He was born Ray Douglas Bradbury, but many know him as one of America's greatest science fiction writers. Regarded as a space-age visionary for the tales he spun, Bradbury used a poetic style to explore science, space, horror and the supernatural.
Bradbury was born Aug. 22, 1920, in Waukegan, Illinois. As a child, Bradbury loved horror films like “The Phantom of the Opera.” He was fascinated with science fiction and took every chance he could to read sci-fi stories from the first science fiction magazine, “Amazing Stories.”
According to Bradbury, his fire for writing wasn't sparked until after he encountered a carnival magician when he was 12. The magician, Mr. Electrico, used an electric chair and a Tesla coil to make electricity flash out of his body. The performer touched the young Bradbury on each shoulder and then his nose and said “Live, forever.” That moment inspired Bradbury to chase after his passions and realize his life's calling.
“A few days later I began to write, full-time,” said Bradbury. “I have written every single day of my life since that day.”
Bradbury published his first work, “Hollerbochen’s Dilemma,” in 1938 at the age of 18. In 1941, Bradbury got his first major magazine publication of his short story “Pendulum”—published in Super Science Stories.
Bradbury’s early works played on the themes of fantasy and horror. His short stories, like the ones published in his book “Dark Carnival” from 1947, incorporate the supernatural and laid the groundwork for many storytellers of the future. Bradbury’s collection of short stories “The Martian Chronicles,” published in 1950, was about Earth colonizing Mars and the extinction of the Martian civilization as the Earthlings become the new Martians.
In 1953, Bradbury published what is regarded as his most famous work, "Fahrenheit 451." This novel, acclaimed for its themes of anti-censorship, was about a futurist society where books are forbidden. The book's protagonist, Guy Montag, is a firefighter tasked with burning illegal books and the homes of those who read. He doesn't question the destruction and ruin of his actions until his young, eccentric neighbor introduces him to a past where people didn't live in fear and a present where people can see the world through the ideas in books rather than mindless television. It is then Montag begins to question everything.
In 1972, Bradbury published a short story called “Rocketman.” His close friend, a songwriter who worked with Elton John, was so enamored by the story he wrote a song about the life of an astronaut that he shared with John. Elton John loved the lyrics and wrote a tune to pair with the lyrics, creating the song by the same title “Rocketman.”
Bradbury's 1962 dark fantasy "Something Wicked This Way Comes," was another hit for the writer.
Later in life, Bradbury wrote a fictionalized memoir published in 1992 called "Green Shadows, White Whale." This was a fictional story about Bradbury taking a trip to Ireland and writing a screenplay adaptation of Moby Dick. Bradbury considered this book the culmination of his 35-year writing career.
In 2002, Bradbury got a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, and in 2004 President George W. Bush and First Lady Laura Bush presented him with the National Medal of Arts.
Bradbury passed away on June 5, 2012, in Los Angeles.
- Ray Bradbury's Works
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The October Country by Ray Bradbury
Ray Bradbury's second short story collection is back in print, its chilling encounters with funhouse mirrors, parasitic accident-watchers, and strange poker chips intact. Both sides of Bradbury's vaunted childhood nostalgia are also on display, in the celebratory "Uncle Einar," and haunting "The Lake," the latter a fine elegy to childhood loss. This edition features a new introduction by Bradbury, an invaluable essay on writing, wherein the author tells of his "Theater of Morning Voices," and, by inference, encourages you to listen to the same murmurings in yourself. And has any writer anywhere ever made such good use of exclamation marks!?
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Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury
Guy Montag is a fireman. His job is to destroy the most illegal of commodities, the printed book, along with the houses in which they are hidden. Montag never questions the destruction and ruin his actions produce, returning each day to his bland life and wife, Mildred, who spends all day with her television “family.” But when he meets an eccentric young neighbor, Clarisse, who introduces him to a past where people didn’t live in fear and to a present where one sees the world through the ideas in books instead of the mindless chatter of television, Montag begins to question everything he has ever known.
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Green Shadows, White Whale: A Novel of Ray Bradbury's Adventures Making Moby Dick with John Huston in Ireland by Ray Bradbury
In 1953, the brilliant but terrifying titan of cinema John Huston summons the young writer Ray Bradbury to Ireland. The apprehensive scribe's quest is to capture on paper the fiercest of all literary beasts—Moby Dick—in the form of a workable screenplay so the great director can begin filming. But from the moment he sets foot on Irish soil, the author embarks on an unexpected odyssey. Meet congenial IRA terrorists, tippling men of the cloth impish playwrights, and the boyos at Heeber Finn's pub. In a land where myth is reality, poetry is plentiful, and life's misfortunes are always cause for celebration, Green Shadows, White Whale is the grandest tour of Ireland you'll ever experience—with the irrepressible Ray Bradbury as your enthusiastic guide.
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Dandelion Wine by Ray Bradbury
The summer of '28 was a vintage season for a growing boy. A summer of green apple trees, mowed lawns, and new sneakers. Of half-burnt firecrackers, of gathering dandelions, of Grandma's belly-busting dinner. It was a summer of sorrows and marvels and gold-fuzzed bees. A magical, timeless summer in the life of a twelve-year-old boy named Douglas Spaulding—remembered forever by the incomparable Ray Bradbury.
Woven into the novel are the following short stories: Illumination, Dandelion Wine, Summer in the Air, Season of Sitting, The Happiness Machine, The Night, The Lawns of Summer, Season of Disbelief, The Last--the Very Last, The Green Machine, The Trolley, Statues, The Window, The Swan, The Whole Town's Sleeping, Goodbye Grandma, The Tarot Witch, Hotter Than Summer, Dinner at Dawn, The Magical Kitchen, Green Wine for Dreaming.
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Something Wicked This Way Comes by Ray Bradbury
For those who still dream and remember, for those yet to experience the hypnotic power of its dark poetry, step inside. The show is about to begin. Cooger & Dark’s Pandemonium Shadow Show has come to Green Town, Illinois, to destroy every life touched by its strange and sinister mystery. The carnival rolls in sometime after midnight, ushering in Halloween a week early. A calliope’s shrill siren song beckons to all with a seductive promise of dreams and youth regained. Two boys will discover the secret of its smoke, mazes, and mirrors; two friends who will soon know all too well the heavy cost of wishes…and the stuff of nightmares.
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A Little Journey by Ray Bradbury
Equal parts charming and thought-provoking, this short story from American master of science fiction Ray Bradbury follows the misadventures of a group of elderly women who have poured their life savings into a final trip to an outer-space paradise, only to find out that the promised journey doesn't pan out quite the way they expected it to.
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The Golden Apples of the Sun and Other Stories by Ray Bradbury
Ray Bradbury is a modern cultural treasure. His disarming simplicity of style underlies a towering body of work unmatched in metaphorical power by any other American storyteller. And here, presented in a new trade edition, are thirty-two of his most famous tales—prime examples of the poignant and mysterious poetry that Bradbury uniquely uncovers in the depths of the human soul, the otherwordly portraits of "outrE" fascination that spring from the canvas of one of the century's great men of imagination. From a lonely coastal lighthouse to a sixty-million-year-old safari, from the pouring rain of Venus to the ominous silence of a murder scene, Ray Bradbury is our sure-handed guide not only to surprising and outrageous manifestations of the future but also to the wonders of the present that we could never have imagined on our own.
Ray Bradbury is a modern cultural treasure. His disarming simplicity of style underlies a towering body of work unmatched in metaphorical power by any other American storyteller. And here, presented in a new trade edition, are thirty-two of his most famous tales—prime examples of the poignant and mysterious poetry that Bradbury uniquely uncovers in the depths of the human soul, the otherwordly portraits of outre fascination which spring from the canvas of one of the century's great men of imagination. From a lonely coastal lighthouse to a sixty-million-year-old safari, from the pouring rain of Venus to the ominous silence of a murder scene, Ray Bradbury is our sure-handed guide not only to surprising and outrageous manifestations of the future but also to the wonders of the present that we could never have imagined on our own.
- Books About Ray Bradbury
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The Bradbury Chronicles: The Life of Ray Bradbury by Sam Weller
Accomplished journalist Sam Weller met the author Ray Bradbury while writing a cover story for the Chicago Tribune Magazine and spent hundreds of hours interviewing Bradbury, his editors, family members, and longtime friends. With unprecedented access to private archives, he uncovered never–before–published letters, documents, and photographs that help tell the story of this literary genius and his remarkable creative journey. The result is a richly textured, detailed biography that illuminates the origins and accomplishments of Bradbury's fascinating mind.
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Shadow Show: All New Stories in Celebration of Ray Bradbury by Sam Weller
"What do you imagine when you hear the name"... Bradbury?
You might see rockets to Mars. Or bizarre circuses where otherworldly acts whirl in the center ring. Perhaps you travel to a dystopian future, where books are set ablaze... or to an out-of-the-way sideshow, where animated illustrations crawl across human skin. Or maybe, suddenly, you're returned to a simpler time in small-town America, where summer perfumes the air and life is almost perfect... "almost."
Ray Bradbury—peerless storyteller, poet of the impossible, and one of America's most beloved authors—is a literary giant whose remarkable career has spanned seven decades. Now twenty-six of today's most diverse and celebrated authors offer new short works in honor of the master; stories of heart, intelligence, and dark wonder from a remarkable range of creative artists.