91–98 of 98 posts
I heard him speak at the LA Times Festival of books, and even in his eighties, he was vibrant, sparkling, and extraordinary. He told of his optimism and his humble beginnings (renting typewriters in the basement of the LA public library). He signed books tirelessly, including mine, and was a marvel. That man exuded more life at 80-something than most people do in their twenties. For some reason I thought he would nev…
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Orson Scott Card is not too far off, IMO.
Sadly, I found over time his newer books became steadily worse. It's odd to me that someone like Jim Butcher can get steadily better where other authors 'give up', start believing their own hype, use ghost writers, or something.
My favorite Ray Bradbury memory is the time he came to my school to talk about his books and ended up yelling at my English teach for trying to find hidden meaning that wasn't there just for the sake of busywork. RIP Mr. Bradbury.
This thread feels incomplete without this Mark Twain quote: "Persons attempting to find a motive in this narrative will be prosecuted; persons attempting to find a moral in it will be banished; persons attempting to find a plot in it will be shot."
I've heard it attributed to Hemingway.
My favorite Ray Bradbury memory is the time he came to my school to talk about his books and ended up yelling at my English teach for trying to find hidden meaning that wasn't there just for the sake of busywork. RIP Mr. Bradbury.
Also authors have a subconscious.
Today CATO released an interesting story about Ray and the form of censoring he faced which is one many here would never consider. That being authors being coerced to include or exclude groups based on influence they exert within society. We even see that today with big name authors, most common is when their works are brought to screen and characters take on new traits; physical or otherwise; to fit politically correct norms.
I heard him speak at the LA Times Festival of books, and even in his eighties, he was vibrant, sparkling, and extraordinary. He told of his optimism and his humble beginnings (renting typewriters in the basement of the LA public library). He signed books tirelessly, including mine, and was a marvel. That man exuded more life at 80-something than most people do in their twenties. For some reason I thought he would nev…
Didn't he also write Fahrenheit 451 on typewriters in UC Berkley?
http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/jacketcopy/2012/06/ray-bradb...
There are a couple of enjoyable radio dramatizations of his some of his stories from the 50s available for download at the Internet Archive: http://archive.org/details/XMinus1_A Stories include: "And The Moon Be Still As Bright" "Mars is Heaven" "The Veldt" "Dwellers in Silence" "Zero Hour" "To the Future" "Marionettes, Inc." "There Will Come Soft Rains"
He was the last of the giants, along with Heinlein, Clark and Asimov. As a kid in the 70s, I devoured their novels and stories from the 50s and 60s. Bradbury was probably the most sophisticated writer of the four, though I preferred Asimov's straightforward, techie prose more back then. But we did get to read Bradbury in school, while none of the others was deemed lofty enough for the curriculum (except Heinlein's St…
Don't forget Vonnegut.