Speculative fiction fans, Ray Bradbury has died.

http://in.reuters.com/article/2012/06/06/usa-bradbury-idINL1E8H66Q920120606

Yes, very sad, although it’s been clear he wasn’t well for the past several years.

The Big Fourth.

I was always more of a Heinlein, Clarke and Asimov fan but Bradbury had a style that outshone all of them.

His outstanding story for me was There Will Come Soft Rains.

It was so long ago I don’t remember if I actually cried or not.  It must have been a close thing at least.

psik

psikeyhackr - 07 June 2012 08:10 PM

The Big Fourth.

I was always more of a Heinlein, Clarke and Asimov fan but Bradbury had a style that outshone all of them.

His outstanding story for me was There Will Come Soft Rains.

It was so long ago I don’t remember if I actually cried or not.  It must have been a close thing at least.

psik

I hear you.

Personally, I like Clarke a lot more than Bradbury, but Bradbury had a certain charm.

I had to go back and re - read There will come soft rains - it is good!  Some of my favorites are:
The Flying Machine
The Scythe
All Summer In a Day
The Burning Man
Finnegan

The Space Age Prophet
By BRUCE STERLING
Published: June 8, 2012

HE’S finally gone, at 91, the last titan of the era when sci-fi fandom was a way of life. The maestros of that tight world were Isaac Asimov, Arthur C. Clarke, Robert Heinlein — and Ray Bradbury. You had to put Bradbury in that rank, even though your mom read him in The Saturday Evening Post. That could get embarrassing for those of us in the sci-fi hard core.

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/06/09/opinion/ray-bradburys-just-suppose-world.html?ref=opinion

Did Ray Bradbury Even Write Science Fiction?

http://www.slate.com/blogs/browbeat/2012/06/06/ray_bradbury_s_death_did_the_author_of_fahrenheit_451_write_science_fiction_or_was_it_something_else_.html

There is still Frederick Pohl.  He is the last as far as I know.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frederick_Pohl

Personally I would rate The Space Merchants higher on an SF reading list than Fahrenheit 451.

It is not nearly as well known among the mundanes though.

It’s on YouTube
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BqkcYyUVe40

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qdhbgKa_12s

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=isv5-Tu_q58

1955
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t3B1lYtTJQI

Ray_Bradbury-Story_of_a_Writer 1963
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bl6t0J6yv3o

Interview 1973:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tTXckvj7KL4

psik

psikeyhackr - 09 June 2012 07:58 PM

The Space Age Prophet
By BRUCE STERLING
Published: June 8, 2012

HE’S finally gone, at 91, the last titan of the era when sci-fi fandom was a way of life. The maestros of that tight world were Isaac Asimov, Arthur C. Clarke, Robert Heinlein — and Ray Bradbury. You had to put Bradbury in that rank, even though your mom read him in The Saturday Evening Post. That could get embarrassing for those of us in the sci-fi hard core.

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/06/09/opinion/ray-bradburys-just-suppose-world.html?ref=opinion

Did Ray Bradbury Even Write Science Fiction?

http://www.slate.com/blogs/browbeat/2012/06/06/ray_bradbury_s_death_did_the_author_of_fahrenheit_451_write_science_fiction_or_was_it_something_else_.html

There is still Frederick Pohl.  He is the last as far as I know.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frederick_Pohl

Personally I would rate The Space Merchants higher on an SF reading list than Fahrenheit 451.

It is not nearly as well known among the mundanes though.

It’s on YouTube
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BqkcYyUVe40

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qdhbgKa_12s

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=isv5-Tu_q58

1955
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t3B1lYtTJQI

Ray_Bradbury-Story_of_a_Writer 1963
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bl6t0J6yv3o

Interview 1973:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tTXckvj7KL4

psik

Well, he didn’t write true Sci-fi, but for those of us who are Sci-fi diletantes, it was good enough.

I just started reading The Martian Chronicles again, after not having picked it up for over 30 years. Next up, Fahrenheit 451.

I never much liked The Martian Chronicles, truth be told.  The satire was too heavy-handed, the science-fiction was unimaginative.  Farenheit 451, though, is a masterpiece.