Full name Ray Douglas Bradbury, was born 22 August 1920 in Waukegan, Illinois and left this world for better ones I'm sure in 2012, Los Angeles, California. One of the best American authors I have to say, famous for his fantasy short stories that so perfectly blend poetry as well as social criticism and a fear of the limitless expansion of technology., as well as memories from his childhood. He was a child who loved horror stories and the early motion pictures coming from them, such as "The Phantom of the opera" (1925), deriving from Gaston Leroux's novel of the same title, written in 1909. A significant moment in Ray's life, was when he met the magicial Mr. Electrico in 1932. He touched his nose and told young Ray: "Live forever!" Returning to the carnival where they met, the magician informed little Ray that he was a reincarnation of his best friend, who died in WWI. "A few days later, I began to write full-time. I have written every single day of my life since that day" he wrote.
In 1937, he joined the Los Angeles Science Fiction League, after he moved there with his family. He started publishing short story in the league's fanzine "Imagination". "Hollerbochen's Dilemma" was his first one in 1938. A year later he started his own fanzine "Futuria Fantasia". He attended the first World Science Fiction convention in New York City, where he met many famous writers and publishers and started writing for other magazines as well, such as the famous "Weird Tales" among them."Dark Carnival" in 1947, was his first book of collected short stories, published by Arkham House. The editor was the famous August Derleth. Many of these stories where reprinted elsewhere during the years. "The traveller" and "The Coffin", among them. Since 1940, his writing appeared in many magazines, such as The American Mercury, Harper's and McCall's. "The martial Chronicles" which was published in 1950, describes colonization of Earthlings on Mars, which was the end of the perfect martian civilization. I won't tell you more on this, as you should read it yourselves. In 1953, he publishes his greatest and more famous of his works "Fahrenheit 451". In a dystopian future world, books are forbidden. Sounds scary I know, but our world has been a witness of such things before. Bradbury, as a modern crusader against censorship and a protector of literature, is inviting us all readers and lovers of books, to protect them.
In 1954, he worked in Ireland with the director John Huston on the screenplay for Moby Dick (1956) which stimulated his "Green shadows, White whale" in 1992. After Moby Dick was released, Hollywood demanded his intellect as a screenwriter, which led to scripts for Playhouse 90, Alfred Hitchcock presents and The Twilight zone.
"Dandellion wine" written in 1957, is an autobiographical novel about a twelve-year's old summer of magic! After the 70s he started writing more poetry and drama. The sequel of "Dandellion wine" was his last work in 2006, titled "Farewell summer". Besides the fact that I loved the title from the very beginning, it ironically depicted the end of his writing days and his very end as well 6 years later. During 1985-1992, many of his short stories where adapted for his television series "The Ray Bradbury theatre". Although he's famous as a science-fiction writer, he used to say that his only sci-fi work was Fahrenheit 451. The summary of his works, could be categorized mostly as fantasy, horror and mystery. Among his greatest achievements were an Emmy prize for "The Halloween tree" adaptation in 1994, the National Medal of Arts in 2004 and a Special Citation from the Pullitzer Prize Board for his exceptional work through the years.
It matters not for a person, especially a writer, the years that've been to pass... but the sparkle in one's eyes that indicate that the child inside, is still very much alive and playful! That kind of gaze, never left Ray's eyes! He paved the way for sci-fi mysteries for some, sci-fi thriller for others. Whatever the case, Bradbury was a great writer, leaving historical works to us as his legacy! All of his works are to be read and never be forgotten!
Fahrenheit 451
‘It was a pleasure to see things eaten, to see things blackened and changed. With the brass nozzle in his fists, with the great python spitting its venomous kerosene upon the world, the blood pounded in his head, and his hands were the hands of some amazing conductor playing all the symphonies of blazing and burning to bring down the tatters and charcoal ruins of history.’
Firemen don’t put fires out in this world where books are forbidden—they set them. Guy Montag works tirelessly to incinerate any books hidden in people’s homes and the homes themselves until he meets young Clarisse, a solitary late-night pedestrian who is quietly nonconformist. In a society where most spend their lives in front of giant television screens as books are burned, she questions why. Montag’s suppressed doubts about their destruction come to the surface, and he decides to find and fight to preserve the hidden world of printed knowledge that still survives. Where are the Book People?
“With more than 5 million copies in print, this is a glorious American classic everyone should read: It’s life-changing if you read it as a teen, and still stunning when you reread it as an adult. Censorship is at the core of the novel, which is both a literary thriller and a dark meditation on the future of humanity.” —Boston Globe
The Martian Chronicles
‘One minute it was Ohio winter, with doors closed, windows locked, the panes blind with frost, icicles fringing every roof, children skiing on slopes, housewives lumbering like great black bears in their furs along the icy streets. And then a long wave of warmth crossed the small town. A flooding sea of hot air; it seemed as if someone had left a bakery door open. The heat pulsed among the cottages and bushes and children. The icicles dropped, shattering, to melt. The rocket made climates, and summer lay for a brief moment upon the land.’
These story-chapters form a pioneering saga of the next great frontier—the colonization of Mars—opening with a rocket’s flames heating up an Ohio winter in January 1999 and closing with a family fishing trip to Mars in October 2026. Earth’s explorers find great wonders on the planet, but they also encounter countless terrors. Successive waves of contact and settlement missions all but destroy the elusive Martians, until war on Earth pulls almost everyone home. Humanity will get a second chance on Mars, but it’s only for those who will conserve rather than exploit this new world.
“Bradbury’s second book . . . a number of short pieces to produce a whole far greater than its parts. . . . In that melancholy classic . . . Bradbury’s prose was correspondingly lyrical and wistful; the book itself unforgettable.” —The Washington Post
RAY BRADBURY - one of a kind