demagogue on 6/6/2012 at 15:08
Well now they've gone and done it: (
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/06/07/books/ray-bradbury-popularizer-of-science-fiction-dies-at-91.html?_r=1)
"When they give you lined paper, write the other way."
I had the pleasure to see him give a lecture in high school. When I went up to him with my notebook to sign, of course he signed it crossways. Like probably a lot of people, F451 was an enlightening book to me growing up. Also the story of the robot cleaning crew still working after a nuclear holocaust really left an impression on me.
Also worth recalling that "451" is always the first key-code for a few LGS/Ion Storm/Irrational games.
LesserFollies on 6/6/2012 at 15:46
It seems fitting he would go with the Transit of Venus. RIP. One of this planet's greatest ever.
faetal on 6/6/2012 at 16:01
91 is a damned good innings.
henke on 6/6/2012 at 18:36
R.I.P.
I liked Fahrenheit 451 a lot.
SubJeff on 6/6/2012 at 21:44
RIP
I never read Fahrenheit, but I loved The Martian Chronicles and The Illustrated Man. I still recommend them to people looking for short stories and I wish I could find some short stories that I'll enjoy as much.
Tocky on 7/6/2012 at 01:57
I read The Martian Chronicles when I was 10. I haven't read it since but I remember the reflection of martians in a puddle and what it meant. Remember who the martians were? He even wanted to be buried on Mars. The fool actually believed we would one day land there. He believed in mankind even knowing our darkest possibilties and still held to the Toynbee Convector view of life. He was an indefatigable optimist. How he could be in the face of NASA funding cuts and massive subsidies for oil companies I'll never know. That's not even counting reality TV.
But oh did he know our darkest. The next book I read was and remains my favorite, Something Wicked This Way Comes. He knew somehow of both the secret longings of boys and old men. He knew of a small town America now fading in the rear view and it is a place I miss. He knew the thrill of Carnivals and night excursions on young hearts. He knew how hard those whose youth is fading hold to those dusty remnants they hide away like treasure inside them. He even knew what my father had in his pockets. He broke my heart describing Wills fathers collection of odd bits he carried. They were my Dads, a man in all ways, who nevertheless kept boyhood in his pockets somehow.
It wasn't the last time he broke my heart. He knew my wish and wrote it in The Wish of Long After Midnight, my favorite of short story collections. That was another time of many but this last I just can't forgive him for. I knew it was coming and I thought I had steeled myself. I thought I only liked the man as I would any author who exposed all the best and worst of life and revelled in it's joys like a kid in a pile of leaves or poked at the snake which slithered out with a long stick. I was wrong. This hurts much worse than I thought it would. Damn it to hell Ray, I could never have explained all you meant to me if I had met you but now I never will. I just wish I could have said thank you. For all the wonderful heart you put into all the facets of experience I wish now I had at least written a letter to let you know and you would somehow. I know you would. If anyone could read between the lines it was you. Damn.
jimjack on 7/6/2012 at 02:35
I read Dark They Were and Golden Eyed when I was twelve and got hooked. I did a school report on The Veldt. I don't think there was one story I didn't enjoy. A story about a boy who was sick but his dog would take off for the day and return with his day's forray in his fur for the boy. I think I got that plot right. Anyway, all these stories I read a long time ago and I haven't forgot most of them if a title was thrown at me. This is sad news.
