Ray Bradbury
August 22, 1920 -June 6, 2012
“I have never listened to anyone who criticized
my taste in space travel, sideshows or gorillas. When this occurs, I pack up my
dinosaurs and leave the room.”
~Ray
Bradbury
Just a few days ago, a great teller of fantastic tales
passed away, leaving us for that October Country beyond. When I heard the news,
I was in shock, One of the authors I read since I was younger, who was one of those
who inspired to keep on writing, no longer stepped on the ground of the same
planet as me? Memories of the few times
I met him at conventions back in California
He left us a legacy of stories that will never grow
old, ones we can read over and over. I plan to read them again this summer in
his memory. What better tribute I figure. He painted pictures for me with his
words. Hook me with a hook better than any hook used by a young boy or girl
going fishing along a creek on a hot summer afternoon. There’s comfort in his
tales for me. A belief I can travel anywhere. That fantastical things do exist.
Most of all, he pushed me even further to pen my own tales. I hope that one day
when I step upon my own path to that October Country, I too will have left
behind a legacy of words for others to cherish. It’s the only real tribute I
feel I should give to him as a thank you for writing for us readers. For
entertaining me and others.
Thank you, Ray Bradbury, you will never be forgotten.
You will always be there with the others who inspired me years ago: Edgar Allan
Poe, HP. Lovecraft, Anne McCaffrey, JRR Tolkien, and Shirley Jackson, plus
others. Most of all, thank you for
giving us all the gift of your imagination; a most precious gift indeed.
