."Somewhere a Band is Playing" It seemed like the clunkers were just around the bend but they never came. There were a few bumps but they smoothed out quickly. The magic grew and remained. Heavy on the wistful."Leviathan 2099"I really expected to hate this adaptation of his movie adaptation of "Moby Dick" and the foreword increased my misgivings. I loved it! A dash of Heinlein.There are only 4 CDs to this edition. The stories are over too quickly.
    • 4/5
      I love Ray Bradbury's descriptive writing! These are two very different stories in one volume. SOMEWHERE A BAND IS PLAYING is a more ethereal story, set on Earth, while LEVIATHAN '99 is an updated version of a space story he wrote long ago.
      ~Stephanie
    • 4/5
      This is the final book published by Ray Bradbury before his death. It contains two novellas, each based on well-known stories. The first, Somewhere a Band Is Playing, echoes Brigadoon’s love story. The second, Leviathan '99 is a direct retelling of Moby Dick. Somewhere a Band Is Playing explores a city of eternal youth. James Cardiff stops in a small town in Arizona where everything seems a bit too perfect. He discovers that every single person in the town is a writer. The story is sweet and it actually reminded me a bit of certain scenes from 11/22/63. Leviathan ‘99 is a much darker tale. It’s a futuristic retelling of Moby Dick. It’s told by the only survivor of a spaceship that was captained by a man obsessed with finding the Great White Comet, which blinded him years earlier. It’s important to note that Bradbury had a particular connection to the story of Moby Dick. He spent a year in Ireland writing the screenplay for Moby Dick. That passion and fanatical focus on the one thing that will probably destroy them all is translated beautifully to the future. BOTTOM LINE: Neither story is a new favorite, but both have Bradbury’s wonderful tone and writing. You can’t go wrong with any of his short stories. If you’re new to his work I’d recommend starting with one of his famous collections like The Martian Chronicles or The Illustrated Man. October Country is one of my personal favorites as well.
    • 2/5
      Somewhere a Band Is Playing was actually okay.

      Leviathan '99 was Bradbury's admitted attempt at setting Moby Dick in space. It didn't work. At all.
    • 2/5
      Not a big Sci-Fi reader, if this falls into that category. Have read a little Bradbury. And now I remember why it was only a little. Not fond of his style.