Arts & Culture

When I was young, a long time ago, all science fiction books were skinny. They were 60s/70s reprints, fewer than 200 pages and with funky covers. They could write then. They were full of aliens, dead civilizations, space travel, war, sometimes magic and sorcery. Just as often though, they were packed with avant-garde intellectually stimulating ideas far too adult for a 10 year old to fully grasp.

I remember reading Ray Bradbury's The Illustrated Man – the cover is below – and even now when I see it at a book store I get shivers.  One short story in it is the "The Veldt", a very scary thought-provoking psychological "The Turn of the Screw" thriller. Funnily enough, it's technological premise is more relevant now than ever. 

There's been a great blog post already written about Bradbury's other books: Beyond Fahrenheit 451: 5 Other Ray Bradbury Books You Should Read. And in case you thought I was the only one affected by him you might also enjoy  Beyond Literature: Ray Bradbury's Influence on Popular Culture.

Many are drawn to Ray Bradbury including Stephen Colbert and Canadian musican Deadmau5 who has a video based on "The Veldt".

So, after reading Ray Bradbury in the 1970s, including the Martian Chronicles (a much more realistic view of Mars than say Edgar Rice Burroughs' John Carter and Barsoom), imagine my pleasure as an adult at finding Ray Bradbury Theater on television in the mid 1980s. 

Here was Bradbury himself introducing his own work. They began with Bradbury entering a office library and his voice over "People ask – where do you get your ideas – well right here":

Toronto Public Library still has 12 videos of this series that you can borrow!  What I did not know was the TV series was Canadian produced – see the IMDb for further details. There were 65 episodes in total featuring a variety of well known actors including Drew Barrymore. 

Fahrenheit 451 is the 2013 One Book community read – part of the wider Keep Toronto Reading program offered by Toronto Public Library.  Join us in April as we discuss Fahrenheit 451 on Book Buzz: Toronto Public Library's Online Bookclub. 

If you're interested in hearing/seeing Ray Bradbury – enjoy this clip below: