Bradbury 100 - episode 7

It's hard to believe that my podcast Bradbury 100 has been going for seven weeks. Scroll down for Episode 7!

In this episode I have a fun interview with Brian Sibley, the award-winning dramatist and broadcaster who has probably adapted more Bradbury than anyone else. But Brian is also an authority on Walt Disney, and it was a mutual love of all things Disney that first brought Brian and Ray Bradbury together as friends.

Brian and I have so much to talk about, that I'm splitting the interview over two episodes. Today is (mostly) about the Disney side of things, and next week is (mostly) about Brian's experiences in adapting Bradbury for radio.

Brian Sibley and Ray Bradbury, back in the day.

Bradbury 100 · Bradbury 100 - Episode 07

Show Notes

The letter from Ray Bradbury to Brian Sibley which starts today's interview.

Walt Disney explains audio-animatronics, and demonstrates his robotic Abraham Lincoln, created for the World's Fair.

The opening of EPCOT in Florida, with speeches outside Spaceship Earth.

Brian Sibley's recollections of the opening of EPCOT, from his own blog.

An attempted reconstruction of the original Spaceship Earth ride as it would have been experienced by the original riders in 1982. (Some poor quality audio and video, but this appears to be all that remains of the original ride as scripted by Ray Bradbury.)

Brian Sibley's blog(s). The "personal blog" contains lots of Bradbury-related material.

Brian's Soundcloud channel carries a number of his Disney-related and Bradbury-related radio documentaries.

 Tomorrow - Saturday 5th September - Bradbury 100 goes live!

I'll be holding an open Zoom meeting, which anyone can join, and which I will stream via Facebook. I'll be talking about some of the guests onthe podcasts, and showing a few items from my Bradbury collection.

The aim is to get people to call into the Zoom meeting and share their experiences of Bradbury. Earliest story, favourite book, that sort of thing.

To join in (or just watch and listen), use this link to get to the Facebook event:

https://www.facebook.com/events/356673885346346/

Bradbury 100 - episode 6

Today's new episode of Bradbury 100 features the second part of my interview with Jonathan R. Eller - Bradbury biographer, the director of the Center for Ray Bradbury Studies, and author of the new book Bradbury Beyond Apollo. We also spend some time discussing Jon's first book on Bradbury, which was the study Ray Bradbury: The Life of Fiction co-authored with William F. Touponce, and then move on to Jon's recollections of the first Bradbury he read, and his "desert island" Bradbury pick.

Because a part of Jon's new book deals with Ray's relationship to real-life space exploration, I introduce the episode with a discussion of Ray, space, and Apollo.

Jon also talks about the challenges faced by the Center for Ray Bradbury Studies, which reminds me that to sustain their good work they need support. You can read about the Center's mission, and make donations, here.

Bradbury 100 · Bradbury 100 - Episode 06 - another one with biographer Jon Eller

Show Notes

Read Ray's 1960s space-related articles in Life magazine:

• "A Serious Search for Weird Worlds" (scroll to page 116 for article)
• "Cry the Cosmos" (scroll to page 86)
• "An Impatient Gulliver Above Our Roofs" (scroll to page 31)

Jon Eller's author page on Amazon US: 

Jon Eller's author page on Amazon UK:

Ray Bradbury visiting JPL, where he gained his Mars driving license:

Ray was in at the start of the Planetary Society.

Photo of Ray's license by John King Tarpinian. Background detail from the first edition of The Martian Chronicles. Composite image by Phil Nichols.

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/

New Bradbury book for the Bradbury Centennial

Publisher Hard Case Crime very kindly supplied me with an advanced review copy of the new Ray Bradbury collection Killer, Come Back To Me. The book goes on release on Tuesday. I will write a proper review in the next week or so - and I will be interviewing the editor Charles Ardai for my Bradbury 100 podcast.

For now, I'd just like to share the table of contents. There has been some speculation that Killer, Come Back To Me is just a re-print of the 1980s collection A Memory of Murder, but this is not the case. There is some overlap between the two books, but Killer is much more of a curated collection than that.

See for yourself!