Here is a fantastic video segment from Science Fiction Buzz Blog covering sci-fi legend Ray Bradbury. Who would have thought that he would have suffered what sounds like hundreds of rejections in his early years from potential publishers. Looking back he even states himself that they were garbage! And according to his philosophy, you should never quit. -All you need is a big ego… and well stocked kitchen.
Btw, if you’re like me and love sci-fi stories but don’t have the time to sit and read a humungous novel, try an audio book. Many of Ray Bradbury’s works are available at Audible.com. Check out their offer by clicking this link:
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Below is a short list of his inspiring credits from raybradbury.com, and an article by io9.com of what he’s up to these days!
Ray Bradbury, American novelist, short story writer, essayist, playwright, screenwriter and poet, was born August 22, 1920 in Waukegan, Illinois. He graduated from a Los Angeles high school in 1938. Although his formal education ended there, he became a “student of life,” selling newspapers on L.A. street corners from 1938 to 1942, spending his nights in the public library and his days at the typewriter. He became a full-time writer in 1943, and contributed numerous short stories to periodicals before publishing a collection of them, Dark Carnival, in 1947.
His reputation as a writer of courage and vision was established with the publication of The Martian Chronicles in 1950, which describes the first attempts of Earth people to conquer and colonize Mars, and the unintended consequences. Next came The Illustrated Man and then, in 1953, Fahrenheit 451, which many consider to be Bradbury’s masterpiece, a scathing indictment of censorship set in a future world where the written word is forbidden. In an attempt to salvage their history and culture, a group of rebels memorize entire works of literature and philosophy as their books are burned by the totalitarian state. Other works include The October Country, Dandelion Wine, A Medicine for Melancholy, Something Wicked This Way Comes, I Sing the Body Electric!, Quicker Than the Eye, and Driving Blind. In all, Bradbury has published more than thirty books, close to 600 short stories, and numerous poems, essays, and plays. His short stories have appeared in more than 1,000 school curriculum “recommended reading” anthologies.
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Ray Bradbury has some simple advice to those of you who are struggling to get your science fiction published: Don’t ever quit working. Bradbury’s following his own advice: He’s developing a TV miniseries, a movie… and a new musical?
There’s something awe-inspiring about Bradbury recounting how he used to crank out a short story a week and mail it out — working so hard, he barely noticed the flood of rejection slips coming back from the magazine publishers. He consoled himself at the time that these editors were idiots who didn’t recognize his genius — even though he later realized these stories were mostly garbage.
That work ethic seems to be firmly in place now that Bradbury is 89. He’s announced that he’s launching a TV miniseries of six episodes called “The Bradbury Chronicles,” with each episode based on one of his stories. They’ll each be directed by a different director, sort of like the Masters Of Science Fiction anthology series from a couple years ago. He’s signed up with White Oaks Films to develop the miniseries, but no network is on board yet.
Meanwhile, Bradbury has a new movie, Chrysalis, which just premiered as On Demand video on Time Warner, Charter and Bright House. The film won the “best Sci-Fi Feature Award” at The International Horror And Science Fiction Film Festival. A press release from the film-makers quotes Bradbury as saying: “Chrysalis started to develop in my life more than forty years ago. I wrote ten different versions of the story and tried, unsuccessfully, to sell it to various magazines. I finally wrote one more version and sold it to “Amazing Stories.” To have it come off the page and come alive is a real triumph. [Producer] Roger Lay, Jr. has done a first-class, A-1 job.” The film should be out on DVD early next year.
And finally, Bradbury has written a new musical, called Merry Christmas 2116, in which “an aging couple approaching the 40th anniversary of their married lives together each decide to give their spouse a present. As coincidence would have it, Mr. Wycherly and Mrs. Wycherly each separately approach a maker of realistic, lifelike robots, called marionettes although they have no strings. Mr. Wycherly requests that Mr. Marionette manufacture a highly customized younger, more vital version of himself to please Mrs. Wycherly. The Missus, for her part, asks the robot-maker to fashion a young, hot, sassy, saucy version of herself for her Mister. When the new marionettes are each delivered to their designated recipients, the fun really begins.” The show is running at the Fremont Centre Theatre in South Pasadena on Saturdays throughout December.
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