Acclaimed science fiction-fantasy author Ray Bradbury has shuffled off this mortal coil at the age of 91.
Bradbury is perhaps best known for “Fahrenheit 451,” “The Martian Chronicles,” and “Something Wicked This Way Comes.” Nevertheless, Bradbury’s writing was quite varied, as it spanned a wide range of genres, including horror, humor, mystery and science fiction.
“What I have always been is a hybrid author,” Bradbury told the Associated Press back in 2009. “I am completely in love with movies, and I am completely in love with theater, and I am completely in love with libraries.”
Despite a salient penchant for science-fiction and fantasy, Bradbury remained firmly grounded in reality.
“I’m not afraid of machines,” he told Writer’s Digest in 1976. “I don’t think the robots are taking over. I think the men who play with toys have taken over. And if we don’t take the toys out of their hands, we’re fools.”
Bradbury received numerous honors and awards over the years, such as the National Book Award medal in 2000, a Pulitzer Prize citation in 2007, an Academy Award nomination for the animated film “Icarus Montgolfier Wright,” and an Emmy for his teleplay of “The Halloween Tree.”
“Everything I’ve done is a surprise, a wonderful surprise,” Bradbury said during his acceptance speech in 2000. “I sometimes get up at night when I can’t sleep and walk down into my library and open one of my books and read a paragraph and say, ‘My God, did I write that? Did I write that?’, because it’s still a surprise.”
Bradbury – who was born in 1920 – sold his first story in 1941 and his first book (“Dark Carnival”) in 1947. He is survived by four daughters. Marguerite Bradbury, his wife of 56 years, passed away in 2003.
