"I sit there and cry because I haven't done any of this. It's a God-given thing, and I'm so grateful, so, so grateful. The best description of my career as a writer is, 'At play in the fields of the Lord.'"
"At the center of my books is the love of life."
-- Ray Bradbury
Two great men whom I respected passed this week. The first, Robert Chapman, has been eulogized at my political blog. The second is more appropriately recognized and remembered here.
Like many of you who are SF/Fantasy fans and readers, Ray Douglas Bradbury, was a great influence on my reading, viewing, listening, imaginative, and creative life. After reading (and viewing and listening to) many of his classic and other works, I came to love his style, simplicity, and depth of knowledge of the human condition. This is a man who took his natural talent, love of knowledge, and desire to achieve, and set them all in motion inside the imagination of his mind!
Describing how his stories made me feel - at home, uncomfortable, thoughtful, reflective - none of these adjectives do Ray Bradbury justice. For his works came from his heart and took a place in mine to cause me to think about the world, the universe, and my place in influencing it. This is the essence of Bradbury's work for me.
For those of us who stand on this giant's shoulders (and in his massive shadow) we are eternally grateful for his life. May we all as writers be even half as fortunate to influence others, to cause them to think on the human condition, and to want to be part of uplifting it!
RIP Ray Douglas Bradbury
August 22, 1920 - June 5, 2012
To the upward reach of man!
