Ray Bradbury and Science Fiction

   June 5, 2012 marked a sad moment in the world of science fiction.  Ray Bradbury was the writer of such classics like "Fahrenheit 451" and The MartianChronicles.  Many of his literary works were adapted for television and other became movies.  He wrote 27 novels and over 600 short stories.
     Bradbury was influenced by Edgar Allan Poe, H.G. Wells, Jules Vernes and Edgar Rice Burroughs. His aunt used to read stories to him when he was a child.  As a young boy he spent much time in the library.
     His career as an author began after being rejected into military service due to his eyesight.  He started writing science fiction stories such as "Hollerbochen's Dilemma" in 1938.  By 1942 he was a full time writer.  In addition to his fictional work, he wrote essays and articles on the arts and culture.
     While he did not see himself as a science fiction writer for he resisted categorization, The New York Times newspaper wrote that Bradbury was "the writer most responsible for bringing modern science fiction into the literary mainstream." in his obituary.
    ^{Bradbury died the day of the passing of Venus, a historical moment within the sphere of science and that sparkles the science fiction imagination of many people.  Reflecting his true essence projected in "Fahrenheit  451, he was skeptical about technology and did not accept that his books be converted into e-books.  
     Bradbury's contribution to literature will live on in our lives.  The Children's Literary Centre posted words of Bradbury that can now be applied to his valuable contribution to literature.  Bradbury once stated}

“Everyone must leave something behind when he dies, my grandfather said. A child or a book or a painting or a house or a wall built or a pair of shoes made. Or a garden planted. Something your hand touched some way so your soul has somewhere to go when you die, and when people look at that tree or that flower you planted, you're there. It doesn't matter what you do, he said, so long as you change ...something from the way it was before you touched it into something that's like you after you take your hands away. The difference between the man who just cuts lawns and a real gardener is in the touching, he said. The lawn-cutter might just as well not have been there at all; the gardener will be there a lifetime.”