He's one of the few authors who I read a lot when younger and I think inspired me to be the writer I am today.

Although I'm not really a published writer, he is the reason I was drawn to a world driven by ideas and an appreciation of humanity in literature. His imaginative description of the universe, ideas, and humanity were direct inspiration to me becoming a reader and to my getting MA degrees in both literature and philsophy. His influence on the direction my life took is immeasurable!

He didn't start me but has CERTAINLY kept me going!

I cannot possibly agree with you more,as He is precisely the reason I write also.I am wanting to publish my book,as I have been writing Poetry since'73,short stories since,'82,and have amassed a large portion of story ideas,formulated to give pause, as well as wonder at this incredulous world we writers are able to create thru words alone.Mr.Bradburys ability to reflect not only the dark recesses of the soulless man sometimes,but also to encourage enlightenment among mere mortals goes beyond anything anyone else has ever dared to achieve.Dandelion WINE,I have read 4 or 5 times,twice in the last 10 years.His understanding of Light and Dark,right and wrong supercedes Stephen King or anyone else for that matter.I once met a retired Capt.,from the US ARMY,who wrote speeches for the Generals and such.He stated that he thought"Dandelion Wine was the finest book ever written",and I have to concur. I simply adore his creative spirit which reflects not only our world,but the endless possibilities of other worlds around and within us.He is in a true sense of the word,"A God among literary Artists".

Without Ray? I would have not a book today!

At my homepage, Adventure Books, there is a page named Inspirations Ray is honored at the top of the page and I give details about him and some other wonderful writers who inspired me.
If it were not for Ray, I would not have started writing, or had anything published.

Just today, my new sci-fi action/adventure novel, 'Say Goodbye To The Sun' became available in paperback.

Thank You Ray...Someone yesterday posted up on another forum saying how much better a writer Hemingway was than Ray Bradbury...ha! By the time I got through with this guy, he was cringing away with his tail between his legs! Or, as the saying goes, 'He came unarmed in the war of words.'

If you want a look at the book, just use this link: Say Goodbye To The Sun

Later Edit: I came back to this post because it is kind of dated now. The Inspirations page at Adventure Books is gone, but Ray received a dedication in my new Mars novel, 'The 13th Day of Christmas.'

This message has been edited. Last edited by: Robert M Blevins,

Bradbury better than Hemingway?

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Elucidate.

I was kidding...
The person who posted up this stuff hates me and goes out of his way to insult me every chance he gets.
He blamed me for his book sales going into the toilet after a couple of bad reviews I made.

Well, after he wrote an article titled: "The Janitorialization Of Writing- What Every New Writer MUST Avoid" I had about enough of his tripe. It was REALLY bad, and his books were WORSE!

Hemingway and Bradbury are just two twigs on the same Classic American Writer tree, although Hemingway's spot on the tree is probably a bit higher and closer to the light...

Gotcha!

--Best.

Are you saying Hemingway is better than Bradbury? If so, I must respectfully disagree. I enjoy Hemingway, but no other author has grasped the metaphor and run with it like Ray, and for me, this makes his writing more powerful and fresh.

Are you asking me or Mr. Blevins? If me, then please know that my question was only asked to get his viewpoint, not as a challenge and not with any partisan view. I myself prefer not to compare authors, especially those two, because in their own unique ways, they have given me so much pleasure. Anyway, discussions like that usually start out like a fencing match and end up a bullfight.

It is apples and oranges. It is your college professor assigning you to compare the two authors and you, scratching your head and saying 'whaaaaat?'

I am going to be very honest now about something, and I am even going to give out an address on this one. So, listen up.

My wife Gayla and I write science-fiction. We also do anthologies and the occasional crime book. Our site is at Adventure Books.

We belonged to this writers' forum and were asked to review work by Mike Broemmel. His site is at www.mikebroemmel.org

His two books published POD were frankly, awful. We reviewed them as such. He responded by insulting us every chance he got, and even posting up an article on his homepage aimed at us. You should read it, really. He calls it 'Danger Signals-The Janitorialization of Writing' He even sent us a copy, and since he refers to us as 'The Janitors,' it didn't take us long to figure out the purpose of the article!

(When we are not writing, we also run a cleaning business. You'll understand if you see the article.)

He blamed us for his abysmal sales, and the fact his publisher refused his next two books.

Ray Bradbury is at the top of Inspirations page at Adventure Books, and for good reason. He is the reason we are doing what we do now! I wish I could fly to LA and meet him somehow. I would give him a copy of our latest book and be definitely-not-worthy...

If you are here, you could be a Mars fan as well. I encourage you to visit this site: Adventure Books Gift Shop and see the Ultimate Mars Calendar!

This is a calendar made from the best 13 images of the Red Planet, taken by Viking and the Rovers. We enhanced the images slightly and boosted them to 600 dpi on a png format. This brought the total image files to over 60mb for 13 pictures. You can imagine the results.
As it says on the site, and at Adventure Booksall proceeds go directly to the victims of Katrina, and (unfortunately) to the probable victims upcoming in this next damn hurricane. This can be verified through cafepress.com, and we encourage anyone to do so, since the gift shop was only for promotion of our work, not really for the money anyway. We have a new addition to the shop, the 24x36 inch Katrina Poster. It contains 46 hi-resolution images of the hurricane and its aftermath. Many have already sold, and every time one sells, that is another five bucks for the victims!
I will stop plugging now....sorry. We have some beautiful things at the shop, and sometimes I get a little carried away.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: Robert M Blevins,

Robert,

If you should get a chance to go to LA and meet Ray, do so by all means. I have visited with Ray on just four occasions in the past 38 years since I first met him. It was through Richard Bach (Jonathan Livingston Seagull et al) that I first met Ray.

Last October I was hoping to stop by when I was visiting my son. Ray had already told me stop by at 4PM on a Saturday afternoon, but with a daughter-in-law taking care of a new granddaughter it just didn't work out.

Very good.
I may go to Vista again this Christmas. My mother-in-law lives there, and she hates to come to Seattle in the wintertime. Maybe I'll just settle for mailing Ray a gift or something. Not one of my books, though. He probably gets a ton of books. I have something more appropriate in mind. Someone sent it to me, but this item would be 'happier' at Ray's home, with his collection.

Robert,

Whatever it might be, I am sure that Ray would love it. His formal living room is where many of his awards are and is probably the neatest (as in organized) room in the house other than the kitchen (the only other room that I was in).

Bill Hirschman, who recently wrote an article about Ray in the South Florida Sun Sentinel, got into Ray's inner sanctum which was more full of his stuff. If you go to the At Home With Ray on the web site, you can see his basement office which is packed.

Someday a museum must be established to house all of the Brabdury memorabilia.