Here is what Ray Bradbury had to say about A.E. Van Vogt after his death in 2000: "At the end of June in 1939 I took a bus east to New York to attend the first World Science Fiction convention. On the bus with me I took the June [issue] of Astounding Science-Fiction in which the short story by A. E. van Vogt appeared. It was an astonishing encounter. In that same issue with him were C. L. Moore and Ross Rocklynne, a fantastic issue to take with me on that long journey, for I was still a poor unpublished writer selling newspapers on a street corner for ten dollars a week and hoping, someday, to be an established writer myself, but that was still two years off. On the way I drank in the words of A. E. Van Vogt and was stunned by what I saw there. He became a deep influence for the next year. As it turned out, I didn't become A. E. Van Vogt, no one else could, and when I finally met him was pleased to see that the man was as pleasant to be with as were his stories. I knew him over a long period of years and he was a kind and wonderful gentleman, a real asset to the Science Fantasy Society in L. A., where there are a lot of strange people. A. E. Van Vogt was not strange, he was kind. He gave me advice and helped me along the road to becoming what I wanted to become."

(Note: I believe Ray was incorrect about the month of the 1939 issue of ASTOUNDING to which he was referring. I believe he meant the July, 1939 issue, which contained Van Vogt's classic story, "Black Destroyer". However, since over 60 years had gone by since Ray's bus trip, a slight lapse in memory is certainly understandable!)

Source: https://quotepark.com/quotes/1...strange-he-was-kind/