All,

I'd like to add that Ray gave me a deep and abiding love for the short fiction form. Ever since I read Machineries of Joy I have loved the mood and tone, the solitutde and settings of his work. I think about his lone families escaping the world, the time fugitives, the scrapyard owners and I place that "characters alone against their circumstance" sensibility into my work. I know this is not the whole of Ray's world but these are the pieces that inspire me to write the things I do. I have been writing for years now, honing what I do into a form that is my own style, trying to escape the shadows of those that inspired me, and now I feel I have found a place where I can write my own words, and give them my own colour and purpose. But, with that said, I will always tip my hat in Mr. B's direction. Bravo. P.S. It's snowing here. Quite beautiful.

Mr. Bradbury definitely has a mastery of certain short fiction. I love writing short fiction myself. that's an aesthetic all my own. I'm from a place where everything should be quick and always on the move.

Keep up the work.

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

Literary LA --

Famous poet and literary critic, Dana Gioia, speaks eloquently about the influences of LA, SF, and NY in his life. And, of the importance of a nearby library and reading the works of Ray Bradbury, among other writers.

Good read!

http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/commentary/la-op-gi...ews-comment-opinions

Lake

This message has been edited. Last edited by: The Lake,

Ray was certainly a great influence on my life and on my writing. I did an interview recently and posted it up at the Adventure Books of Seattle website, on the Interview with Robert page. Have a look if you wish.
Thanks Ray!

I wrote some in my early to mid-twenties, I managed to have some stories published (I was writing straight fiction then, ostensibly literary stuff), and then a marriage or two caused me to stop writing. I went a decade without writing anything, but that fire was still smoldering and each day I would ask myself what if? What if I had kept on writing, and rereading Ray(my childhood favorite) in my mid thirties turned up the burner on that creative fire and I have sinced published over two dozen short stories and have a novel under my belt, in the SF genre which I should have stuck with back in my early twenties.

So yeah, I owe Ray a lot.