Hi hellofriends. I recommend reading more of the short stories, as these can be read very quickly and have enormous variety. If you want to stay away from the futuristic science fiction of F451, I would suggest you pick up a book called THE OCTOBER COUNTRY. It contains some of Bradbury's best writing in the fantasy genre. Some of the stories could be classed as horror stories, but some of them are really good psychological stories.

With the short story collections, you don't have to read them from cover to cover. Dip in and out. Don't like the start of one story? Move on to the next.

"Netiquette" is a very good word! You should claim rights to it, phil.

I have stated before in previous posts, ironically, my first RB encounter was a lifesaver!

I was sent to the library from a study hall to "immediately get something to read!" The alternative was trouble - detention, and thus ineligibility for playing in that evening's freshman basketball game.

As a 9th grader at that time, sauntering down the hallway and looking into the other classrooms to see what was going on seemed a nice "out," at least for a few minutes.

When I arrived in the HS library, I literally spun the paperback book rack and this stopped right in front of me: http://photo.goodreads.com/boo...4928070l/2969475.jpg Ah, metaphors!

My interests captured because of the illustration on the cover, I signed the book out - as a way of getting out of impending trouble. And then I started to read the first story, "The Fog Horn"...and here I type!

(Oh, yes! As for how RB was a "lifesaver" that day!? If my Folks had been telephoned because of the obvious disinterest I had displayed toward my educational opportunities, well...you get the picture!!)

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FJP, I respect your citing or sighting(??) (my faulting I don't know which XD ) of Mr. Bradbury. I like the fact that he makes stories impossible enough to be fantasy, but are there not a few sci-fi aspects still? I mean no disrespect again, I'm only noticing and maybe raising the quwstion, "Is there no middle-ground between sci-fi and fantasy?", I believe it is a valiuble point, do you not?

W917, a very valuable question, indeed!

In his earliest years as a writer, Mr. B wrote extensively for the "Pulps." However, he did not want to be labelled (just as) a s.f. author, and Mr. B worked diligently for years to expand his skills and publication avenues. I agree, many of his writings are very SF oriented. But in "his own words," he always indicated F451 was the only true work of his that can be identified as science fiction.

That is hard to believe when one reads The Martian Chronicles. He insists this is fantasy. (MC: Poetic writing and beautiful scenery in this classic work, by the way! You can take passages out of this book, rearrange the lines into a poem form and present them as such.)

Then again, stories in The Illustrated Man are very sf in feel. Yet, he always maintained they were not because of his style and use of metaphors - for what really had occurred (in his life) or could occur some day.

In retrospect, so many of his ideas of "things to come" have arrived or are now on their way. I hope this helps.

Pulps:
Ie., http://lh4.ggpht.com/_hVOW2U7K.../ertytryrtyhfghb.jpg

http://farm1.static.flickr.com...940_1322ff6fd8_o.jpg

http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_7UHI...Y/s400/super+science

BTW, in reference to the SF of RB!!
I just finished reading Becoming Ray Bradbury, by Prof. Jonathan Eller. There are a few chapters that get into the "years of struggle" RB had to experience to get beyond this title of Science Fiction Author. It is a real lesson in determination!

W917 ~ Again, a tremendous reference to view Mr. B's wide range of works is Jerry Weist's Life of Metaphor: http://farm2.static.flickr.com...062_af159099d1_o.jpg
*Go and bother your librarian

It's a question of definition. Some definitions of science fiction are quite broad and would easily include F451 and Martian Chronicles. Bradbury's definition is one that makes a clear distinction between the possible and the impossible. It can be a useful definition when you are trying to make sense of the plausibility (or otherwise) of the world he is presenting.

Many critics, though, find it more useful to think of a work's relationship to other works in a similar vein. Since Bradbury's writings emerged from the science fiction field and the science fiction traditions, it makes sense to call it science fiction.

I'm comfortable with both approaches, and will use both methods of definition where appropriate!

I'm surely not as involved as you fellow Ray Bradbury fans, however as only reading 2 of his books, I'm not quite sure on how his books are suppose to effect us. I mean The Pedestrian is a bit intimdating, the future so gloomy. I wish to think that the future is bright and happy. Also, as for Fahrenheit451 I got a awkward vibe, I mean I don't think the future being so gray an depressing to be uplifting. Does anyone else feel that way?

signed-this girl.

Bradbury has sometimes been accused of being anti-technology because of stories like these. In many cases, we can take the stories as a warning: "Watch out! If you're not careful, this is how our world will end up! You have been warned!" "The Pedestrian" seems to be like this; there is no sense of uplift for the reader at the end.

However, the outcome of FAHRENHEIT 451 is surely positive. The forces of "evil" have either been overcome or have self-destructed (depending on how you read the ending), and the book people have survived or prevailed.

Maybe there's a difference between what we will allow a short story to do, and what will expect of a novel. A short story is usually read in one sitting, so we might be willing to be led almost anywhere. A novel, however, is usually read over a number of days, and if we invest so much time in a work we hope to get some uplift at the end.

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Yes, phil. He tosses the ball to readers and shows them possible outcomes. RB continually strove to control his personal decisions and ways of living. Dealing with publishers, magazine and book critics, movie producers, and even his refusal to drive a car over the course of his entire life have shown independent tendencies.

He has done things his own way, by choice, and, in many cases, against great odds. RB's writing style and themes frequently reflect this when one becomes more familiar with his volume of work.

A clear example might be witnessed in these stories:
"The Murderer" Albert Brock had had enough. So, he decided to put in place his self-proclaimed victory over the techno-world he had come to completely hate. Imprisonment was a better life than walking the streets under an unavoidable avalanche of screens, gadgets and sounds.

However, the parents in "The Veldt" are ultimately devoured by the technologies they grotesquely embellished upon Wendy and Peter's throughout their young lives. The family was literally consumed by it, and the final parents' attempts to change things were futile.

How cute is this...really?! "A cup of tea?"
http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_I_HK...s400/techno+baby.JPG

So, choose we must. Montag in F451 did just that.

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