Phil Nichols - Bradburymedia: Bradbury 100

Showing posts with label Bradbury 100. Show all posts

Thursday, April 23, 2026

New podcast episode: How Truffaut Came To Make Fahrenheit 451 in 1966

My Bradbury 100 pod returns with another celebration of the 60th anniversary of the release of the feature film version of Fahrenheit 451...

In a previous episode, I detailed how François Truffaut's film had an impact on Ray Bradbury. In this new episode, I go back a few steps, and look at how Truffaut became connected to Ray in the first place.

It's not an obvious story. Truffaut was no fan of science fiction, and had no knowledge of Bradbury's writings until 1960, when a friend urged him to read Fahrenheit 451. Truffaut was an extraordinary bibliophile, and delighted in Ray's book about books, with its meditation on the significance of literature in an increasingly illiterate culture.

Join me as I re-trace Truffaut's steps on the way to completing his 1966 film.

You can find the new pod episode using your podcast app, or through any of the podcast platforms listed at the bottom of this post.

Or you can simply click play, right here:

Bradbury 100 · Bradbury 100 - episode 77 - How Truffaut Came To Make Fahrenheit 451 in 1966

Please subscribe to the Bradbury 100 podcast - it's totally free on all platforms. Where to find it:

Main platforms:

Apple Podcasts - Soundcloud - Spotify

Other platforms include:

Amazon Music - Audible - Castbox - Deezer - Fountain - Listen Notes - Player FM - Pocket Casts - Podbean - Podcast Addict - Podcast Index - Podcast Republic - Podchaser - Podfriend - Podlink - TuneIn - YouTube

Thursday, March 12, 2026

Bradbury 100 new episode - "Skeleton"

Another new episode of my Bradbury 100 podcast, this time with a reading of Ray Bradbury's story "Skeleton" - but perhaps not the story you are familiar with...

In 1945, Ray published TWO short stories with the same title, "Skeleton". The more famous of the two went on to be collected in his books Dark Carnival, The October Country, and The Stories Of Ray Bradbury. The less well known "Skeleton" just appeared in an obscure magazine and has only rarely been reprinted.

The lesser known "Skeleton" is, by an accident of history, out of copyright - unlike the more familiar "Skeleton", whose copyright was diligently renewed when needed, and remains copyrighted.

I'll say more about the two "Skeletons" when I cover the story in a "Chronological Bradbury" episode later this season. But for now, just sit back and relax (as much you can when Bradbury springs a skeleton on you) and listen to this charming little tale.

You can find the new pod episode using your podcast app, or through any of the podcast platforms listed at the bottom of this post. Or you can simply click play, right here:

Bradbury 100 · Bradbury 100 - episode 74 - Skeleton

Please subscribe to the Bradbury 100 podcast - it's totally free on all platforms. Where to find it:

Main platforms:

Apple Podcasts - Soundcloud - Spotify

Other platforms include:

Thursday, February 26, 2026

Bradbury 100 returns - new episode!

Bradbury 100 returns for 2026 with another "Chronological" episode, this time starting us off with the year 1945. In this year, Ray published no fewer than thirteen stories.

In this episode, I cover the first four stories:

"The Poems" (Weird Tales, January 1945 - online here)
"I’m Not So Dumb!" (Detective Tales, February 1945 - no online version)
"Hell’s Half Hour" (New Detective, March 1945 - no online version)
"The Tombstone" (Weird Tales, March 1945 - online here)

There's a mixture here of two genres still favoured by Ray as a professional short story writer, namely the detective story and the weird tale; none of that science fiction stuff...

In my coverage of "The Poems", I also review Ray's "about the author" text which he supplied to Weird Tales magazine. It contains some interesting insights into his writerly process back when he was a mere twenty-four years old.

In future episodes of the podcast, I will review the remaining stories from 1945, including the two short stories called "Skeleton".

You can find the new pod episode using your podcast app, or through any of the podcast platforms listed at the bottom of this post.

Or you can simply click play, right here:

Bradbury 100 · Bradbury 100 - episode 73 - Chronological Bradbury 1945 (part 1)

Please subscribe to the Bradbury 100 podcast - it's totally free on all platforms. Where to find it:

Main platforms:

Apple Podcasts - Soundcloud - Spotify

Other platforms include:

Tuesday, February 17, 2026

Coming Soon - a new series of Bradbury 100 pods!

It's been a while, but my Bradbury 100 podcast is returning soon!

Starting on 26th February and appearing every two weeks, I'll be bringing you a variety of topics. What I have planned so far includes the Fahrenheit 451 (1966) movie, The Illustrated Man at 75(!), and more "Chronological Bradbury".

Now would be a good time to check your podcast app and make sure you're subscribed. You should find a little trailer there very soon (although I've also put it down below).

While you're at it, make sure you're following the pod on Facebook, here!

Here's the trailer:

Bradbury 100 · Bradbury 100 Returns Soon!

Please subscribe to the Bradbury 100 podcast - it's totally free on all platforms. Where to find it:

Main platforms:

Apple Podcasts - Soundcloud - Spotify

Other platforms include:

Thursday, May 01, 2025

New podcast episode: The First Geeks!

The new batch of my Bradbury 100 podcast kicks off today, with an interview with Orty Ortwein, author of the book The First Geeks.

The book tells the story of three young men in the 1930s - Ray Bradbury, Ray Harryhausen and Forrest J Ackerman - and how they joined the nascent Science Fiction League and went on to be professionals in their respective fields.

If you've listened to Bradbury 100 before, you will have heard much about Ray Bradbury the young fan, with his fanzine Futuria Fantasia. And in my "Chronological Bradbury" strand, you will have heard of his exploits as a fan writer who rapidly broke into writing professionally.

In my interview with Orty, you will hear more about this, and about how Orty conducted his research into the early science fiction world of the 1930s. And, of course, you can find out even more in his book - see the purchasing links below.

Among the things mentioned in this episode:

The First Geeks by Orty Ortwein (at Amazon US, and at Amazon UK)
FANAC, the free online archive of science fiction fandom
The Waukegan History Museum at the (thanks to Ray) famous and now-renovated Carnegie Library
Los Angeles' Clifton's Cafeteria, where science fiction fans of the 1930s hung out
Hugo Gernsback, the man who coined the term "scientifiction", later replacing it with "science fiction"

Here's the new episode...and you can also get it wherever good pods are given away (see below for a list of selected podcast platforms).

Bradbury 100 · Bradbury 100 - Episode 63 - The First Geeks with Orty Ortwein

Please subscribe to the Bradbury 100 podcast - it's totally free on all platforms. Where to find it:

Main platforms:

Apple Podcasts - Soundcloud - Spotify

Other platforms include:

Amazon Music - Audible - Bullhorn - Castbox - Deezer - Listen Notes - Player FM - Pocket Casts - Podbean - Podcast Addict - Podcast Index - Podcast Republic - Podchaser - Podfriend - Podlink - TuneIn

Wednesday, February 12, 2025

New podcast episode: Ray Bradbury and Leigh Brackett

Time for a new episode of my Bradbury 100 podcast - and this time I focus on Ray Bradbury's friend and mentor, Leigh Brackett.

Leigh Brackett (1915-1978) was a short story writer, novelist and screenwriter. She has sometimes been called the "Queen of the Pulps" because of her substantial contribution to science fiction magazines such as Planet Stories. But she also collaborated with Nobel Prize-winning author William Faulkner on the screenplay for the classic movie The Big Sleep - and ended her career by writing the first draft of the screenplay for Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back.

Leigh was also Ray's mentor. He credited her with teaching him how to properly construct a story, and with influencing the stories he wrote between about 1942-1944.

All this and more is covered in the podcast, which you can play below, or find on your podcast app.

Useful links:

Watch the film The Vampire's Ghost, Leigh Brackett's first effort as a Hollywood screenwriter
Learn more about Leigh Brackett's contribution to The Empire Strikes Back in this episode of my other podcast, Science Fiction 101
Read "Lorelei of the Red Mist", the Brackett story that Bradbury finished. Can you tell where Bradbury takes over the writing?
From 16th February 2025, enjoy Planet Zoom Players' audio dramatisation (with pictures) of Leigh Brackett's Terror Out Of Space!

Bradbury 100 · Bradbury 100 - Episode 62 - Ray Bradbury and Leigh Brackett

Please subscribe to the Bradbury 100 podcast - it's totally free on all platforms. Where to find it:

Main platforms:

Apple Podcasts - Soundcloud - Spotify

Other platforms include:

Tuesday, December 24, 2024

Ray Bradbury and The Simpsons

Time for another new Bradbury 100 podcast episode!

A few weeks ago, there was a new episode of The Simpsons which was entirely based on the works of Ray Bradbury. "Simpsons Wicked This Way Comes" is not the first time Ray has been referenced by the show. In fact, the number of Bradbury allusions across all of The Simpsons (i.e. on TV, in comics, and in books) now totals: thirteen.

In this episode I detail them all!

Many of them are represented by audio clips. But there are a few gags which are purely visual, including the comic-book and book appearances, and so I'll present a few of them below. (Click on the images to embiggen!)

Also below - of course - is the podcast episode itself. But you can also pick it up using any decent podcast app, or via any of the podcast platforms listed at the bottom of this post.

"The Coffin" adapted for comics

Fahrenheit 451 referenced in comic

Element Rb = Ray Bradbury

"All Hail!" in comic

The wicker store

Ray, Illustrated Man, Richard Matheson

Bradbury 100 · Bradbury 100 - Episode 60 - Ray Bradbury and The Simpsons!

Please subscribe to the Bradbury 100 podcast - it's totally free on all platforms. Where to find it:

Main platforms:

Apple Podcasts - Soundcloud - Spotify

Other platforms include:

Tuesday, May 21, 2024

Staying up to date with the Bradbury 100 podcast

To make it easier to discover my Bradbury 100 podcast, you'll periodically see this page, which gathers all the episodes and shows together.

Bonus Video Episode - video of my public lecture on Fahrenheit 451 at seventy (extended, lavishly illustrated, video version of podcast episode 42)

Bonus Video Episode - video of my public lecture on The Illustrated Man at seventy (extended, lavishly illustrated, video version of podcast episode 27)

Bonus Video Episode - video of my public lecture on The Martian Chronicles at seventy (extended, lavishly illustrated, video version of part of podcast episode 17)

Bonus LIVE Video Episode - writer Steven Paul Leiva returns as we celebrate Ray's 101st birthday

Episode 56 - Ray's first book, Dark Carnival, available in paperback for the first time

Episode 55 - Chronological Bradbury: Ray's stories published in 1942

Episode 54 - Bumper Christmas Q&A special!

Episode 53 - Ray's personal fanzine, Futuria Fantasia

Episode 52 - Chronological Bradbury: Ray's stories published in 1941

Episode 51 - Review of some new Bradbury product

Episode 50 - Chronological Bradbury: Ray's stories published in 1940

Episode 49 - Reviewing Ray Bradbury: All about the journal The New Ray Bradbury Review

Episode 48 - Chronological Bradbury: Ray's stories published in 1939

Episode 47 - Bradbury 100 Live - 2023 edition

Episode 46 - Chronological Bradbury: Ray's stories published in 1938

Episode 45 - Rescuing the movie Something Wicked This Way Comes after a disastrous preview

Episode 44 - How Ray wrote the book and movie Something Wicked This Way Comes

Episode 43 - Books that never were: proposed Bradbury books that didn't come into being

Episode 42 - Fahrenheit 451 at Seventy (live talk)

Episode 41 - Ray's "ghost writer" friends

Episode 40 - The "Rocket Summer" you probably don't know

Episode 39 - Ray Bradbury and Christmas

Episode 38 - Ray and EC Comics

Episode 37 - Bradbury's dinosaur tales

Episode 36 - The tragic death of Ray's Uncle Lester

Episode 35 - Bradbury's October

Episode 34 - Bradbury's advice to writers

Episode 33 - Bradbury's story "The Exiles"

Episode 32 - Dandelion Wine live talk

Episode 31 - August 2022 update

Episode 30 - Ray Bradbury's other Mars stories

Episode 29 - Ray Bradbury and the question of "style"

Episode 28 - the best Martian Chronicles films never made

Episode 27 - The Illustrated Man at Seventy (also available in extended, illustrated, video form - see Bonus Video episodes at the top of this list)

Episode 26 - tracking down "The Lonely One"

Episode 25 - with Bradbury scholar Phil Nichols!

Episode 24 - with writer and Bradbury scholar Steve Gronert Ellerhoff

Episode 23 - with writer and actor David J. Loftus

Episode 22 - with filmmaker and visual effects artist Christopher Cooksey

Episode 21 - with Russian author Pavel Gubarev, webmaster of the Russian Ray Bradbury website

Episode 20 - April 2021 update

Episode 19 - introducing my new podcast, Science Fiction 101!

Episode 18 - with science fiction writer and scholar Howard V. Hendrix, on Bradbury's influence and legacy

Episode 17 - with highlights from two centenary events: Bradbury 100 Live and The Martian Chronicles at Seventy (both of these events are also available in extended video form - see Bonus Video episodes at the top of this list)

Episode 16 - with writer and friend of Ray, Gregory Miller

Episode 15 - with Emmy-winning actor Bill Oberst Jr, who appears as Ray in a one-person show

Episode 14 - with writer and scholar Jeffrey Kahan on how Bradbury's fiction works

Episode 13 - with storyteller Megan Wells on performing Bradbury's stories and characters

Episode 12 - with writer/director/actor Jerry Robbins, who adapted many Bradbury works for Colonial Radio Theater

Episode 11 - with writer and editor Charles Ardai, who edited the new Bradbury crime story collection Killer, Come Back To Me

Episode 10 - with Ray Bradbury Theatre composer John Massari

Episode 9 - with scholar Miranda Corcoran, talking about Ray's "Elliott family"

Episode 8 - the second part of my interview with award-winning dramatist Brian Sibley, talking mostly about adapting Bradbury for radio

Episode 7 - with writer and broadcaster Brian Sibley, talking mostly about Disney

Episode 6 - continuing my interview with Jonathan R. Eller, Bradbury biographer and scholar

Episode 5 - with Jonathan R. Eller, Bradbury biographer, whose latest book Bradbury Beyond Apollo completes his biographical trilogy

Episode 4 - with photographer Elizabeth Nahum-Albright, who has a current exhibition on Ray Bradbury's house

Episode 3 - with Sandy Petroshius of the Ray Bradbury Experience Museum

Episode 2 - with Jason Aukerman of the Center for Ray Bradbury Studies

Episode 1 - with author Steven Paul Leiva, creator of Ray Bradbury Week in Los Angeles

The best way to never miss an episode is to subscribe for free with your podcast app/service of choice. See the list of links below!

And you can also follow Bradbury 100 on Facebook.

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Please subscribe to the Bradbury 100 podcast - it's totally free on all platforms. Where to find it:

Main platforms:

Apple Podcasts - Soundcloud - Spotify

Other platforms:

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

Wednesday, January 17, 2024

New BRADBURY 100 Episode - Chronological Bradbury: 1942

Time for another new episode of my Bradbury 100 podcast, and it's another one of the occasional "Chronological Bradbury" series. This time, we hit 1942, the year when Ray broke through to the two leading science fiction and fantasy pulp magazines of the time: Astounding Science Fiction and Weird Tales.

It's actually a fairly quiet year, as Ray only published two stories in 1942. (But he was evidently busy writing, because the following years will be full of professional appearances.)

The two stories I cover today are "Eat, Drink and Be Wary", from July 1942, which you can read in full here...

...and "The Candle", from November 1942, which is available here.

I hope you enjoy the episode!

Bradbury 100 · Bradbury 100 - Episode 55 - Chronological Bradbury 1942

Please subscribe to the Bradbury 100 podcast - it's totally free on all platforms. Where to find it:

Main platforms:

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Friday, December 22, 2023

New BRADBURY 100 Episode - Bumper Question-and-Answer Show for Xmas!

Seasons greetings!

Here's a special, bumper, double-length Christmas episode of my Bradbury 100 podcast in which I answer questions about Ray Bradbury and his works.

The questions were submitted by members of the "Science Fiction Book Club" Facebook group. And there are some excellent questions here, and in some cases I have to do a bit of thinking and/or digging to come up with a suitable answer.

Members of the Facebook group (which you can ask to join here) also get to see a written version of my answers, but the audio version in the podcast has some extra detail. In the audio version, I've anonymised the question-askers, and used a cast of highly-trained AI helpers to voice them.

It will take you nearly two hours to get through this episode, but feel free to break up the journey with rest breaks for Xmas pudding or left-over stuffing!

Bradbury 100 · Bradbury 100 - Episode 54 - Q&A Special

Please subscribe to the Bradbury 100 podcast - it's totally free on all platforms. Where to find it:

Main platforms:

Apple Podcasts - Google Podcasts - Soundcloud - Spotify

Other platforms:

Friday, December 08, 2023

New Bradbury 100 Episode - Ray's Fanzine, Futuria Fantasia

In this new episode of the Bradbury 100 podcast, I explore Futuria Fantasia - the fanzine that Ray Bradbury produced when he was a teenage science fiction fan.

The first issue of Futuria Fantasia, published when Ray was eighteen years old, catches him just before he heads off to New York for the first-ever World Science Fiction Convention. In that first issue, he is very much focused on "Technocracy", a movement which promised to turn science fiction into political reality. The issue includes an essay on Technocracy by Bruce Yerke, followed by an early piece of Ray Bradbury science fiction: "Don't Get Technatal", a satirical look at how boring it will be to live in a utopia!

"Don't Get Technatal" was Ray's third piece of published fiction, although he hid behind the pseudonym of Ron Reynolds. I read it in full in the podcast, along with Ray's other contributions to FuFa No. 1. (I also read selections from the writings of the other contributors.)

If you want to read the whole magazine, it's freely available, since the copyright on FuFa expired decades ago. The best place to find it - and the other three issues that Ray published - is via the links at science fiction history site FANAC.

So, come with me now to the world of 1939, where fans of "scientifiction" enthusiastically support the bright future offered by the Technocracy movement, perhaps oblivious to the impending likelihood of world war...

Bradbury 100 · Bradbury 100 - Episode 53 - Ray's Fanzine, Futuria Fantasia

Please subscribe to the Bradbury 100 podcast - it's totally free on all platforms. Where to find it:

Main platforms:

Apple Podcasts - Google Podcasts - Soundcloud - Spotify

Other platforms: