Ray Bradbury dies.

   Brian, the leader of our science fiction book club, sent around an email announcing the death of an icon in not only the genre of science fiction but in the arts in general. That icon is Ray Bradbury, author of The Martian Chronicles and Fahrenheit 451, and of 27 other novels and stories, plays and other media. He was 91 years old. Reminds me to dig out some of my old books and reread some of his classics. By reading his work, you can know the man. His grandson says that he remained a Kid at heart until the very end of his life.  I began reading science fiction in high school, but even if you are not a fan of that genre, you would enjoy much of his work, I am sure. He is the last of an era of sci-fi writers which included  Robert Heinlein, Isaac Asimov, and Arthur C. Clarke, all the great writers that I grew up reading. When I was in high school, I read everything I could get my hands on including good literary works like For Whom the Bell Tolls, and Stillness at Appomattox, but also including teenage romances like The Boy Next Door, and literary classics like A Tree Grows in Brooklyn. But I must admit that I always fell back on sci-fi books by one of these authors and Ray Bradbury's books were the most prosaic.


Following are a couple links with his obituary and a lot of very nice comments by his grandson and others who added their comments to this website.

http://io9.com/5916175/rip-ray-bradbury-author-of-fahrenheit-451-and-the-martian-chronicles?utm_campaign=socialflow_io9_twitter&utm_source=io9_twitter&utm_medium=socialflow

http://today.msnbc.msn.com/id/47706156/ns/today-books/t/ray-bradbury-foresaw-future-didnt-trust-it/#.T8-QtNUePuc