RIP Ray Bradbury

[firecat]

A story of Ray Bradbury's that has always haunted me, and one that seems appropriate for the occasion, is "There Will Come Soft Rains" from The Martian Chronicles. Wikipedia links to a PDF version of the story.

His book on writing, Zen in the Art of Writing is also superb.

Comments

[musyc]

Agreed on the hauntingness of that story. Of all of Bradbury's works that I've enjoyed, that story has stuck with me for ... twenty years? I don't even remember when I first read it, but it's always stuck in my head. I did a couple of papers on that one in college. The silhouettes on the wall is an image that I have neeeeeeeever forgotten.

I really need to get my hands on a copy of The Martian Chronicles. So many stories in there that were wonderfully, and terrifyingly, evocative.

[lunesque]

"There Will Come Soft Rains" is my favorite of his.

[evilawyer]

That is one of the best short stories I've ever written, and one that drifts into my mind for no real reason every now and then.

Such an imagination that man had.

[eggcrack]

That story is my favorite from him too. May he rest in peace.

[pachamama.livejournal.com]

That's always been my favourite story as well.

Godspeed, he shall be missed.

[auntysocial.livejournal.com]

I'm especially fond of "Death Is a Lonely Business," because it is set in Venice,CA in the late 1940's. He captured the place so well! I have deep early memories of Venice just a few years later. It was and is a magic place.

[klwalton.livejournal.com]

I read that one in 5th grade. That and "All Summer in a Day" will haunt me forever.

[graymalkin13.livejournal.com]

The stories I remember most vividly are "The Strawberry Window" (in which the description of the window contains a delirium of colors and metaphors that made me want to write in torrents of colorful images) and "The long Rain" (total immersion in a terrifying alien environment and the struggle against a simple, pervasive enemy: rain).

His greatest gift was the ability to convey overwhelming emotion with a few simple words.

Thanks for mentioning Zen and the Art of Writing -- I'm going to read it.

[firecat]

Oh yes, do read it!