The Sound of Thunder by Ray Bradbury is a futuristic science fiction short story about a hunter named Eckles, he visits the Time Safari, a company that sends you to the past. Eckles travels back in time with a group of three to shoot and kill a prehistoric dinosaur. Nethergrave is about a young boy named Jeremy, who plays sports, and has a group of internet friends. Later, Jeremy is faced with a decision whether to stay in the real world, or leave it for the virtual introduced by a great being. This critical response will be comparing, and contrasting both stories by making points such as, how the stories fit into the science fiction genre, the characterization between Eckles and Jeremy, the theme/message of the stories, dialogue, and writing style. The science fiction genre fits into both of the stories because of the technology, settings, and events that take place in the stories. The Sound of Thunder fits into the genre because of the time travel machine, the dinosaurs, the date it takes place, and the chaos theory and paradox concepts. The Nethergrave fits in the genre because of the virtual world controlled and presented by Magus, who seems to know everything. The virtual world also seems to have great “graphics” if not realistic, and how main character physically entered the Nethergrave from his bedroom. The stories fit into the category of science fiction proudly, though the Sound of Thunder pulled it off better, and had a greater climax that really pulls you into