The latest issue of FAMOUS MONSTERS OF FILMLAND -- the influential genre-movie magazine founded by publisher James Warren and originally edited by science-fiction legend Forrest J Ackerman -- features a special 21-page memorial tribute to beloved author and futurist Ray Bradbury (Aug. 22, 1920-June 5, 2012) prepared by one of Bradbury's longtime friends and collaborators -- writer, theatre and film producer, University of North Alabama English professor and Pillar of Fire director Terry Pace.

Issue 265 of FAMOUS MONSTERS -- the magazine that inspired creative talents ranging from Steven Spielberg, Stephen King, George Lucas, Rick Baker and John Landis to Peter Jackson, Tim Burton, Joe Dante, Billy Bob Thornton and Frank Darabont -- includes Pace's own retrospective salute to Bradbury's life and legacy ("Witness and Celebrate: Ray Bradbury Spent a Lifetime Inspiring Generations of Readers With Thrills, Chills, Imagination, and Wonder"), plus four special supplementary features:

(1) "The Wizard of Words: Ray Bradbury" -- A previously unpublished 1993 interview with Bradbury by his tireless champion Ackerman ("Mr. Sci-Fi"), who edited and published the author's earliest short stories and essays in the late 1930s and early 1940s and remained one of Bradbury's closest friends.
(2) "Ackerman Forever!" -- A previously unpublished personal salute to Ackerman penned by Bradbury in 2002.
(3) "The Ghost of Melville: Lovesick Dinosaurs, John Huston, and Hunting the White Whale" -- An excerpt from a Bradbury lecture ("Yestermorrow and Beyond: An Evening With Ray Bradbury") presented on May 22, 2000, at the University of North Alabama in Florence, Alabama.
(4) "Live Forever: The Message of Mr. Electrico" -- An additional excerpt from Bradbury's lecture at UNA.

The special FAMOUS MONSTERS salute -- titled "Ray Bradbury -- The FM Tribute: A Life Bigger Than the Cosmos" -- features rare (and, in many cases, previously unpublished) photos of Bradbury with friends, colleagues and idols such as Ackerman (who died in 2008, at the age of 92), Ray Harryhausen, Alfred Hitchcock, Orson Welles, William Shatner, George Burns, Marlene Dietrich, John Huston and Steven Spielberg, plus comments and reflections on Bradbury by Harryhausen, Spielberg, Stephen King, Clive Barker, Frank Darabont and Neil Gaiman.

"When Ray Bradbury passed away earlier this year, many looked to FAMOUS MONSTERS for some kind of tribute," FM executive editor Ed Blair writes in his introductory column for the new issue. "Since Ray and Forry had been longtime friends, it was a natural expectation. Opening with an unpublished interview Forry did with Ray, and continuing with three never-before-seen pieces from Ray himself, plus an incredibly powerful and moving tribute to Ray from longtime friend Terry Pace, we honor the man, his works, and his legacy, in what we hope is a worthy sendoff for a man who walked amongst us mere mortals."

The Bradbury tribute is featured in all copies of FAMOUS MONSTERS No. 265 (which also includes pieces on HOBBIT director Peter Jackson and DJANGO UNCHAINED filmmaker Quentin Tarantino, whose discusses the influence of Hammer Films on his work), but only subscriber and special-order copies of the issue showcase a special Bradbury tribute cover by artist Simon Thorpe. (A copy of the cover image is attached.)

For details, visit famousmonsters.com. To order the issue directly, visit: http://www.captainco.com/produ...5-diamond-subscriber.

Terry Pace
pillaroffire@bellsouth.net

"I have never listened to anyone who criticized my interest in space travel, sideshows or gorillas. When this happens, I pack up my dinosaurs and leave the room." -- Ray Bradbury (1920-2012)

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