RIP Ray Bradbury

One of the great imaginations to ever walk the planet. :(

What a great mind. We are lucky that he shared it with us through his stories.

A tremendous loss. An amazingly prolific and decent man. I can't even begin to describe his fiction. It has a place of its own.

*sigh*
I am deeply saddened.
:õ(

Yes, this one hits hard. Not only have his books been part of my life as far back as I can remember, but he helped me understand the joy I felt in the works of Walt Disney - describing the joy and hope they brought with words and concepts far better than I could possibly create.

He's one of whom I have no trouble saying: "There goes a better man than I."

RIP, Mr. Bradbury.

His influence was enormous. I am saddened.

For me, Fahrenheit 451 will stand as one of the great anti-totalitarian statements.

I recall a story I heard about Bradbury, though this is not from a primary source:

He was asked to consult on the concept behind a new museum dedicated to American inventors. He didn't want to do it. They offered him $50,000. He went away, and some weeks later came the time for him to present his thoughts. He walked into the room, said "Garages!", and left.

JPB--where might I read Bradbury's words on Disney?

As I'm sure you're aware, he was tremendously influential in the creation of EPCOT--and in its original incarnation, I saw it as his dreams writ large, even moreso than Walt.

OMG. This is awful. It had to happen, but it is sad.

>7 Atomicmutant: Yeah, I want to read that, too.

Bradbury on Disney: Wade through this meandering article, which eventually quotes it in its entirety.

http://www.mouseplanet.com/8237/Ray_Bradbury_Shares_Walt_Disneys_Vision_and_Lega...

I have never read any of Ray Bradbury's works, but I have Fahrenheit 451 on my 'next' pile.

I am in shock to see only 11 other people are mourning his death. I thought I would be at least 200th person.

I knew it that it had to happen, but still a great shock. Rest in peace, Mr. Bradbury.

May he enjoy the rest he so richly earned...
RIP, Mr. Bradbury...

(#12 - There's a second thread in the Science Fiction forum which may be taking some people from here.)

12> And not everyone who mourns will post!

A lovely bit I found today: Bradbury's family moved to Los Angeles in 1934. He became a movie buff and a voracious reader. "I never went to college, so I went to the library," he explained.

Deeply mourning--with my youngest neice--just too stunned to post earlier. Still don't want to believe it.

This is very sad and I am glad LT, and the Green Dragon, and each of us all exist to re-read his books, and to remind others to re-read, or read for the 1st time, and to recommend his works to those who are just now growing old enough to appreciate his fine genius.

Rest gently, good soul.

Sad news. Think I'll pick up Something Wicked This Way Comes as my next read.

My friend just called.

After I said, "Hello." She said, Something Wicked This Way Comes.

I responded, "I know, he died today!" She replied, "They say it's going to be dreadful."

It was at this point we realized we were speaking about different things: I was talking about Bradbury's death, and she was telling me about a bad storm that's coming to us.

(She thought Something Wicked This Way Comes was from Stephen King!)

A great loss - he will be missed by so many. The best way to honor his memory is to encourage every one to read a book.

My brother, who was 4 years older than I, checked out Martian Chronicles from the library when he was in high school and never returned it. I found it a few years later, and it was the first science fiction book I read - opened up a whole new world for me. What a great man.

I'm heartbroken. I loved The Martian Chronicles from the first day I read "There shall come soft rains". That's the Bradbury story that has stuck with me for life. My eldest son says he was marked by "All Summer In A Day" and my youngest son did his senior English project on Ray Bradbury.

I think I will only feel worse about a favorite author's death on the day I hear that Ursula K. LeGuin has passed. She's the only other science fiction writer who has affected me to the same extent that Bradbury has done.

I happened to have The Martian Chronicles from the library on my TBR pile, so I read it today in his honor. Man, that guy could write. I think that house in 'There Will Come Soft Rains' is going to haunt me.

*sigh* I just "heard" the news on another message board after I woke up and came online. I've had many enjoyable hours reading his stories over the years.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/06/06/ray-bradbury-dead-dies-at-91_n_1573849....

RIP Ray Bradbury. Another great one gone.

As a wee lad, my brother had all the Bantam Bradbury paperbacks. I was fascinated enough by the covers (The Illustrated Man was particularly weird, in my tender estimation) and the line drawings at the head of the stories (the old woman next to a windswept mailbox) to get into the stories. My brother told me they were science fiction, but many of them were unlike any science fiction I've read since.

Bradbury always hit the human dimension with a certain tenderness, and although I rarely enjoyed the stories as much on second readings years later, the immense enjoyment of the first reading was enough, and I am grateful for him showing me, while I was still in single digits, the wonders of a good story.

Truthfully, I find it hard to be sad. Instead I feel like saying "Wow, weren't we lucky! He had a great long life, lived to the age of 91, and he remained an active writer for most of those years. Look what he gave us, look what he left us. And wasn't he fortunate, too! He had a wonderful talent, he worked hard and used it to the fullest, he got to do what he loved, and he was adored, admired, and well rewarded for it. By all measures, that's success."

I'm sorry he's gone, but I think that was a life to celebrate. As I get older, I feel like congratulating people who've done as well as that. He made it to the end without screwing up and left a splendid monument. Well done, Ray.

Neil Gaiman just posted this on his Tumblr, an eulogy he wrote today for Bradbury:

A Ray Bradbury story meant something on its own – it told you nothing about what the story would be about, but it told you about atmosphere, about language, about some sort of magic escaping into the world. Death is a Lonely Business, his detective novel, is as much a Bradbury story as Something Wicked This Way Comes or Fahrenheit 451 or any of the horror, or science fiction, or magical realism, or realism you'll find in the short story collections. He was a genre on his own, and on his own terms. A young man from Waukegan, Illinois, who went to Los Angeles, educated himself in libraries, and wrote until he got good, then transcended genre and became a genre of one; often emulated, absolutely inimitable.

Two of my favorite writers. He will be missed. Incidentally, I have not read The Martian Chronicles, and I have to remedy that right now.

(Deep sigh)

I really like this article on him: Ray Bradbury: A Visionary Who Couldn’t Embrace the Digital Age
Leave it to Mashable.

28 - I agree. I lift a toast in his honor.

When I was at Grammar (senior) school there was a strict rule that nobody was allowed back in the classrooms during lunchtime or other breaks, no matter what the weather. However, we had a wonderful English teacher who, on rainy days, would give up her own break to let us go inside under her supervision where she would read us Ray Bradbury stories. At a time when we thought we were far too old to be read to this turned out to be the most wonderful experience. It was the start of my love affair with Bradbury's work and, perhaps with English and literature in general and something I shall always remember. No-one lives forever and he certainly reached a ripe old age but I suspect there is more genuine mourning today at the news than there would be for many a younger man. One of those rare people who, even to those of us who never actually met him, made the world a nicer place just by being part of it.

So much amazing writing.

"What have we been put here for? The question is asked time and again. I’ll tell you. There’s no use having a universe, and billions of stars, there’s no use having a planet Earth, if there isn’t someone here to see it. You are the audience. You are here to witness, and to celebrate. You’ve got a lot to see, and a lot to celebrate."

He didn't pull his punches!

"Every dimwit editor who sees himself as the source of all dreary blanc-mange plain porridge unleavened literature, licks his guillotine and eyes the neck of any author who dares to speak above a whisper or write above a nursery rhyme."

Television is a really dreadful influence on all of us. Don't ever look at local television news again. It's all crap. There's no news, there's no information. It's negative, negative, negative. You look at that, and you think the world is coming to an end."

OH! I love that paragraph about television! Even while the TV news rattles and prattles along in my background. I'll turn it off, right now. In his memory!

Ray Bradbury's passing leaves a monumental gap in the world of literature. He was (and is) one of the greatest influences on my life both as a reader and as a writer. Something Wicked This Way Comes is, to me, one of the greatest works of fantasy ever written and was a strong influence on me becoming a writer. The Martian Chronicles and The Illustrated Man were both astonishing and profound. A toast to Ray and all the other great writers - Hemingway, Joyce, Christie, Asimov, Tolkein etc. - they're probably all talking shop right now somewhere out there in the Great Beyond.

Yeah, Ray Bradbury was a great one. He will be missed. I loved his short story collection, A Medicine For Melancholy.

28 -- Well said.

I too liked the quote about TV news. Good job, Ray.

>28 Meredy:: What a wonderful sentiment. Thank you for sharing it.

28 Meredy - I agree. Sad but also a life to be celebrated. A man who loved libraries, books and cats and wrote Fahrenheit 451.
Not a bad legacy to leave the world.

Fahrenheit 451 and The Martian Chronicles are two of my favorite books. I've read each one multiple times. Rad Bradbury was a true genius.

Bradbury wrote some of my favourite short stories. I also loved the The Martian Chronicles, as well as A Sound of Thunder and The Illustrated Man (not the novel, haven't read that yet.)

I have a copy Fahrenheit 451 that I'm looking forward to.

I just ordered a copy of Something Wicked This Way Comes. I am looking forward to reading it with some Green Dragon friends.