Ray Bradbury reported dead
Ray Bradbury did a lot to legitimize science fiction…even though he largely denied writing it (except for Fahrenheit 451).
That was a key to this important writer: Ray never let anybody define him. Ray never even let anyone define what the world was or could be.
It would be hard to overestimate the impact Ray Bradbury’s work has had on people. A quick listing of books by Ray Bradbury is likely to bring emotional memories to many:
- The Martian Chronicles
- The Illustrated Man
- Something Wicked This Way Comes
- Dandelion Wine
Ray took us places we’d never been to think about things we wish we’d known. More importantly, Bradbury’s work was about feeling rather than thinking, in a way very different from “hard science fiction”.
Bradbury’s works were also adapted for the visual media, successfully, again and again. He even hosted his own anthology series, The Ray Bradbury Theater.
I have to note that Bradbury publicly decried e-books, famously saying that they “smelled like burned fuel”. Bradbury also had unfavorable things to say about the internet. People liked to report that as if it was irony: a science fiction author who was against technology.
That didn’t show a deep understanding of Ray Bradbury’s work, in which technology was often far from the solution. Humans always were.
Still, Bradbury had recently changed on that, allowing Fahrenheit 451 to be released in an e-book form.
Regardless, I honor a great writer today. My sympathy goes out to Ray’s family and friends…and his many, many fans.
This post by Bufo Calvin originally appeared in the I Love My Kindle blog.
June 7, 2012 at 7:16 am |
“Hard Science Fiction” is just another way of saying “not literature”. Asimov and Verne are the only authors I can think of who could write a story and stick to real world science.
June 7, 2012 at 1:27 pm |
Thanks for writing, Jj!
Well, your statement brings to mind “Sturgeon’s Law”. The story basically goes that someone said to author Theodore Sturgeon that “90% of science is trash”, to which Sturgeon replied, “90% of everything is trash.” The original word, by the way, was probably not “trash”.
I haven’t found a genre where I didn’t find a good story. When I managed a bookstore, I encouraged my employees to read a book from every section (and to ask a regular customer for a recommendation). Whether it was romance or “Men’s Adventure”, I read good books.
For hard science fiction, one might look at Cyberbooks by Ben Bova:
http://ilmk.wordpress.com/2011/03/11/cyberbooks-ben-bovas-novel-that-stunningly-predicted-e-books/
It’s funny, yes, but highly predictive, based on reasonable technology, but looking at its impact.
Kim Stanley Robinson’s first book in the Mars trilogy, Vernor Vinge’s Rainbow’s End by Vernor Vinge…those are a couple that might qualify as hard SF and having a story.
I’m guessing some other commenters might add some more.
That’s not to refute your characterization: I think this is all pretty subjective.