Ray Bradbury: Master of the Science Fiction Genre

His books and collected writings brought modern science fiction into the literary mainstream.

Ray Bradbury
Ray Bradbury photograph by Jacques Sassier courtesy of Random House
Ray Bradbury was one of the most celebrated 20th century American writers of speculative fiction. Bradbury, author of more than 500 published literary works, was born in Waukegan, Illinois, in 1920. Later he lived briefly at Tucson, Arizona. He died at Los Angeles, California, in 2012 at age 91.

As a boy he loved magic and wanted to become a magician. With his creativity encouraged by his family, Bradbury began writing, a skill which in his hands was magical.

At age 17 in 1937, Bradbury became a member of the Los Angeles Science Fiction League, where he published his first work, a short lived science fiction fan magazine. His first short story was published in Weird Tales when he was 20.

His major works: Five of his novels were made into major motion pictures: Bradbury wrote and/or produced: His Ray Bradbury Theater cable TV show (HBO 1985-86 and USA 1988-92) won awards.

Bradbury consulted on the 1963 World's Fair. He helped design the Spaceship Earth ride at Disney World's EPCOT Center.

Bradbury also wrote works of horror, fantasy and mystery.

He received numerous awards: Ray Bradbury was one of the preeminent science fiction writers of his generation. Others of his time in the 20th century included Isaac Asimov (1920-1992), Arthur C. Clarke (1917-2008) and Robert A. Heinlein (1907-1988).

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© 2012 Dr. Anthony Curtis, Mass Communication Dept., University of North Carolina at Pembroke    910.521.6616    e-mail    home page