Ray Bradbury Pages at Spirit of America Bookstore

       Raymond Douglas Bradbury was born 22 August 1920 in the small town of Waukegan, Illinois. He started writing daily at the age of twelve. His family moved to Los Angeles in 1934, where Ray spent time around Hollywood and in the Downtown Library. He became lifelong pals with later sci-fi editor & collector Forrest J. Ackerman [1916-2008] and later stop-motion animation wizard Ray Harryhausen; they often met at Clifton's Cafeteria in Downtown L.A. even far into adulthood.
       Ray graduated from Los Angeles High School in 1938, sold his first story in 1941, and became a full-time writer in 1943. He married Marguerite 'Maggie' McClure on 27 September 1947; they raised four daughters: Susan, Ramona, Bettina & Alexandra, with grandchildren & great-grandchildren since. His wife died in late 2003, after 56 years of marriage.
       Ray suffered a stroke in November 1999, and has been using a wheelchair since, but he still generates boundless enthusiasm for life and for writing: He has had several books published each year recently, with several more scheduled for publication thru 2009.

While SF great Isaac Asimov is known for his limitless intelligence, and Arthur C. Clarke for his vision, Ray is a child turned loose with a pen: He thinks and speaks like a child, free to visit love and grace and nameless fears and the ever-presence of death.

Ray Bradbury is the Poet Laureate of the science fiction & fantasy world.

Awards given to Ray include: the O. Henry Memorial Award [1947 & 1948], the Benjamin Franklin Award [1954], the Aviation-Space Writers Association Award [1968], the World Fantasy Award [1977], the Balrog Award [1979], the Jules Verne Award [1984], the Prometheus Award [1984], the Nebula Grand Master Award [1988], the Bram Stoker Award [1989], the Los Angeles (California) Citizen of the Year Award [1995], and the National Book Award [Nov 2000]. He was inducted into the original Science Fiction Hall of Fame in 1970, and into the revised/modern Science Fiction Hall of Fame in 1999. In 2000, the National Book Foundation awarded him its Distinguished Contribution To American Letters Award; in December 2007, France awarded him the Commandeur Ordre des Arts et des Lettres medal.

Announced 8/2011: Mike Medavoy & Doug McKay of Phoenix Pictures will produce a feature film adaptation of
Bradbury’s classic 1957 novel “Dandelion Wine”. R.G.I. Productions is also signed, with Natasha Shliapnikoff as
producer and Rodion Nahapetov as screenwriter • latest info at IMDb

Quotations from Chairman Ray

The thing is to be madly, madly in love all the time.

Make haste to live. Oh, God, yes. Live. And write. With great haste.

People on a jet have only been on a trip; people on a train have been on a journey.

I can't name a writer who's had a more perfect life. My books are all in print,
I'm in all the school libraries, and when I go places I get the applause
at the start of my speech.

from "Fahrenheit 451"

A book is a loaded gun.

Those who don't build must burn.

Stuff your eyes with wonder, live as though you'll drop dead in 10 seconds.

	"Now and Forever: Somewhere A Band Is Playing and Leviathan '99" [2 novellas 2007] Harper mass pb [8/2008] for $7.99 Wm. Morrow 8½x5½ hardcover [9/2007] for $16.47
	"Let's All Kill Constance" [2003] "Bradbury's depiction of Hollywood as its first great glory begins to deteriorate effectively recaptures the past ... and he does so with more belly-[laugh]ing humor than nostalgia." — Paula Friedman, Los Angeles Times Avon mass pb [12/2003] for $7.50 Wm. Morrow 8½x5¾ hardcover [12/2002] out of print/dozens used
	"From The Dust Returned: A Family Remembrance" [2001] Connected short stories: the Eternal Family is on the brink of a reunion on Hallowe'en, and foundling (mortal) son Timothy is told the stories of its members. Announced 5/2012: Major motion picture from M.G.M. (see Movies Section) Avon pb [9/2002] for $7.99 Wm. Morrow 8¾x6¾ hardcover [10/2001] out of print/dozens used Harper ABR audio read by Ray Bradbury [10/2001] out of print/many used
	"Green Shadows, White Whale: A Novel of Ray Bradbury's Adventures Making Moby Dick With John Huston In Ireland" [1992] Harper Perennial 8x5¼ pb [9/98] for $13.99 Spectra mass pb [7/93] out of print/used Knopf 8¾x6 hardcover [5/92] out of print/many used see also Magic Lantern Bookstore's John Huston Page
	"A Graveyard for Lunatics: Another Tale of Two Cities" [1990] Harper Perennial 8x5.3 pb [6/2001] for $10.40 Knopf hardcover [1990] out of print/used
	"Dark They Were, and Golden-Eyed" [1990] New Readers Press pb [6/90] for $4.75 Econoclad YA hardcover [10/99] for $11.05 DH Audio cassette [12/94] out of stock/used
	"Death Is A Lonely Business" [1985] Avon 8x5¼ pb [3/99] for $9.60 EconoClad YA hardcover [10/99] for $20.30 BooksOnTape audio [8/90] for $24.00
	"Something Wicked This Way Comes" [1962] Avon pb [3/98] for $6.99 Avon 7.3x5.3 hardcover [6/99] for $11.17 Illustrated edition, by J. K. Potter & V. Tony Hauser Bantam pb [5/76] out of print/used Bantam pb [10/90] out of print/used [aka ISBN 0606049274] 2003 play at Edgemar, Santa Monica CA
	1983 movie directed by Jack Clayton Starring Jason Robards jr & Jonathan Pryce Anchor Bay VHS video [6/2000] for $9.99 Anchor Bay letterbox VHS video [9/99] for $13.99 Anchor Bay letterbox DVD [9/99] for $21.49 new Robert Zemeckis project, script by Laeta Kalogridis no entry yet on IMDb [Oct 2003]
	"The Halloween Tree" [1972] Illustrated by Joseph Mugnaini Knopf YA pb [9/99] for $4.49 Knopf hardcover [10/88] out of stock/used 1993 Cartoon Network program Hanna-Barbera VHS video [9/96] for $13.99

	"Conversations With The Great Moviemakers of Hollywood's Golden Age: At The American Film Institute" [2006] by George Stevens, Jr. interviews with 32 major writers, directors & cinematographers, including Ingmar Bergman, writer Ray Bradbury, Richard Brooks, Frank Capra, William Clothier, Stanley Cortez, George Cukor, Federico Fellini, George Folsey, Howard Hawks, Alfred Hitchcock, James Wong Howe, John Huston, Elia Kazan, Gene Kelly, Stanley Kramer, Fritz Lang, David Lean, Ernest Lehman, Mervyn LeRoy, Harold Lloyd, Rouben Mamoulian, Satyajit Ray, Jean Renoir, George Stevens, King Vidor, Hal Wallis, Raoul Walsh, Billy Wilder, Robert Wise, William Wyler & Fred Zinnemann Knopf 9½x6½ hardcover [2/2006] for $23.10
	"Bradbury Speaks: Too Soon From The Cave, Too Far From The Stars" [2005] Essays by Ray Bradbury Harper Perennial 8¼x5¼ pb [8/2006] for $11.66 Wm. Morrow 9&fracx5½ hardcover [8/2005] out of print/many used
	"The Bradbury Chronicles: The Life of Ray Bradbury" [2005] by Sam Weller Harper Perennial 7¾x5¼ pb [2/2006] for $12.44 Wm. Morrow 9½x6¾ hardcover [4/2005] for $20.48
	"Conversations With Ray Bradbury" [2004] Edited by Steven L. Aggelis Univ Press of MS 9x6 pb [6/2004] for $14.00 Univ Press of MS 9¼x6¼ hardcover [6/2004] for $48.00
	"Ray Bradbury: The Life of Fiction" [2004] by Jonathan R. Eller & William F. Touponce Kent State Univ Press 9½x6¼ hardcover [6/2004] for $23.12
	"Bradbury: An Illustrated Life - A Journey To Far Metaphor" [2002] by Jerry Weist; intro by Ray Bradbury Wm. Morrow {bargain priced} hardcover [10/2002] for $9.99 Wm. Morrow hardcover [10/2002] out of print/used
	"Ray Bradbury: An American Icon" [47-minute documentary 1992] Directed by Robert Duncan Monterey Home Video VHS [9/97] for $21.99
	"Ray Bradbury and The Poetics of Reverie: Gaston Bachelard, Wolfgang Iser & The Reader's Response To Fantastic Literature" [1997] by William F. Touponce Borgo Press 8¼x5¼ pb [11/97] out of print/rare Borgo/Millefleurs hardcover [11/97] out of print/rare

	Bantam pb [7/94] for $5.85 Avon hardcover [2/97] for $12.80 Chivers UNABR audio [3/86] 6 tapes for $44.98 Chivers Audio [3/97] for $56.94 BooksOnTape audio [9/87] out of stock/used
	interactive video game S&S CD-ROM for Windows PCs [1/97] for $39.99 S&S CD-ROM for Apple/Mac PCs [5/96] for $39.99
	1979 tv mini-series Directed by Michael Anderson; script by Richard Matheson Republic VHS video [7/98] 5 episodes out of prodn/used Anchor Bay color VHS [10/95] out of prodn/used full credits from IMDb

	Ballantine pb [2/95] for $6.29 Ballantine 8¼x5½ trade pb [8/96] for $9.60 Simon & Schuster hardcover [9/93] for $14.70
	audio read by Michael Prichard BooksOnTape audio [9/88] for $40.00 audio read by Ray Bradbury Harper UNABR audio [10/2001] 6 tapes for $20.97 Harper ABR audio [10/2001] for $18.16 Harper ABR audio CD [10/2001] for $20.96
	feature film [Universal France Sept 1966, USA Nov 1966] Directed by François Truffaut [1932-84]; cinematography by Nicolas Roeg; starring Oskar Werner, Julie Christie & Cyril Cusack Universal widescreen color DVD [4/2003] for $9.99 Image Ent. letterbox color DVD [10/2000] out of prodn/used Universal color VHS [6/96] out of prodn/used full credits from IMDb • movie entry at Wikipedia watch official trailer on YouTube

	"Dandelion Wine" [1957] Bradbury's classic tale of the Magical Summer of 1928 in Greentown, Illinois begins with 12-year-old Douglas Spaulding's new pair of sneakers ... Bantam Spectra pb [4/85] for $7.99 Avon hardcover [2/99] for $12.91
	"Farewell Summer: A Novel" [2006] The publisher thought that "Dandelion Wine" was too long, so the second half was removed; this sequel restores the continuation of Douglas Spaulding's journey toward adulthood. Harper mass pb [10/2007] for $7.99 Wm. Morrow 8½x5½ hardcover [10/2006] for $16.47

Spirit of America BookstoreRay Bradbury

Spirit of America Bookstore
Ray Bradbury