Famed Novelist Ray Bradbury Dead at 91

Sorry Ray Bradbury fans, Mr. Bradbury will no longer write about the future; he has entered it. He died last night in Southern California. That's where I had lunch with him once. Well, he was at the next table. It was in the early 80's and I was having a Steve Harvey Breakfast at an outdoor patio on Rodeo Drive in Beverly Hills. I used to love to hang out there and watch the rich people come and go. To my right, nearest the street, was a gentleman -- as I learned later -- was from HBO. When another man sat down, he told him Ray Bradbury was on his way.  After the three of them were together I leaned my head in their direction to hear better. They were discussing making an HBO series on Bradbury's Martian Chronicles.  Sure enough a few months later it debuted and was a very successful HBO seies.  Wow, in this day of Facebook and Twitter everyone would have known about that is seconds. So, so long, Ray -- I enjoyed the lunch.

From his official website here is a quick rundown of his accomplishments His reputation as a writer of courage and vision was established with the publication of The Martian Chronicles in 1950, which describes the first
attempts of Earth people to conquer and colonize Mars, and the unintended
consequences. Next came The Illustrated Man and then, in 1953,
Fahrenheit 451, which many consider to be Bradbury's masterpiece, a
scathing indictment of censorship set in a future world where the written word
is forbidden. In an attempt to salvage their history and culture, a group of
rebels memorize entire works of literature and philosophy as their books are
burned by the totalitarian state. Other works include The October
Country, Dandelion Wine, A Medicine for Melancholy,
Something Wicked This Way Comes, I Sing the Body Electric!,
Quicker Than the Eye, and Driving Blind. In all, Bradbury has
published more than thirty books, close to 600 short stories, and numerous
poems, essays, and plays. His short stories have appeared in more than 1,000
school curriculum "recommended reading" anthologies.