taksraven Posted June 7, 2012 Posted June 7, 2012 (edited) ........you will be missed. The Illustrated Man was possibly THE greatest collection of SF stories but the one author ever. Edited June 7, 2012 by taksraven
Gubaba Posted June 7, 2012 Posted June 7, 2012 I was lucky enough to meet Ray Bradbury four times at book signings, the first when I was 11 or so, the last when I was about 17 (he seemed happy to meet the giddy 11-year-old clutching a paperback copy of "Dinosaur Tales," less so to meet the sullen teen holding a first-edition hardcover of "The Stories of Ray Bradbury"). He was everything you'd want him to be, larger-than-life, totally full of himself in way that somehow felt charming rather than annoying, and a great raconteur. My favorite stories involved him as a kid hanging out around the Hollywood studios, doing things like meeting W.C. Fields (who signed his autograph book and said, "There you go, you little son of a bitch!"). I also loved his tale of writing the screenplay for the film of "Moby-Dick"...he found himself blocked, unable to write anything, afraid of desecrating the novel, until he woke up one morning, looked in the mirror, pointed at himself, and intoned "I AM HERMAN MELVILLE!!" The writing apparently came quite easily after that. I reread "The Martian Chronicles" roughly two years ago, right before coming to Japan, and found that I liked it even better than I did when I was in 8th grade, or in college. I meant to go back to "The Illustrated Man" soon afterwards, but never quite found the time... But anyway...thanks, Mr. Bradbury...you were spectacular.
Jefuemon Posted June 7, 2012 Posted June 7, 2012 I make it a point to read "Martian Chronicles" every other year or so. Never get tired of it. Damn, this is some sad news. Well, Maybe Kinokuniya will get in a bigger shipment of his books then, like they did when Sir Clarke died.
Dynaman Posted June 7, 2012 Posted June 7, 2012 I make it a point to read "Martian Chronicles" every other year or so. Never get tired of it. Damn, this is some sad news. Well, Maybe Kinokuniya will get in a bigger shipment of his books then, like they did when Sir Clarke died. I should read that again as well, I have a hard time remembering what was the novel and what was the TV movie any longer.
Old_Nash Posted June 7, 2012 Posted June 7, 2012 And the World Lost a Important Person in his realm...
Benson13 Posted June 7, 2012 Posted June 7, 2012 I'm not sure which is worse, losing someone like RB, or the fact that most of society won't even mourn his loss while people everywhere get upset when a junkie like Whitney Houston or Amy Winehouse dies. Either way goodbye Ray Bradbury, your contributions to humanity will be sorely missed by the intelligent.
Pterobat Posted June 7, 2012 Posted June 7, 2012 It was such a sad thing to hear. He was an awesome author--"The Martian Chronicles" was my favourite of his longer-form works. http://pterobat.blogspot.ca/2012/06/goodbye.html
PetarB Posted June 8, 2012 Posted June 8, 2012 "The million-year picnic" One of my favourite SF short stories, just beautiful. I remember reading the Martian Chronicles and just loving the lyrical feel of the collection. You will be missed, Ray.
Graham Posted June 8, 2012 Posted June 8, 2012 Yep, fantastic author, read loads of his works as a kid. Time for some re-reading I think. Graham
Mog Posted June 8, 2012 Posted June 8, 2012 Actually got to meet him since my high school English teacher was a good friend of his. Really enjoyed his short story "Zero Hour." Wish it had been adapted for the old Twilight Zone series. Would have fit in perfectly with that series. Sad to see him go, but glad we have all these works of his to still read and listen to.
Noriko Takaya Posted June 8, 2012 Posted June 8, 2012 (edited) Had to do a book report on 2001 when I was a kid. God that was a hard thing to do. Edited June 10, 2012 by Noriko Takaya
Dynaman Posted June 8, 2012 Posted June 8, 2012 I'm not sure which is worse, losing someone like RB, or the fact that most of society won't even mourn his loss while people everywhere get upset when a junkie like Whitney Houston or Amy Winehouse dies. 500 years from now Whitney and Amy will be long forgotten, but RB will be up there with the greats.
Mr March Posted June 8, 2012 Posted June 8, 2012 Really enjoyed Fahrenheit 451. Still have that in my collection after all these years. Thankful for his talent.
Zor Primus Posted June 9, 2012 Posted June 9, 2012 Had to do a book report on 2001 when I was a kid. God that was a hard thing to do. And he had a brush with Macross as he had met up with Mari Iijima at one time. Thanks for sharing Noriko! Great pic! RIP Mr. Bradbury
Gubaba Posted June 10, 2012 Posted June 10, 2012 Had to do a book report on 2001 when I was a kid. God that was a hard thing to do. And he had a brush with Macross as he had met up with Mari Iijima at one time. Erm...that's Arthur C. Clarke.
Lobizon Posted June 10, 2012 Posted June 10, 2012 (edited) I was about to say that, but you beat me to the punch. RIP Mr. Ray Bradbury. Edited June 10, 2012 by Lobizon
Noriko Takaya Posted June 10, 2012 Posted June 10, 2012 Oops! I goofed! I will removed the offending post. Stupid!
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