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............. T H I S ~ I S ~ I T!
...................ALL THE QUESTIONS NOW ANSWERED BY RAY BRADBURY!

Met with Ray on the 16th of June, 2008, and he answered the following questions. Four additional questions, with answers, follows.

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Braling II~
Do you listen much to music? what kinds?
Do you have any Bernard Herrmann recordings?
Do you listen to much radio?
Are you still in touch with stan Freberg?

~RAY~
I listen to Berlioz. Berlioz is my favorite composer. When I was in Paris, the only grave I went to was in the graveyard in Paris I went to visit Hector Berlioz's grave and told him how much I loved Symphonie Fantastique!
(...as to Stan Freberg, Yes, he keeps in touch with Stan Freberg. And yes, he has Bernard Hermann recordings!)

embroiderer~
If the characters in IceCream Suit were based on real people, can Mr. Bradbury describe a little about who these people were in real life and his relationship to them at the time?

~RAY~
I lived in a tenement with them. Got to know them. I had helped built a ceramics studio on Temple and Figueror Street for a friend of mine, so overnight I stayed in the tenement, and I got to know Martinez, and Villanazul. and Gomez. Those are real people!

The
October
Man/
Nico~
What brand and model of typewriter do you prefer and what is your all-time favorite typewriter?

~RAY~
I had six different typewriters: I had an Underwood! That's 60 years old! I had an Olivetti, which came out about 50 years ago. Very modern, Very compact. Very beautiful. And I had a Itek Brother (?) which was portable, which had a battery, and was completely silent. I could sit in a room at night, and type on that typewriter in the dark and not see it and it wouldn't make any noise and my wife would be a sleep. So I could write a novel in the dark without bothering her!

~Q~ He also said he would like to buy one of your typewriters!

~RAY~
I've given them to libraries!


libRArY~
What was the basis for your short story, The Man? What religious influence was at work for you to create this story?

~RAY~
Being raised as a Baptist! So, they always told me, as I was growing up, that someday Christ would come back. So that's why I made Him come back. (NOTE~will add additional quips Ray made pertaining to this question when I have more time...)

oz-crumley~
Are you going ahead with the rumored Fahrenheit 451 sequel? If so, can any details be given, or comments?

~RAY~ There is NO sequel.' Fahrenheit 451' IS the sequel to the story, 'The Fireman'.

Phil Knox~
"The Women" is one of the most disturbing short stories I have ever read. I would say that this story will be considered a classic in American literature. Can Mr. Bradbury take a moment and reconstruct how he ever came up with the story and are the women in the story anyone he personally knew?

~RAY~
It has nothing to do with anyone of them I knew. I don't know how I put any of my stories together. All my stories are explosions at 9 in the morning and by noon I'm finished with my story. I don't think about these stories.

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NOTE~ There are several Questions that were not answered because they seem to be answered elsewhere. I'll have to find them. I will post them as soon as the answer is located.
I denoted those not answered here with a

rocket~
Mr. Bradbury, in previous Q&A you made a statement that "Embroidery is the only story I wrote dealing with the dropping of the Atomic Bomb. It's the only one." Well, how about Fahrenheit 451? Also, it strikes me that 'There Will Come Soft Rains' was also about an atomic explosion.

rocket~
How big of fans of his writing are his daughters?

dragonfly~
What are you feelings about H.P.Lovecraft? Would you be willing to travel back in time and express the kind of love for Lovecraft as you have expressed for Poe, or Hemingway?

~RAY~
No, I loved Edgar Allen Poe. Poe attracted me because he was a better story-teller. So I loved Poe rather than Lovecraft!

libRArY~
Have any individuals in your family ever been portrayed in your writings? Not necessarily using their names, likely another name, but certainly capturing an incident or personality trait reflective of that particular family member? The ones we know about are:
Two main characters in THE BURNING MAN were Aunt Neva and her nephew Doug Spaulding, in a story from Long After Midnight Then, according to 'philnic', there is Ray's real-life Uncle Inar, the fictional, flight-capable Uncle Einar.

Phil Knox~
In your story, The Scythe, can you give us a little background of how you came to write this incredible gem of a story?

~RAY~ No, No! All explosions.

Johnny
Holly~
(from Mexico, where the "Dia de Muertos" has recently happened!!) In 1999, I sent you a little fanzine called "The Salmon's Gazette", O'd be very glad to know that you still have it!!! I still have your autograph framed in ebony and gold!!!

~RAY~ Oh my God! I have it somewhere. I don't throw anything away!

philnic~
I understand that during your formative years, your family left Waukegan for Arizona, and then returned to Waukegan. Did Arizona strike you as "alien" and did it perhaps influence your later interest in setting stories in Mars?

Note! PHIL! Sorry, but I interjected a Roswell, New Mexico question, because of the "alien" reference, and we never did get back to the question of Arizona landscape provoking 'alien" landscape influence. I'll ask Ray the question as you wrote it and see how he answers it. In the meanwhile, it went like this:

~Q~ Ray, did you live in Roswell, New Mexico?
~RAY~ I was there when I was 6 years old, just for two weeks. Then we moved to Tucson, Arizona after that.
~NARD~ They are having a big meeting there, in the upcoming month, in Roswell, New Mexico.
~RAY~ Well, that's a lie anyway! It's stupid. It never happened! There is no flying saucer! It's a complete lie! There never was a flying saucer.
~NARD~ The last Indiana Jones movie, the one that's out there right now, it ends with the flying saucer taking off, after numerous references to Roswell. And then Indiana Jones gets married at the end of the movie. To the girl that was in the first movie. The first Indiana Jones.
~RAY~ It's time they did that!
~NARD~ You know, they recently announced discovery of three new planets that appear like the Earth. And they're huge! They are, like, immense! Forty-some light years away! So they have new ways of looking at worlds they never looked at before. They think that 3 of the worlds they looked at are similar to the Earth. So the question is, are there lots of intelligent beings out there? Whatta you think?
~RAY~ We're going to put it there! We are the Martians. There's nothing out there. We gotta go put ourselves there, instead!
~NARD~ How about in the Bible where it says that the angels coming down to Earth. Do you think they are possibly intelligent beings from other worlds?
~RAY~ I believe we are the angels. We are going to heaven, the other way!

jazzman~
It was great to meet you at your birthday party several months ago. Since we live close, how about having lunch or dinner together sometime? If you prefer to eat in, we (my fiance and I) can bring your preferred meal. Let me know and we will set something up. I come from a music background and my fiance is an English lit graduate. I'm sure we would have a fine time.

brian929~
I was reading "Midnight in the Month of June", which is the sequel to "The Whole Town's Sleeping". The man waiting inside the house in "Midnight" is named Tom Dillon...and a brief character from "The Whole Town" is named Frank Dillon. My first thought was, "Frank is Tom's brother." My mind drew its own conclusions as to their relationship in childhood. Has Mr. Bradbury ever talked about about this connection?

~RAY~ I don't know what it is. I just write it. I never think about anything in my stories. The stories write themselves.

rocket~
Did the writing of any of your short stories or novels culminate during an important event in your life, such as births, deaths, etc. and did these events have any bearing on the story? If so, which story holds the most irrevocable tie to some memory for you?

~RAY~ Even more important, when I was finishing writing 'Fahrenheit 451', in August, 1953, John Huston offered me 'Moby Dick'. On the very day I was finishing 'Fahrenheit 451'. So John Huston offering me Melville, helped me finish 'Fahrenheit 451'. How about that? That's pretty good!

philnic~
Would you like to publish more of your unfilmed screenplays? Jon Eller says your screenplay for "And The Rock Cried Out" is one of your best. Any chance of it being published?

~RAY~ No, it hasn't been produced yet. There's no reason t'... I'm trying to get someone to make it. When I finished it, "On The Beach" came out that year, back in 1957, and it ruined the chances for my film to be made. But I'm publishing the script of 'Moby Dick' now! This year!

Note~ There are a couple more comments Ray made that I will post later today! Especially about his visit to a synagogue. I'll post today, before 10PM West Coast time, June 17, 2008

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ADDITIONAL QUESTIONS:

Question 1

QUESTION~ How did Montag read books, if he never had a book to read before?
RAY~ They were given to him! The old lady, before she was burned, gave him a book to read. That's how he learned.
Q~ So he never read books before?
RAY~ That's right!
Q~ So he never knew how to learn?
RAY~ Clarisse talked to him. So he got curious because of the old woman, and because of Clarisse.
Q~But how did he learn. He didn't have a teacher to teach him how to read!
RAY~ No! You don't need a teacher. You got practical books. They didn't ban technical books! So people were raised reading technical books.
Q~ They didn't ban technical books?
RAY~ N0! How to Repair a Car. Come on! They wouldn't ban those books. They banned the books that were bad for you. But they don't ban books on How to Repair a Car!
Q~ OKay! I didn't know that!


2nd Question!

Q~ Ray, if all your works were burned up, and this planet fell into the Sun, and the Universe disappeared, would there still be a Ray Bradbury?
RAY~ Well what...?
Q~ Would there still be a Ray Bradbury!? If everything was destroyed?!
RAY~ Sure! Because I'm going to live forever!
Q~Yeah, but if everything was destroyed, would there still be a Ray Bradbury?
RAY~ Sure! Because I'm here to tell you... ...!
RAY~ If you are going to ask a question like that...the question is impossible...I gave you an impossible answer...!!!
Q~ No! no..no.. What is being asked is do you live after you die? That's basically what's being asked!
RAY~ You do! You live forever because you want to live forever. That's my object. And I'm going to do it!
Q~ Ah, but what is being asked is if the universe disappears, is there still a Ray Bradbury. In other words, your body is gone, the universe is gone, do you still...exist!?
RAY~ Yeah, because the question is stupid and I'm giving a stupid answer.
Q~ Okay. It's a religious question-!
RAY~ It's a dumb question! Come on!!


3rd Question:

Q~ Give 3 reasons if you can, why your writings have such a profound effect on so many people!
RAY~ Because it's personal writing, and I love being alive! There is so much fiction, and so many films nowadays that are so negative made by people who don't like being alive. And they put that in their stories and their films and when you come out you want to buy a razor blade and cut your wrists. When people close their books, they don't want to die, they want to live!

4th Question:

What sort of responsiblity do you feel, if any, to future generations?
RAY~ Give me the question again!
Q~ What sort of responsibility do you feel you have to future generations?
RAY~ By writing honestly...and writing about love! That's my responsibility!

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Brief story Ray related of his first visit to a Jewish synagogue:

Ray:
"Baptists are boring. Catholics are more fun. And Jews are fun. I like the Jews. I like the Jewish ceremonies on Friday nights. When I was 13 years old, I was wandering along Wilshire Boulevard. I went to a radio broadcast there. And I passed the Wilshire Temple there. And I was curious to see all the Jews going in. I didn't know what it was. And I stepped in the doorway. And an old man wearing a hat came out and looked at me. He said, 'Would you like to come in?' I said, 'No, I don't think so.' He said, 'Come on! Come on in.' So this old Jewish man led me into the Temple and put me in a back row. And I saw a Jewish service when I was 13 years old. And, the first lecture I gave, 50+ years ago, was in the Wilshire Temple for Rabbi Magnin. And he was a very famous man. And he lived to be almost a hundred. And when I finished my lecture, Rabbi Magnin ran up to me and said, 'Do you want to be a Rabbi?' I said, 'Yes!' He said, 'You are! You are!!'"
Nard:
"Lots of people don't know that Jesus was a Rabbi!"
Ray:
"Of course! He was Jewish! Yes! Yes!"
Nard:
"He taught in the synagogue. You had to be a Rabbi to teach in a synagogue."



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This message has been edited. Last edited by: Nard Kordell,

May I ask again these questions that weren't answered last time? (I thought these excellent 'springboards' that may elicit anecdotes of great interest!)

Do you listen much to music? What kinds?
Do you have any Bernard Herrmann recordings?
Do you listen to much radio?
Are you still in touch with Stan Freberg?

If the characters in IceCream Suit were based on real people, can Mr. Bradbury describe a little about who these people were in real life and his relationship to them at the time?

What brand and model of typewriters do you prefer and what is your all-time favorite typewriter.

What was the basis for your short story, The Man? What religious influence was at work for you to create this story?

Would you like to publish more of your unfilmed screenplays? Jon Eller says your screenplay for "And The Rock Cried Out" is one of your best. Any chance of it being published?

I would like to buy, any of your old/new typewriters.

quote:

Originally posted by The October Man:
What brand and model of typewriters do you prefer and what is your all-time favorite typewriter.

I second this question.

Nard, thank you for doing this. I remember that not all of the previous questions from last time got answered. Were you able to find that thread and will it be connected or should we repost our old question?

rocket:
I'll attempt to find the old threads and post them. Otherwise (in the meanwhile)...if you can remember your old unanswered question(s), post them, please....!!

[please ignore if this question previously asked/answered!]

Are you going ahead with the rumored Fahrenheit 451 sequel? If so, can any details be given, or comments?

Hi everyone -- In honor of Halloween, Ray Bradbury is the featured BOOK BRAHMIN at Shelf Awareness. He answers all sorts of questions. I thought you'd enjoy.

http://news.shelf-awareness.com/nview.jsp?appid=411&j=318557#1859326

THANKS! TK!

But I'd like to re-stress the basic objective of this line of questioning: Question away, if you will, but this time around let as many of us as possible ask Ray about his hopefully not-forgotten particular "intentions" of writing certain stories.

For instance, why did he choose a certain character personality for this section of writing, or that fragment of poetry! Or, what was going on around him when he came up with his short story, 'The Tombling Day'. He has written about what led up to the writing of 'The Fog Horn', as an example.

Each and every story certainly has its own history of how it became a story. And then there is the internal components of each story. 'The Wonderful Ice Cream Suit', for example, contained characters each based on a real life person Ray knew.

The Women is one of the most disturbing short stories I have ever read. If there are intelligent people in the world in 100 years, and the planet is still here, I would say that this story will be considered a classic in American literature. Can Mr. Bradbury take a moment and reconstruct how he ever came up with the story and are the women in the story anyone he personally knew?

Hey Nard, it struck me that I can go back along this section to "weed" out a certain thread, so I went ahead and found where we left off. It was waaaay back on 8th. of March of this year, I think if you click page five at the bottom or top of the screen it is somewhere close at hand. I reread Ray's answers and it is so wonderful that Nard is initiating this and Ray is participating so amiably. I hope he knows how much this means to us all to hear directly from him! Number 18 on the last set brings tears of joy every time I read it! Okay on to this round. I'm going to copy my question and Nard's response to get my stuff up to speed. Then I'm going to throw one more question that is more pertinent to this topic of questions. My last question dealt with the fact that Ray stated that the story Embroidery was his one and only story to deal with an atomic bomb being detonated.

quote:
'Embroidery' is the only story I wrote dealing with the dropping of the Atomic Bomb. It's the only one.


What about F-451?

From Nard:rocket:

Hey, good question. 'Embroidery', the story that Ray says was the only atomic bomb story, strictly deals with the detonated bomb while several ladies are embroidering. Like to hear how Ray describes 'Fahrenheit'. Perhaps he'll say it's an important, but not central, part to the ending of the novel.

Okay today Nov. 1, 2007, it strikes me that There Will Come Soft Rains was also about an atomic explosion. I hope that can still be answered but that aside, my question for this round is "Did the writing of any of his short stories or novels culminate during an important event in his life such as births deaths etc. and did these events have any bearing on the story, if so, which stories come to mind, or if they did not have a bearing, was the memory of the event always tied in your mind to that particular story and what was the event and story. On the other side of the coin, did the finishing of an important or particularly inspired story or novel perminantly imbed a mundane event tied to the story in your mind such as it may have been raining that morning or a daughter forgot her lunch that day. Has that happened and what is the memory tied to the finishing of the story or just the story in general that is tied to the other event. This is just for curiosity and if you can't fit it in or it isn't on topic I understand, but how big of fans of his writing are his daughters?

Thanks again Nard!

This message has been edited. Last edited by: rocket,