The Fog Horn by Ray Bradbury, 1951
The magic trick:
Pulp mixed with poetry
Reminded me a bit of the strange Robert Eggers’ film The Lighthouse mixed with the more plotty John Carpenter film The Fog.
Bradbury often manages this kind of magic trick. He takes pulpy topics – in this case it’s the story of a giant sea monster surfacing once a year. But he imbues the story with such poetry. It’s the sentences but especially in the ideas. Here, the character of McDunn spins philosophical monologues that have you considering the depths of loneliness that surround us all. You almost forget you’re reading about a giant sea monster.
And that’s quite a trick on Bradbury’s part.
The selection:
“All year long, Johnny, that poor monster there lying far out, a thousand miles at sea, and twenty miles deep maybe, biding its time, perhaps a million years old, this one creature.
Think of it, waiting a million years; could you wait that long? Maybe it’s the last of its kind. I sort of think that’s true. Anyway, here come men on land and build this lighthouse, five years ago. And set up their Fog Horn and sound it and sound it out towards the place where you bury yourself in sleep and sea memories of a world where there were thousands like yourself, but now you’re alone, all alone in a world that’s not made for you, a world where you have to hide.
As always, join the conversation in the comments section below, on SSMT Facebook or on Twitter @ShortStoryMT.
Subscribe to the Short Story Magic Tricks Monthly Newsletter to get the latest short story news, contests and fun.
Short Story Magic Tricks 