Another Award for Ray Bradbury

Ray Bradbury has won yet another Retro Hugo Award - for his 1944 short story "I, Rocket".

Like the normal Hugo Awards, winners are decided by a popular vote among the membership of the World Science Fiction Convention, which this year is held in New Zealand. (Well, it's become an online event this year due to Covid, but it's still being run from New Zealand.) The idea behind the Retro Hugos is simple: there were some years in the past where normal Hugos weren't awarded - mostly because of pesky little things like World War 2 getting in the way. The Retro Hugos are designed to plug the gap in the historical record by awarding for those years retroactively.

Of course, the award winners will be distorted by the peculiar selective memories we all have. The only authors who are ever going to win Retro Hugos are famous ones. Any author whose name is lost to the mists of time is just never going to be in with the chance of winning a popular vote.

However, in some cases with the Retro Hugos you will find more than one famous name competing for an award. For the 1944 Retro Hugo voted for this year, famous author Ray Bradbury was up against famous author Isaac Asimov, and three authors whose popularity has probably diminshed over the decades: Clifford D. Simak, Fredric Brown and A.E. Van Vogt.

Surprisingly, Bradbury's "I, Rocket" isn't contained in any of his main short story collections. But you can find a scan of the magazine it originally appeared in way back in May 1944. Click here to read Amazing Stories magazine.

BRADBURY 100 starts today!

At last, the debut of my podcast Bradbury 100!

Every week on the podcast I talk about some aspect of Ray Bradbury's work, and interview someone with a connection to Ray. It's a celebration of Bradbury for his centenary year, and an opportunity for fans, friends and scholars to share their understanding of Bradbury and his works.

I have a long list of guests, many of whom knew Ray personally, or worked with him. In the coming weeks, I will introduce you to authors, actors, musicians and scholars - and, I hope, reveal dimensions to Bradbury that you weren't aware of.

The best way to enjoy the show is to use a podcast app on your phone or tablet. That way you can subscribe and be sure of getting each episode. Most podcast apps will find it no problem, as I'm distributing it via Soundcloud, Spotify, Stitcher, Apple Podcasts, TuneIn, and a load of other places.

You can also pick episodes up right here on Bradburymedia, and on Facebook and YouTube.

Without further ado, here is episode one of Bradbury 100. See below for show notes. If you have any comments, I'd love to hear them!

Bradbury 100 · Bradbury 100 - Episode 01

Show Notes - Bradbury 100 episode 1

My guest on episode 1 is author Steven Paul Leiva.
Steven's blog:  http://emotionalrationalist.blogspot.com/
Steven's books: Amazon US - Amazon UK
Ray Bradbury Week 2010: https://www.facebook.com/raybradburyweek/

I first met Steve at Ray Bradbury's 90th birthday party in 2010, which was held in Glendale's Mystery & Imagination Bookshop. For many years Ray would gather friends and fans here for book signings and talks. Up the stairs of the bookshop was a wall signed by various authors and celebrities who had visited. Steve and I searched for his previous signing, and we also found the spot where Ray Bradbury had signed several years earlier.

Steven Paul Leiva re-finds his autograph. Click to enlarge.

Ray Bradbury signed the bookshop wall five years earlier, and added a dinosaur - which appears to be going after Ray Harryhausen's signature.

San Diego Comic-Con celebrates 100 years of Bradbury

San Diego Comic-Con isn't running as usual this year - due to the pandemic, the physical con has been cancelled, but a programme of free online events has been put in its place. Unfortunately, this means the special celebratory events for the Ray Bradbury Centennial and the Ray Harryhausen Centennial are somewhat diminished.

The good news is that SDCC's souvenir book, always an excellent publication, is being made available for free as a PDF.

And the best news of all is that it contains many pages on Bradbury. There are articles by me (on Bradbury's media, of course), biographer Jon Eller, and Bradbury's daughter Sue Nixon, among others.

You can get the free PDF by clicking here: https://tinyurl.com/y43v8wjf

And the full schedule of Comic-Con's at-home events can be accessed here: https://www.comic-con.org/cci/2020/athome

Bradbury 100 animation

For no other reason other than that I felt like it, I animated my Bradbury 100 logo. A bit pointless for an audio-only podcast, I admit. But that little rocketship just needed to take flight!

The music, by the way, is called "Red Mist", and is taken from the music site Purple Planet.

Bradbury 100 - time to subscribe!

The Bradbury 100 podcast currently has new episodes every two weeks.

You can listen to the episodes directly from this blog, but...

Why not subscribe using the podcast app on your phone? That way, you'll have easy access to episodes when they drop, and will be able to listen on the move. 

Here's a list of links for accessing the podcast. Take your pick:

 

Main platforms:

Apple Podcasts  - Google Podcasts - Soundcloud - Spotify

 

Other platforms:

Audible - Bullhorn - Castbox - Deezer - Listen Notes - Player FM - Podbean - Podcast Addict - Podcast Index - Podchaser - Podfriend - Podlink - Podtail - Stitcher - TuneIn

 

 

My new podcast, Bradbury 100, is getting closer! The first episode will be released on July 25th. I currently have five interviews in the can, with another three lined up to be recorded in the coming week.

Here's the new trailer to give you a taste of what's ahead...

Bradbury 100 · NEW Trailer for Bradbury 100 podcast!