The Toynbee Convector [Mass Market Paperback]

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.

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.