Thread: I'm surprised there's not a thread about this...

...and it's a week late in coming, but better late than never, I suppose.

We lost Ray Bradbury on June 6. He was, I believe, the last of the "great old ones", the science fiction writers who inspired generations of later writers including Stephen King, Neil Gaiman, and Steven Spielberg. I don't believe Master Bradbury was a fan of the internet, but that hasn't stopped the tributes from flowing in online. Like this one from the aforementioned Mr. Gaiman:

http://journal.neilgaiman.com/2012/06/ray-bradbury.html

He said it far better than I can. It's not often that I feel genuine sorrow as the passing of a famous person I never met, but this was one of them. Of course, if you've ever picked up one of RB's tales, you do feel as if you know him.

To my own mind, the best way to pay tribute is to read one of his books, so I'm re-reading Fahrenheit 451 in his honor. It was written in the Fifties, but a lot of what he foresaw is coming true today, and that's not good. I'm not talking about book-burning to discourage thinking, I'm talking about people willingly chaining themselves to giant televisions that roar on and on. That scares me worse than the "firemen" of Bradbury's novel.

R.I.P., Ray. Don't worry, there are those of us who will never grow tired of the feel of a book in our hands.

You've said it better than I could. He is missed.

I was re-reading Something Wicked This Way Comes the night before he passed away. I cried so hard when I found out the next morning.

Thank you and goodbye, Ray Bradbury.

I remember seeing this video that was made for his 90th birthday.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e1IxOS4VzKM

There's a picture of him somewhere when his assistant showed him the video and he was obviously tickled by it. I'll post it when I find it. :3

Edited to add: Found it!


####meraybradbury_thumb by sPsP49, on Flickr

I always loved The Martian Chronicles.

Yes it was sad news. Thanks for starting this. He was not simply a great spec. fiction writer but one of the great short story writers of the 20th century.

They repeated Ray Bradbury's Outer Limits on TV here last week. (In the wee small hours, of course, but ii was worth staying up for!)

Martian Chronicals was one of my favorites also.
Here is the article I read on it, http://mashable.com/2012/06/06/ray-b...nology-ebooks/

RIP Ray Bradbury