The Golden Apples of the Sun and Other Stories | |||||||
Ray Bradbury | |||||||
Narrated by Michael Prichard, unabridged | |||||||
Tantor Media, 12.5 hours | |||||||
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A review by Steven Brandt
"The Foghorn": The endless, black reaches of ocean on our planet contain unplumbed depths, and terrifying
creatures barely imagined by the minds of men. What would such a creature make of a lighthouse foghorn,
reverberating through those dark miles of water year after year? When a leviathan from the deep comes forth
to find the source of such a sound, the result can only be disastrous.
"The Fruit at the Bottom of the Bowl": Acton confronts the man who has stolen his wife away from him, and
exacts his own justice by murdering the man. But his guilty conscience preys upon him in a most unusual
manner, and Acton finds himself unable to leave the scene of the crime.
"The Flying Machine": In a tale that reads like something from ancient Chinese mythology, a man creates a
flying machine of paper and bamboo. He is thrilled when the emperor himself comes out to witness his
triumph, but the emperor has far different ideas about what the invention could mean for the future of his empire.
"The Murderer": In a future that may not be so very distant, mankind has developed all sorts of gadgets
to "keep in touch." One man does not find the personal communicators, tracking beacons, and thinking houses
that talk to us to be convenient at all, and takes it upon himself to destroy them. He feels he is doing
us all a favor, but is it too late for the rest of humanity?
Also included in this far-reaching volume are the stories, "The April Witch," "The Golden Kite," "The Silver Wind,"
"I See You Never," "Embroidery," "The Big Black and White Game," and many, many others. These stories were
first collected and published in 1953, but I find the moral of each story to be just as important to us today,
more than fifty years later, as they were when Bradbury first wrote them. You might say they are a bit like
golden apples, slowly ripening in the sun, growing sweeter and more flavorful with each passing year.
Michael Prichard is a long-time theater and film actor, and is a veteran audiobook narrator as well, having
voiced more than 500 full length novels. I have become comfortably familiar with Prichard's style through his
work on the novels of Clive Cussler and Tom Clancy. Prichard has a pleasant sounding voice, and his
inflection and intonation are always right on the money. He also reads dialogue very well, which is a
skill I think some narrators lack. All in all, Michael Prichard always sounds like he is telling the
story, not just reading it from a page. I am always eager to try out any audiobook he narrates. This
is a nice reproduction of some classic Ray Bradbury material. The Golden Apples of the Sun is
a must-read for any fan of science fiction & fantasy.
Steven Brandt spends most of his waking hours listening to audiobooks and reviewing them for his blog, Audiobook Heaven. When not reading or reviewing, Steven is usually playing the saxophone for the entertainment and amusement of his family. |
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