I read my first Ray Bradbury book when I was 13...(The Illustrated Man)...Then I was hooked, but that was only five years ago and i feel like i am the youngest one on this site (at 18) Can anybody out there claim to be younger? Or older?....

I'm 49 this week and have loved his work since I was in 9th grade (1969).

I'm 52 last week and loved his work since the early '60s. I'll still be reading Ray Bradbury when I grow up!

I am 61 and counting. I first met Ray in 1958 or 1959 when he gave a talk in West LA. I have been a life-long fan, and rereading his stories still brings both tears of joy and sorry depending on the story. I envy his insurmountable sense of boyhood wonder at all that goes on around him and his positive attitude through all adversity. Take us to Mars Ray! On to Bradbury City - first settlement on Mars.

I'm 44. I remember reading Bradbury in junior high but only really started to appreciate him about 10 years ago.

Best,

Pete

I'm 21. Not much older than you, poorlittletally.

I read Fahrenheit 451 in Science Fiction class when I was 16. Bradbury's works got me reading again.

On a side note, I hope I have as much vivacity as the "older" people on this board when I'm rounding lap 40, 50, 60... you guys are great.

Thanks, rm-r. I feel a bit rejuvenated.

Bradbury's approach to life keeps me young. I'm not as good at it as he is, but I try to tag along on his magic.

I'll be 43 in September and next summer will make 30 years of adoring Ray B. for me!

I had been reading Ray's works for several years when I realized that my neighbor, Richard Bach, knew him. Richard had a poem about flying framed and on the wall of his den. I asked Richard if I could write to Ray and he gave me his address. Ray wrote back and that letter is still some place in the attic of my parent's house and I hope to retrieve it some day. That was back in about 1966.

I went in to the Army in 1967 and after basic training at Ft. Bliss, TX I went by train to Ft. Ord, CA with a seven hour layover in LA. I got this wild idea to go and see Ray Bradbury. Going outside Union Station I found a long line of cabs and approaching the first one in line I told the driver that I wanted to go see Ray Bradbury. He said that he knew exactly where he lived in Cheviot Hills as he had driven him there on several occasions.

When we arrived at his house I knocked on the door and it was answered by one of his daughters who stated that her dad, her mom, and one of her sisters were at an art store. The driver knew exactly where that was.

So, dressed in my Army uniform I walked into this art store and introduced myself to Ray and Marguerite and his daughter.

I got to ride back to their house with them and visit with Ray in his living room. If any of you have seen the video, Ray Bradbury--An American Icon, you see the living room with his collection of books and awards. He gave me three paper back books of his, autographed. Later I lent two of them out and never got them back.

Since 1967 I have been to his house on three other occasions, the last being in 1996 when my wife and daugthers were visiting my son. He invited us in and I took photos, later sending a set to Ray and still later losing mine. Ugh!!!! I noticed an Oscar on his mantle and later asked Marguerite about it as I had seen Ray's Emmy Award for the television production of The Halloween, but didn't believe that he had received an Oscar although he had been nominated for one or two. Years later I asked her about it and she said their neighbor was a cinematographer and had won it for the original movie, King Solomon's Mines, and he bequeathed it to Ray upon his passing.

So over the past 37 years I have corresponded with Ray and occasionally speak with him on the phone. As opposed to Richard Bach, who was my neighbor at one time and who has become somewhat of a recluse, Ray beams from the adoration he receives.

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I'll be 43 on Sunday and I've enjoyed Bradbury since middle school.....a long, long time ago.

I can honestly say that I'm STILL 14 after all these years.

I just started to love RB and I am 17 Years old

I'm 24 now, and have loved Ray's work since age 15, so I guess that's only 9 years, but it seems like so much longer!

Gothic, I like that sense of humor! Also liked your "growing mushrooms in your cellar "comment on the "you may be a Bradbury fan if..." thread! Keep it up!

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I'd love to meet the man himself...I can only envy others here.

Cheers, Translator

What is it that grabs one when one reads Bradbury for the first time at age 11 or 12? Me, it was a sense of kinship: here was someone who felt what I felt. Darkness and melancholy, alienation, the intimate conviction one is an outsider with 'different' thoughts and sentiments.