Todoay is August 22, the birthday of Ray Bradbury (1920-2012). Gauntlet press has publsihed a collection of Bradbury stories that are the original versions of some that were revised before publication. I had hoped to showcase that book today, but the tracking on it shows it is still in Colorado.

I’ll do a post on it when it gets here.

Bradbury was one of the first fantasists I read as I transitioned from the kid section of the library to the adult section. I was in fifth or sixth grade (I think sixtsh) when we had a guest come to our English class and read “The Screaming Woman” to us from S is for Space. Over the next half dozen or so years, I read every Bradbury book I could get my hands on. Many of those books, I’ve not read since. The non-fantasy stuff didn’t really appeal to me. I hadn’t had enough life experience yet to get where Bradbury was coming from. Continue reading →

There were a lot of birthdays yesterday, but I was up late getting things ready for the first day of class today and wasn’t able to get a post up. Fortunately, I don’t have to do that tonight.

And that’s a good thing because today, August 22, is the birthday of Ray Bradbury (1920-2012).

I had seen some of Bradbury’s paperbacks in the children’s section of  the public library in Wichita Falls when I was in fourth grade. They were the editions with a sktech of Bradbury in front of a horzontal illustration of something in the book. They were on a spinner rack  with some Twilight Zone collections, James Blish’s Star Trek novelizations, and other books. I remember that was the rack I found Planet of the Apes on.

But I digress. Continue reading →

Today as I write this is August 22. Ray Bradbury was born on this date in 1920. I’m not going to look at any of his stories. As I said on this year’s Lovecraft birthday post, I’ve been kind of busy.

But I did want to take a moment to acknowledge him and the impact his work has had on my life. Bradbury was one of the greatest short story writers the world has ever produced.  There are still a number of  his stories I’ve not read.

Yet.

Especially from the last couple of collections. I was busy trying to keep up with a toddler when they came out. I’m hoping to do a deeper dive later this year when things slow down. Until then, I’ll raise a glass tonight in his memory.

Let’s talk about cycles and rhythms of life, shall we? If you are fortunate to have enough stability in your life, then life will begin to develop cycles and rhythms. For example, it’s August. Summer classes are over, but the fall semester hasn’t started yet.

For a number of years now, I’ve read something by Ray Bradbury (1920-2012) and posted about it on this date, August 22, in honor of his birth. The fact that the high temperatures for the last couple of days have been in the 70s (in Texas in August!!), making me think of fall and October and Bradbury. Continue reading →