Just a quick note: I got my copies of Match to Flame and Mask yesterday. Could not be happier with them. I even got numbers and signed editions. Pretty expensive, but I should be able to both enjoy them and use them in my work. Thanks to Donn Albright and Jon Eller for their work on these! Very, very nice to have.

Oh, I got both of them through Amazon. Expensive, but well worth it.

Hey, Mr D, I'm pleased you finally got these volumes. MATCH TO FLAME is a really nice piece of work. MASKS I'm not so sure about - I find the Bradbury text so fragmentary that I haven't really been able to get comfortable with reading it properly.

Jon Eller is working on more Bradbury volumes - BECOMING RAY BRADBURY will be a must-have for those interested in Ray's influences and development as a writer.

For me, since I liked the Toupponce and Eller book (Ray Bradbury: A Life of Fiction) and since they talked so much about carnival and masks in Bradbury's work, I'm anxious to read the fragmentary works just to see if I can figure out where Ray was going with the concept.

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Jon Eller is working on more Bradbury volumes - BECOMING RAY BRADBURY will be a must-have for those interested in Ray's influences and development as a writer.

Great, now maybe we can learn what per cent Bradbury each of his influences is! I was certainly startled in college lit classes to keep coming across phrases I knew from Bradbury, and impressed how he takes another author's concept and makes it his own.

As a part of our high school's art/literature expose', my sophomore classes are highlighting our favorite author and his timeless Fahrenheit 451. Along with a myriad of images, hands-on stuff (sieve and sand, health and salamander, burning bright), RB photo-bio summaries, firemen items, ... a book burning will occur in the a.m. prior to setting up our gallery.

Hold on, now - let me clarify! Students have made "books" from old magazines and created cardboard replica covers of the books we have studied in class this year. (F451, Mockingbird, Night, J. Caesar, Animal Farm, Pearl, Big Fish, Lord of Flies, Classic Mythology, and many s.s./essays). The idea is to leave an impression of what they would have missed if, indeed, "It was a pleasure to burn!"

The project in its entirety will be videotaped and then items put on display as a part of an extensive student works exhibition. A mechanical hound has been built and a stunning reproduction of J. Mugniani's original fireman (in a 3-D scenario with the charred books at his feet) will be displayed.

Goggles, gloves, and then word from Captain Beatty will get the deed done...

(Kids are sending letters and pics to Mr. B when the smoke clears.)

fjp, I hope you can post some photos and/or videos from this. I'd be particularly interested to see the Mugnaini fireman!