After watching C-Span's Book TV segment on Ray and Sam's appearance at the L.A. Times Book Festival I called Ray to mentioned how much I enjoyed it and how good he looked. His comment was that he "was working on it." He, in fact, had just finished watching the show himself.

He mentioned that he had really been enjoying the book signings, three last week alone. I told him that the activity was keeping him young and he laughed and agreed.

On August 22, I tried numerous times to call Ray and even jokingly thought of posting here, "Okay, which one of you clowns is tying up Ray's line?"

Ray himself cleared up the question when I called him on August 23. I kind of pride myself on being able to quote nearly accurately what I have heard, and the conversation went much like this:

Ray: All of my daughters were calling. All of my granddaughters were calling. All of my grandsons were calling. All of my mistresses were calling.

Me: So they're all still alive, huh?

Ray: God, yes. I could never kill 'em.

Me: Well, that's good of you.

I didn't even get to ASK him about the party, which I assume there was one. I then told him it wasn't looking good for me to visit him on Labor Day, as my sister is spending the day with her son, I don't know who else would accompany me, and am hopeless to undertake such a trip alone.

Ray: Well, I wouldn't be home anyway. I'm spending Labor Day attending the various openings--(not premieres, just openings, he said when I asked)--of the movie all over the country.

Me: All over the country! Is there an itinerary?

Ray: I don't know. I'll have to ask the studio.

Me: (still unwilling to believe "all over the country" didn't really mean maybe "all over the state") Well, how are you getting there? Is Patrick driving you?

Ray: Oh, no, I'm flying.

Me: So you're okay with flying now?

Ray: I've been flying for twenty years!

Me: I knew that, but I thought you avoided it except when you really had to.

Ray: I fly all the time now, ever since I got over being afraid of myself.

Me: What did you say?

Ray: People aren't afraid of flying, they're afraid of themselves, that they might run up and down the aisle screaming, "STOP THE PLANE!" When I got over being afraid of myself, I flew all over the place, after I went to Paris on the Concorde eight times!

Me: So are you just okay with flying, or do you like or dislike it?

Ray: I LOVE IT!

One thing to get used to with Ray is he is about the most UN-wishy-washy person on the face of this (or other?) planets. When he has an opinion on anything, he almost always loves or hates it. When I told him someone on the message board asked if he was influenced by T. S. Eliot, he said, "Oh, no! I hated his poetry. I love Yeats and Emily Dickinson." Then he very quickly changed the subject, as he also doesn't like to dwell on what he hates or why he hates it. He asked, "What's new with you or what have you been up to?"

I admitted that my sister had left her video camera with me and I was completely taking apart and reassembling the house to get organized and making taped documentation of it.

He said, "I could never do that." I didn't know if he meant the job itself or the organization and couldn't pin him down on that--whether being organized is in his universe a bad thing or it just never worked out for him. I told him, "It's my idea that if I were organized I could sit down and work on my book without worrying about being organized." (Again, I don't know what organization means in other peoples' concepts but to me it means having places for things so I can get to them to work on them, or put them up to NOT work on them--not just stacked or boxed so I trip over them every second thing.)

He just said, "That's right" and again I had no idea what he meant. Whether he meant, that's right, being organized is good sometimes because you can be more efficient, that's right you have to do what works for you, or just changing the subject. One thing I've learned about Ray is if something REALLY works for him, it is extremely hard if not impossible to explain that an opposite or contradictory thing may work very well for someone else. He just sticks with his own viewpoint and repeats it, seemingly dismissing the other viewpoint. In the end I am still the kind of person to do what seems right for me, rather than doing things someone else's way no matter how I admire them. I DO admit the possibility that I could be wrong and hope I am not on this. It did make me happy that he said, "That's right." Of course I have to learn not to seek validation and approval from others so much no matter who it is, but I was so happy he did not jump on me for admitting I was working on the house first and planning to take up the book after some degree of organization had been achieved.

He spoke extremely rapidly, as if in a big hurry, called me "darling" several times, and his voice was very strong. He is obviously very hyped-up about the movie, in the midst of things, and looking forward to others, as usual. He thanked all of us for "making my birthday a very happy one"!

Sincerest thanks for sharing the above with us. Very pleasant information.

thnaks, dandelion, I'm always curious to know what the man himself is up to currently. Wish he did have an itinerary of which openings he was going to be at. I'd love to have a pic of me standing next to him.

Thanks for the post, dandelion. It's great to hear that Ray is well, and apparently happy with being associated with A Sound of Thunder.

Dandelion, I know what you mean about talking with Ray. I wonder if it sometimes due to his not hearing exactly what is being said and he comes out with a "That's right" comment that fits-all of a response.

Being privileged to being able to call him once in a while I always try to keep my calls brief although he seems, at times, not to be rushed to end the call. And he always asks about me and what I am up to which I think is great in that he is not so self-centered as not to have an interest in others.

I want to ask him about the new collection of stories with that beautiful poster on the front.
As has already been posted, the question is whether or not there are any "new" stories. I am surprised that there hasn't been some advanced notice of its publication.

Thank you Dandelion for the detailed report of your call with Ray.

Thanks, Dandy!
Did all our good wishes get conveyed to him somehow, do you know?
I hope so.

Yes, I told him a lot of people posted greetings on the board and he said, "Thanks for making my birthday a very happy one."

As I've done previously, in this case I decided to bump up an old thread rather than start a new one every time someone speaks with Ray.

I do have an update to Braling II's question. This previous time, I only verbally conveyed people's good wishes to Ray, but at Christmas I sent him a printout, PAGES AND PAGES including the birthday and general kind comments and good wishes. Nard sent the Christmas wishes.

I got busy and didn't call Ray on Halloween, Thanksgiving, or Christmas, but decided to start out right on New Year's. Ray answered the phone, "Happy New Year!" I did mention the message board printouts and he didn't seem to know what I was talking about, but I also mentioned a videotape I sent him which I KNOW he got and he didn't seem to know about that either, so it could be more a case of not hearing what I was saying than not knowing what I meant. When he's not sure, he resorts to things such as, "Nice of you to call" and "Good to hear your voice."

Ray says he has three new novels ready to go and two in the works. "Farewell Summer" may appear "on the first day of summer."

For the person who asked about plays in Los Angeles in January, there aren't any. Ray has three new plays opening on March 1.

As for Clarisse/Clarissa, he says, "I like the name but can't think of any person of my acquaintance" named that.

He then got into the origin of Montag, which reminded me to tell him about the girl who had "Montag" tattooed on her shoulder, and the guy who had the complete "Long After Midnight" paperback artwork tattooed on his back. I hadn't sent these stories with the printouts and apparently no one had told Ray. He was very surprised and called it "Amazing!" He seemed very pleased people would make his work a part of their permanent physical being. (For my part, this is not encouraging the rest of you-all to follow suit!)

I asked if he saw "The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe" and he hadn't yet and asked if I saw "King Kong." I said no, it hadn't been to my town yet. He called it "wonderful" and "fantastic" and said, "You must see it." I said I had been wondering what he'd think because it seems to me that there are about 99 movies remade for every one that is improved on at all. He said, "I love the original movie but I love this new one just as much." That's about the highest praise which could be expected!

It was a slightly longer conversation than some I've had with Ray. He said how nice it was of me to call, how it was great to hear from me, and he wished me the happiest and most wonderful New Year ever!

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dandelion:
Ray's hearing in his left ear is gone, as his eye-sight in the left eye. Moreover, he is having some difficulty with the hearing aids. Tho he has a hearing-enhanced phone that he uses, it still proves a struggle.
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So it was the right eye on which he had the operation greatly improving his vision?

I read somewhere that he doesn't sign autographs any more because of his stroke, is that true? Because I have suddenly been overcome with a burning desire to have an autographed copy of Farenheit 451, which might be possible if Ray appears at Comic-con again this year.

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dandelion: The right eye is the one that Ray depends on. It had laser surgery.

fanboy: Ray still signs autographs even now!

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That's awesome. I'm also considering driving down to LA for one of his book signings some time, if I find out about it enough in advance.

Looks like Ray will be appearing with Sam Weller on January 21 according to http://www.bradburychronicles.com