Bits and Pieces

I've been away from the blog for a while due to pressure of work, but here's a few Bradbury-related items that have been floating around the web.

Waukegan, Illinois, is about to host this years Ray Bradbury Storytelling Festival. This is an annual event held in the Genesee Theatre in Bradbury's hometown. Tickets go on sale on 16 September.

Perhaps due to the recent publication of his book Becoming Ray Bradbury, a couple of short pieces by Jon Eller have appeared. The most interesting is his article for New Scientist, which looks at the influence of science on Bradbury's development. A popular caricature of Bradbury holds that he is a very unscientific writer of science fiction. Eller's article indicates that this is not necessarily so.

Another Eller piece is a short interview with Bradbury about e-books, censorship and modern technology. It first appeared in 2010. Although Bradbury comes across as a bit of a luddite, he wisely points out that "the future is too indefinite".

This point is taken up in this short article about "Way in the Middle of the Air", a chapter in the original edition of The Martian Chronicles which is usually omitted in modern editions because Bradbury realises that it has become rendered obsolete by the passage of time.