Ray Bradbury - 1920-2012

[Catfish]

^ If you never read "The illustrated man", you should !

[TarJak]

Definitely one of the greats. His work has had a huge influence over so many. Sad to see him go. RIP Ray.

[Skybird]

Originally Posted by Catfish

^ If you never read "The illustrated man", you should !

"Dandelion Wine" and "Something Wicked This Way Comes", are my favourites, together with the "Irish" and "Mexican" stories.

[frau kaleun]

When I was in junior high school (around 12 years old, this would've been the 1975-76 school year) we had the coolest teacher, Mr. Jackson. He taught English (which included literature) and I was not in his class for that subject but I was in a study hall once a day in his room, with him supervising.

There were only about half a dozen kids in that study hall, and Mr. Jackson was young enough to have grown up and gotten his schooling during the 60s and early 70s, so he was part of a new generation of educators influenced by that era and was much more laid back and open to "rapping" with his students. (Yes that's what we called it back then.) Because the study hall class was so small, we spent the entire hour every day clustered around his desk, just... rapping.

I was already a huge sci-fi/fantasy geek and had been for as long as I could remember, which became evident if you talked to me for anything over 1.6 seconds. One day he handed me a worn paperback copy of a book I'd never heard of, by an author I'd never heard of, and told me he was pretty sure I'd like it.

It was Ray Bradbury's "Illustrated Man." And boy oh boy, did I ever like it. After that I read everything of his I could get my hands on, many books and stories more than once or twice and sometimes dozens of times. It was something I continued to do off and on for the next 20-25 years.

So thank you, Mr. Bradbury, for so many hours of pure childlike wonder and thought-provoking delight.

And thank you too, Mr. Jackson, for giving me your copy of that book. I have never forgotten it.

(Incidentally, later on in the school year Mr. Jackson showed me a magazine article he'd read about a strange, out-of-the-mainstream movie that was scheduled for release early that summer. He told me I might want to see it if I got the chance, because it looked like it could be something special that I might really enjoy. The movie? STAR WARS. Oh Mr. Jackson, you have so much to answer for. )

[Sailor Steve]

Originally Posted by frau kaleun

It was Ray Bradbury's "Illustrated Man."

I've read enough Bradbury over the decades to recognize that some of the stories from that book were also included in other collections. Of course none of them had that awesome framework.

I'm the only person I know personally who actually liked the movie, which starred Rod Steiger, Claire Bloom and Robert Drivas. Funny how I remember that last name even though I only ever saw him in two movies.

I liked it!!