Ray Douglas Bradbury was born on Aug. 22, 1920, in Waukegan, Ill.
He was perhaps the writer with the most influence on me. "F.451" still scares the hooobies out of me to this day, and I read that when I was 10. You would think it would be his horror story "Something Wicked...." that would have scared me that badly, but censorship has a tendency to scare me more than the thing that goes bump in the night.
Bradbury was no stranger to the odd and strange. He had a relative killed in the Salem Trials and had an aunt who read him Poe and inspired a love of fall and all that comes with it. He was a voracious reader and he spent many hours at the UCLA library. He grew up on "Buck Rogers" comics, had a love of machines and wished his birthday could be Halloween. He wrote a 1,000 words a day and wrote "451" in nine days on a library type-writer that cost 10 cents a half hour, for a total of $9.80. He and his late wife had 56 years together before her passing in 2003. Like me, he hated e-books and e-readers, but did give in finally last year to allow "451" to be turned into an e-book. It was the only e-book allowed to be downloaded by library users from the Simon and Shuster Company at the time.
He did what he loved and exhorted others to do the same. His work inspired others authors, challenged authority, and still lives on as some of the best sci-fi fantasy there is. His work will live on and on, and as Bradbury said, "As long as there is censorship, "451" will never be gone from libraries."
He was perhaps the writer with the most influence on me. "F.451" still scares the hooobies out of me to this day, and I read that when I was 10. You would think it would be his horror story "Something Wicked...." that would have scared me that badly, but censorship has a tendency to scare me more than the thing that goes bump in the night.
Bradbury was no stranger to the odd and strange. He had a relative killed in the Salem Trials and had an aunt who read him Poe and inspired a love of fall and all that comes with it. He was a voracious reader and he spent many hours at the UCLA library. He grew up on "Buck Rogers" comics, had a love of machines and wished his birthday could be Halloween. He wrote a 1,000 words a day and wrote "451" in nine days on a library type-writer that cost 10 cents a half hour, for a total of $9.80. He and his late wife had 56 years together before her passing in 2003. Like me, he hated e-books and e-readers, but did give in finally last year to allow "451" to be turned into an e-book. It was the only e-book allowed to be downloaded by library users from the Simon and Shuster Company at the time.
He did what he loved and exhorted others to do the same. His work inspired others authors, challenged authority, and still lives on as some of the best sci-fi fantasy there is. His work will live on and on, and as Bradbury said, "As long as there is censorship, "451" will never be gone from libraries."
Long live Mr. Bradbury, and may his work endure.