I once read a story back in 01' that was about a boy that went into this secret cave, that somehow teleported him through time into the future and into a whole different kind of society were life is very peaceful and sophisticated.
I've been killing myself trying to find out this story (by the way, it was within a textbook) but i really need any help. Thank you very much!

Unless this is a very garbled description of "Frost and Fire," I'd be surprised if it is by Bradbury. Any more details?

It could fall within the vast "similar, but not Bradbury" category.

This is what I have done in the past with these story IDs and will do again whenever I have time, (which I MUST tell myself I will...someday) but in the meantime it REALLY helps if people do their own.
1. Go to the Abebooks forums. Make sure you are in the "Booksleuth" forum.
http://forums.abebooks.com/abesleuthcom
Post under "Science Fiction." If I were you, I wouldn't crosspost there, although some stories fall into more than one category, i. e. Children's and Science Fiction. This forum houses the most friendly, helpful, useful, knowledgeable folks I've been able to find online.

2. Go to Google Groups (or, if you REALLY MUST, Usenet--same groups in a different form, only Usenet preferers seem to have a less efficient system coupled with a superior, know-it-all attitude.) Start with this one:
http://groups.google.com/group/alt.books.isaac-asimov?lnk=lr
because Asimov is the author most frequently mistaken for Bradbury. Even if the story isn't one of Dr. Asimov's, his fans are polite, helpful, and widely read in other Science Fiction.
When you post there, crosspost to the following groups: rec.arts.books, rec.arts.books.childrens, and rec.arts.sf.written
The worst that will happen is some obnoxious troll, most likely on rec.arts.books.childrens where a number of them have taken up semipermanent residence, who has nothing better to do, will call you rude for crossposting (WHY, I have never determined and refuse to argue it with them.) The best that will happen is you only have to type your question (or copy and paste the one you already typed) once, and it will simultaneously appear in all four groups. If the people who answer just hit "reply" without stripping out the other addresses, all answers will appear in all those groups, so you only have to check one instead of opening up four groups separately. Usenet has a smattering of knowledgeable and helpful folks along with a community of idiots with too much time on their hands, but a lot of people see questions posted there and you may receive semidecent answers.

3. If all these free sources fail, go to: http://www.logan.com/loganberry/stump.html They are the ultimate authority and if the question can be solved nowhere else, it is well worth the $2.00 they charge to have it posted to their site, where it will stay on the unsolved pages until solved, without getting "bumped down" the way things do in message board format. It will then go permanently to the solved pages in case anyone else ever has the same question.

4. Lastly, most important! When you get your answer, whether it be right away or months or years later, PLEASE come back and post it here! If your post is no longer near the top, you can find it by clicking "Find" at the top of the page and searching for your username or some other unusual or distinctive phrase. It would also be nice to mention from what source the answer came. If it's not posted here, it will end up on my "unsolved" list if and when I do get time to go back through all these, and I'll end up doing all of the above unnecessarily (except for paying for other peoples' stumpers, at which I draw the line)! Thanks!

Hope this helps!

I am not surprised at all that Asimov is the author most mistaken for Bradbury. 3/4 of a year after first seeing posts saying that, I realize why. I had read Asimov's stories also, since my teens and twenties, and then tapered off for a while. Over the years I occasionally thought of him as super "egghead", hard science guy. Sure, but there's more. Started reading my beloved science fiction stories again after years, and was deeply affected by the warmth and humanity of the man. Both authors have that in common.

Simak and Sturgeon remind me of Bradbury. It's no coincidence that they are my next favorite authors behind RB. Right now I'm reading Asimov's THE REST OF THE ROBOTS. These robot stories don't treat the robots as humanely as the stories in I, ROBOT. These robots seem to be more troublesome and more machine-like than the cute ones from the other collection. Some of these stories were among the last ones Asimov wrote before he stopped writing SF in 1958 and there really does seem to be a different flavor and feel to these later stories. The stories just aren't as warm and fuzzy. But they're still really good. I really liked "Risk".

I always thought it was odd that Asimov, Clarke, and Sturgeon all took extended vacations from SF (all for different reasons) and all returned at about the same time (1970-ish), after the New Wavers had proclaimed it was bedtime for the old guard.

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This message has been edited. Last edited by: grasstains,

I too am looking for a title of a story I read many years ago. I'm not even sure if Bradbury wrote it. It is about a man who travels back in time with a tour group and he accidently gets off the path and steps on a butterfly. When he returns to the present, the world is different because of his actions. Any one that can help?
Thanks,
emess

A Sound of Thunder.

Wonderful short story - not so much a film.

quote:

(by the way, it was within a textbook)

Well, that's a decent hint which I missed the first time around. I'll see where it leads. I kinda remember a Poul Anderson story like that.

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Thanks for the title!

Poul Anderson did indeed write a time travel story, "The Man Who Came Early". Depressing, but not all excellent stories have a happy ending.

I mean, since they're about human nature, how could they?