On this date in 1920, August 22, Ray Bradbury was born. He was one of the greatest writers of the fantastic of the last 100 years.
I came to Bradbury early. He was one of the first adult writers I read. When I was in 5th grade, we had a guest in my reading class one day. The man was there to read us a Bradbury story. He described Bradbury as a science fiction writer but then went on to tell us that what he was going to read wasn’t science fiction. He read “The Screaming Woman” to us.
I had already gotten bit by the science fiction bug, and infection that had become permanent the previous year with the release of Star Wars. I was in the process of moving from the kids section of the library to the adult section. The next time I went to the library I checked out S is for Space, the volume that contained “The Screaming Woman”. The Martian Chronicles soon followed along with pretty much any other Bradbury book I could bet my hands on until I had bought and read everything in print at the time.
He’s one of only a few writers who have their own dedicated shelf in my library. (The others are Kuttner and Moore, Brackett and Hamilton, and Robert E. Howard.)
I’ll read something by him this evening. I haven’t decided what, but it will probably be something I haven’t reread in the last few years. I’ve not read the last few collections that were published during his lifetime, so I’ll probably dip into one of them.
So what’s your favorite Ray Bradbury story?
Pretty much all of Something Wicked This Way Comes…
That’s an excellent choice. I reread that one a few years ago.
http://adventuresfantastic.com/a-visit-to-cooger-and-darks-pandemonium-shadow-show/
Not having read it in decades, I was a little leery as to whether it would hold up to my memories. It did. I think it’s one of the best dark fantasy novels in American literature.
The Watchers and The Veldt. I still have to read the rest of the Martian Chronicles but I think Watchers captured the atmosphere of being off-world and looking back at your home planet. The Veldt attracted me because, being Afirkaans, “veldt” is spelled “veld” and so I was curious. That was quite a few years ago but I remember thinking this feels like how we would end up. lol
I don’t recall “The Watchers” although I know I’ve read it if it’s in The Martian Chronicles. “The Veldt” is one of my favorites. Bradbury said (IIRC in his introduction to The Best of Henry Kuttner) that story was influenced by Kuttner. It does bear a certain resemblance to Kuttner’s “Mimsy Were the Borogoves”. “Mars is Heaven” is one of my favorites from The Martian Chronicles
I have a different kind of Ray Bradbury story: I found myself behind him in the checkout line at the Nob Hill grocery store in Scotts Valley, California, back in 1987 or 1988. I knew he lived in the general area, but I was polite and asked him (since there were two or three people ahead of us and we were just standing around) if he was Ray Bradbury. He laughed and said he was surprised I recognized him. We chatted about nothing special for a minute or two, and it’s one of my best memories of my time in California working for Borland International.
That is an awesome story, Jeff. Thanks for posting it.
I haven’t read enough Ray to have an informed opinion. Serendipitously, I just got a box full of about 10-15 RB books the other day. Time to get caught up!
Not only was Ray Bradbury an ERB fan, he was also a big Merritt fan. Just sayin’.
“Not only was Ray Bradbury an ERB fan, he was also a big Merritt fan. Just sayin’.”
All the more reason to read him.
Personally, I like his work from the 30s, 40s, and early 50s the best. IOW, the stories that were published in the pulps. His later work, that was more literary, I wasn’t as crazy about. If you haven’t read The Illustrated Man or The October Country, they’re both great places to start. The former is science fiction, the latter fantasy and horror.
I’ve read THE ILLUSTRATED MAN. TOC was one of the books in the stack. With everything else I’m doing/reading, I may have to shoot for reading them all here n’ there and then blogging about them during Ray’s centennial year.
Sounds like a plan. There are several centennial years coming up.