Okay! Here are the four remaining "older unsolved" non-Bradbury
stories, three of which didn't even draw a decent GUESS! About an
equal number of "newer unsolved" have been recently posted on
rec.arts.books.childrens and rec.arts.sf.written.
1. Murderous Music
My father once told me the story of a machine that mixed together the
world's best music, and upon listening to this new song, men would
die. In his old age my father cannot remember the title nor the
author, but believes it may be a Ray Bradbury short story from "I Sing
the Body Electric." Is this possible? Does anyone know the title?
Thank you for your assistance.
Sincerely,
Ned Conway
"Tomorrow's Child?!" from...Body Electric was suggested. I replied
this isn't it.
Cori
From: Barbara-MLG
I read a story in the 60s that sounds a bit like this - of course I
don't remember anything identifying about it except that it was in a
2d-hand pulp sf mag. It was about a ship that landed on a planet of
beautiful architecture and art, with everyone dead in a sort of
auditorium. The bodies were mummified and it had obviously happened a
long time ago. The narrator was a musician and was constantly at odds
with his captain who was tone-deaf and had no patience with artsy
stuff. It turned out that the auditorium was a magnifier or
intensifier of sound and some of the exploring crew set it off with
music, trapping themselves in a super-intense aesthetic experience.
The captain being immune to the aesthetic side, though battered by the
sound waves, manages to drag them out and save their lives. Not much
help, though. Sorry.
This reply came from Beth Friedman by way of the newsgroup
rec.arts.books.childrens at Google Groups:
Again, it's probably not the one you have in mind, but one of Arthur
C. Clarke's Tales from the White Hart is about some music that is so
entrancing that people can't do anything but listen to it.
This reply came from Peter Meilinger by way of
rec.arts.books.childrens:
That's the first one I thought of, too. Looking online for the table
of contents, I'm about 100% sure it must be The Ultimate Melody,
written in 1956. It doesn't sound quite like the story in question,
but it's well worth reading. The whole Tales From The White Hart
collection is great, actually.
Pete
From: Cori
The same idea was used in the novel "Elidor," by Alan Garner, but that
music only held people spellbound. Enthralled, but didn't kill 'em.
These replies came from the BookSleuth forum on Abebooks:
From: Browsers
Almost certainly not the story you're looking for, but your
description reminded me of it, so...
The short story "Buzz" by Rudy Rucker (found in The 57th Franz Kafka)
is about a youth who mixes different cuts from rock songs together
with a strange recording obtained from a piece of Egyptian pottery
(read the story to find out how), resulting in a sound that doesn't
kill anyone, but if you're not making love when the sound hits you, it
sends you to Mars or something like that.
From: jent
The Ultimate Melody only affected the man who discovered it, before
his gadget was switched off. He was left totally catatonic. But it
does sound a good match, if the poster is remembering a little
incorrectly. Perhaps The Sound Sweep by J G Ballard, but then again ,
more insanity than death.
Jen in Melbourne
From: signalertx
I remember reading a story by Isaac Asimov, not one of his more well
known stories, about a machine or computer that generated music which
had a bad or negative effect on people. The machine was shut down or
destroyed by the assistant to the scientist. It seems that the
assistant was tone deaf. Sorry that I cannot remember the title. It
was not in any of his Robot story collections, if that is any help.
This reply came by way of the newsgroups rec.arts.books.childrens and
rec.arts.sf.written at Google Groups:
It almost certainly is not a recent radio piece written by
broadcaster Armando Ianucci (I'm not sure about his name, I dare say
it'll be the Lady of Shalott thing again - look up various spellings
in Google.com is what I mean) which described the Museum of Lost
Keyboards, an exotic and fictional collection of keyboard
instruments. The last exhibit was a masterwork whose music is so
sublime that whilst not lethal in itself, it makes all sensory
experiences afterwards disappointing.
However, wasn't it Pythagoras who first told us (or, rather, told his
secret club, I suppose) that as you develop a taste for finer things,
you lose interest in those less fine - or, at least, you ought to do?
So it goes back quite a long way.
But in neither case was it a matter of mixing together the best music
in the world. I think that's what the LP albums on the Voyager
spacecraft do. (And if the ships landed back on Earth now then how
many people would be able to play the disc...)
(Not that sending CDs would have helped, either - nor DVDs; they're
being replaced, too.)
Robert Carnegie
2. Lost Son
From: soooperman
This is going to be rather difficult. I once read a story by Ray
Bradbury in a collection of short stories. I have only faint memories
of it, but I remember immensely enjoying the story. Perhaps someone
here can help me. The setting seemed to be of war time, or of general
chaos. A mother and son are at home, waiting for the father. The
father doesn't arrive for a long period. There is violence on the
streets, they fear for his life. The son goes out to look for the
father, the mother is hesitant. A few hours later, the father returns
home, the son never does. Does anyone know what story this is? If
you do, please respond.. this has been playing on my mind for a few
years now.
3. Soul Stealer
From: EvanM
Hello, I'm trying to find the source of a plot fragment that may have
come from an RB story:
A woman offers a small child a bag of jellybeans, telling the child to
pick just one. The child takes one and just as he's about to eat it,
she snatches the jellybean away and says "There! Now I have your
soul!" Any help tracking down the origin of this plot fragment would
be greatly appreciated.
Thanks
4. Limited Vocabulary
From: N_Webster
I have recently heard of a Ray Bradbury story that centered around a
totalitrian society which continually reduced the citizens' rights,
even their vocabulary, until the citizens were left with only one word
to use. This word was the title of the short story. Does anyone know
the title of this story? Thanks!
Cori
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