The Happy Herd

Walton, Bryce, 1918-1988Project Gutenberg · United StatesDec 2019

2.6

Word count: 64K words
Chapters: 7

Summary

Project Gutenberg was the first provider of free electronic books, or eBooks. Michael Hart, founder of Project Gutenberg, invented eBooks in 1971 and his memory continues to inspire the creation of eBooks and related technologies today.The Happy Herd by Bryce WaltonAuthor: Walton, Bryce, 1918-1988,Language: English, Class: PS: Language and Literatures: American and Canadian literature, Release Date: May 23, 2019

Editor's review

The Happy Herd is a short English-language story by Bryce Walton from the mid-twentieth century, here released as a free e-book by Project Gutenberg. Walton wrote regularly for pulp science fiction magazines, and this work follows his usual approach: starting from a seemingly peaceful "group" setting and gradually revealing, through characters' situations and dialogue, the cost behind the order. It is short, tightly paced, and often ends with a twist. Readers can observe how Golden Age science fiction handled the tension between collective conformity, individual will, and happiness. As a public-domain electronic text, it is well suited to being read in one sitting during a commute or a break, and to use as English extensive-reading material for absorbing the narrative feel and vocabulary of mid-twentieth-century American genre fiction. Note that this is the English original with little background annotation; knowing a little about the science fiction magazine era in which the author worked will make it more enjoyable.

Who it's for

A good fit for

Genre readers who enjoy mid-twentieth-century American short science fiction and want to broaden their reading
English learners using short complete stories to practice extensive reading and language feel
Book club members interested in the tension between the collective and the individual and looking for discussion material
Readers who want to finish a complete English story in spare moments

Not a good fit for

Science fiction readers who prefer long works with grand settings and complex world-building
Beginning readers whose English is not yet fluent and who need Chinese annotations
Researchers seeking detailed documentation of the author's life and the work's background

Reading tips

Read it straight through without any introduction first, then go back and reread the ending, watching for details planted earlier
Keep a sheet mapping the "group" rules in the story to individual reactions, and sort out the logic after finishing
As extensive-reading material, guess unfamiliar words from context and look them up after finishing the whole story to keep reading fluent
Read it with a friend and exchange interpretations of the ending, discussing whether the author's attitude toward "happiness" is ironic or sympathetic

About the publisher

Project Gutenberg United States · Founded in 1971

Project Gutenberg is a digital publishing project focused on public-domain ebooks. Its publishing direction centers on classic literary works whose copyright has expired, covering genres such as poetry, drama, fiction, and epic. Representative books include Lyrical Ballads by Wordsworth and Coleridge, Proust's Du côté de chez Swann, Shakespeare's Macbeth and The Complete Works of William Shakespeare, Homer's The Iliad, Dante's La Divina Comèdia: Purgatòri, Cervantes's The History of Don Quixote, Volume 2, and Grahame's The Wind in the Willows. Its author resources consist mainly of classic Western writers such as Wordsworth, Proust, Shakespeare, Homer, Dante, Cervantes, Grahame, and Tolstoy. Its publishing feature is the provision of freely accessible ebooks in EPUB and Kindle formats; it is not a traditional publisher, and publicly available information is limited.

FAQ

Is this a long or short work, and how long does it take to read?

It is a short story by Bryce Walton, not long; fluent English readers can usually finish it in about half an hour to an hour, and longer if looking up words as they go. Reading it at least twice is recommended, with the second pass focusing on details missed the first time.

Do I need to know the history of science fiction beforehand?

Not strictly, but it helps a little. The author was active in mid-twentieth-century American pulp science fiction magazines; knowing this background makes the work's length, narrative pace, and common themes easier to understand. General readers can also follow the story fully by reading the text directly.

Is the e-book the English original, and is there a Chinese translation?

This is the English original e-book released by Project Gutenberg, with the text in English and no Chinese translation or annotations. Chinese readers can use a dictionary or translation tools, or treat it as extensive-reading material.

Is this book suitable for middle and high school students?

High school students with relatively good English can try it; the story is short and tightly plotted, easy to finish in one go. But the text has no annotations, and the vocabulary and period feel may be difficult for junior high students. If used in class, teachers should first provide background and flag difficult words.

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About the author

Walton, Bryce, 1918-1988 Author

Bryce Walton (1918–1988) was a twentieth-century American author of science fiction and popular fiction, little known to Chinese readers, with limited publicly available information. Fourteen of his works are held in the collection, covering space exploration, alien civilizations, future warfare, and relations between the sexes, including To Each His Star, Thy Name Is Woman, The Highest Mountain, The Victor, The Mating of the Moons, Strange Alliance, War Game, and Dreamer's World. Judging from these titles, he was skilled at handling interstellar conflict, human choice, and emotional entanglement through tight plotting and an accessible style. His works were aimed at a broad readership and carry the adventurous flavor and speculative bent common to Cold War-era science fiction. Though not part of the established canon, his writing offers a useful sample for studying the popular science fiction landscape of his time.