New podcast episode: Ray Bradbury's "Ghost Writer" Friends...

My latest Bradbury 100 podcast episode is a follow-up to the last episode, where I presented Ray's 1947 short story "Rocket Summer" from Planet Stories magazine. In that same issue, Ray contributed a humorous writer bio of himself, in which he claims that all his stories are written for him by a posse of talented professionals including Robert Heinlein!

That magazine slipped into the public domain in 1975, because the copyright wasn't renewed (following the 28-year-renewal rules in operation at that time). So, I'm bringing you the full article today!

After you hear Ray's parody bio, I'll tell you about the various writer-friends he mentions. Have you read any of these writers? Let me know in the comments below! 

Bradbury 100 · Bradbury 100 - episode 41 - Ray Bradbury and his "Ghost Writer" Friends...

 

 

 

 

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Bradbury's "Witch" Ancestor

It seems to be quite well known that Ray Bradbury's ancestry can be traced to back to Mary Perkins Bradbury, who was charged with witchcraft at Salem in 1692. Sam Weller's biography of Ray, The Bradbury Chronicles, gives a couple of pages to this, and it's referred to elsewhere. But did Ray know about this ancestry, and did he ever write about Mary?

The answer to both questions is a definite yes. In 1955, Stanley J. Kunitz published a first revision to Twentieth Centry Authors, and it includes an article on Bradbury written by Ray himself. This was Bradbury at the peak of his early fame as a writer. He had several books out, including his masterwork Fahrenheit 451 (1953), was writing for television, and had completed his arduous stint as the screenwriter of Moby Dick (which would be released in 1956). At the time of the article, he would have been grappling with his manuscript for Dandelion Wine (which would be published in 1957), while also working on a script treatment for Gene Kelly - The Dark Carnival, which would eventually emerge as the novel Something Wicked This Way Comes (1962).

The short article - you can see the whole thing below - refers to Bradbury's belief that writers shouldn't slant their work to a particular market, but should write freely and let the work find an an appropriate outlet. It also refers to his belief that science fiction and fantasy "offer the liveliest, freshest approaches" to the problems of the modern world.

And it refers to Mary Perkins Bradbury, to whom Bradbury attributes his belief in "freedom from fear [...] and thought control".

...for which we should, I suppose, say, "Thank you, Mary Perkins Bradbury."

(And my thanks to Hugh, whose question about Mary prompted me to write this post!)

You can find out more about Bradbury's ancestry in this (very old) blog post of mine. 

 

 

If you click on these images, they should embiggen.

Bradbury 100 - episode 5

Today is 22 August 2020 - the one-hundredth anniversary of the birth of Ray Douglas Bradbury. Let's celebrate with a new podcast episode!

The fifth episode of my podcast Bradbury 100 drops today. The theme of the episode is biographies, as my interview guest is Jonathan R. Eller, author of three biographical volumes on Ray: Becoming Ray Bradbury, Ray Bradbury Unbound, and Bradbury Beyond Apollo.

Jon is also the Director of the Center for Ray Bradbury Studies, and has done more than anyone to explore Bradbury's thinking and authorship.

If you want to join in the discussion, please post a comment below. I'll respond to comments later in the series.

Jon Eller with a Bradbury manuscript, in the Center for Ray Bradbury Studies, Indianapolis.

Bradbury 100 · Bradbury 100 - Episode 05 - with biographer Jon Eller

Show Notes

Jon Eller's author page on Amazon US: https://www.amazon.com/Jonathan-R-Eller/e/B001JP7WWO?ref=sr_ntt_srch_lnk_1&qid=1596033809&sr=8-1

Jon Eller's author page on Amazon UK: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Jonathan-R-Eller/e/B001JP7WWO?ref=sr_ntt_srch_lnk_1&qid=1596033866&sr=8-1

Virtual tour of the Center for Ray Bradbury Studies. The rendering is so good that you can even see the titles of the books in Ray's library. Direct link here: https://my.matterport.com/show/?m=2ds5iarQnk3&utm_source=4

Center for Ray Bradbury Studies official website: https://bradbury.iupui.edu/

Center for Ray Bradbury Studies Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/bradburycenter/

Bradbury Unbound

Jon Eller's second volume on the life and writing of Ray Bradbury - Ray Bradbury Unbound - is due out in a few days. In addition to his recent blog post for Biographile, Jon has written one for Locus, the science-fiction news magazine. Here, he talks about the discoveries made in researching the book, and the creative challenge of documenting a career in a limited number of pages. The Locus blog is here.

I had the privilege of reading some of the book while Jon was finalising it, and it is a thorough piece of work which captures the whirlwind of Bradbury at his peak, following the successes of Fahrenheit 451 and his film work for Moby Dick and leading into the 1960s.

Ray Bradbury Unbound is available for pre-order in all the usual places: click here to order on Amazon (US); click here to order on Amazon (UK); click here to order from the publisher.

Ray Bradbury: a Life in Photos

The Lake County News-Sun has started an archive photo series with "Ray Bradbury: a Life in Photos". The title is something of an exaggeration, since the photos all seem to date from 1984, when Bradbury made a return visit to his home town of Waukegan. But most of the photos are rarely seen, so it's still an interesting little collection.

You can view the mini-photo album here.

Bradbury Unbound

I am pleased to be able to report that Jon Eller's second volume of literary biography of Ray Bradbury is now with the publisher. Bradbury Unbound gives a detailed account of Bradbury's literary life and influences during the 1950s and 1960s, and is a follow-up to the well received Becoming Ray Bradbury.

Jon Eller (pictured here with with Bradbury) runs the Center for Ray Bradbury Studies at University of Indiana-Purdue University Indianapolis, and worked with Bradbury on a number of publishing projects. The Bradbury biographies are the result of years of research, must of it assisted directly by Bradbury, who provided hours of interviews and extensive access to his private papers.

I've had the honour and privilege of reading and commenting on Bradbury Unbound as Jon has developed the manuscript over the last few years, and I believe readers will find it even more fascinating than the previous volume.

The editorial process for the book will naturally take some time, so it will be a while before the book is available to buy, but I will post updates when more information becomes available.

Author Bio

In the June-July 1953 issue, Fantastic Universe carried a brand new Bradbury short story called "Time In Thy Flight", which received top billing on the cover. The strap line for the story was "The circus, Hallowe'en, the Glorious Fourth may go - yet eternal is their pull on a child's heart."

(Or, we may add, on Bradbury's heart!)

The story also has a cute little biography of Bradbury:

Most Ray Bradbury readers seem to think of him as a sort of Charles Addams character sprung to life. Actually he is a handsome, cheerful and enthusiastic trnasplanted Californian with wife (1) and children (2), who looks far more at home over a broiled steak than a dish of pickled owl's eyes. Yet few living authors have vast sweep of fantasy or chill brush of horror. We're proud to offer his newest story.

Ancestry

I'm not really one for genealogy, but sometimes a simple family tree is all you need to be able to make sense of a biography. Whenever Ray Bradbury is biographised [find out if that is a real word - Ed.], his biographers have a tendency to trace his family history back to two solid points:

• the first Bradbury to arrive in the Americas (Thomas Bradbury in 1634)
• Mary Bradbury, accused of witchcraft in Salem (in 1692)

Unfortunately, there are a good ten generations between Thomas, Mary and Ray; ten generations in which certain names get re-used: there are a lot of Hinkstons, Spauldings and Samuels in the family. I find it difficult to keep my head straight when a biographer is talking about "Samuel Bradbury" - do they mean Samuel IRVING Bradbury, Samuel HINKSTON Bradbury, Samuel Hinkston Bradbury JUNIOR, or one of several plain old Samuel Bradburys (no suffix, no middle name)?

Oddly, none of the biographers has thought to provide a family tree. Maybe they are as confused about all this as I am...

To resolve the problem, I had to draw up a family tree myself, based on information gleaned from various sources. Most helpful were The Bradbury Chronicles by Sam Weller and Red Planet, Flaming Phoenix, Green Town by Marvin E. Mengeling. I had to cross-check some information on full names and dates using www.rootsweb.ancestry.com, an excellent genealogy resource, although one which is prone to occasional error since, like Wikipedia, anyone can contribute to it.

No doubt there will be some real genealogists who will be unhappy that I haven't filled in every branch of the Bradbury family tree. My excuse is that I created this to help me make sense of the biographies I was reading. Uncles Bion, Inar and Lester seem to have been influential on Bradbury's life and art - so they are shown. Their spouses and offspring don't seem to have been so influential - so they are left out.

See for yourself: click the image below to reveal my attempt at the Bradbury family tree: