Bradbury 100 - Celebrating the Life and Work of American Writer Ray Bradbury

A few weeks ago, there was a new episode of The Simpsons which was entirely based on the works of Ray Bradbury. "Simpsons Wicked This Way Comes" is not the first time Ray has been referenced by the show. In fact, the number of Bradbury allusions across all of The Simpsons (i.e. on TV, in comics, and in books) now totals: thirteen. In this episode I detail them all! Many of them are represented by audio clips. But there are a few gags which are purely visual, including the comic-book and book appearances, and so I'll present some of those on my website. Check out the show notes at: https://bradburymedia.blogspot.com/2024/12/ray-bradbury-and-simpsons.html

"Lazarus Come Forth" (1944) is one of a handful of early Ray Bradbury stories to have slipped into the public domain. It's also one of two Bradbury stories set on board a "morgue ship" - a space ship that cleans up after space battles, collecting dead astronauts to (presumably) bring them back home for proper burial or cremation. In this episode, I bring you the background behind the story, and a complete reading of it. Enjoy! For more episodes of Bradbury 100, check out my website at www.bradburymedia.co.uk

As well as writing his famous novels and short stories, Ray Bradbury wrote extensively for the stage. In this episode I explore Ray Bradbury as playwright, looking at his one-act plays and his full-llength adaptations of his own novels. You can find the full shownotes on my blog, here: https://bradburymedia.blogspot.com/2024/11/new-podcast-episode-ray-bradbury-on.html

This is the audio from my 2024 livestreamed version of the podcast, which went out over Facebook and Youtube. If you want the full effect, you can find the VIDEO recording of the livestream on YouTube, at: https://youtube.com/live/SBGtfPQZYBw

Ray Bradbury's first-ever book, DARK CARNIVAL (1947) has been re-published. For the first time, it is available in paperback and ebook editions. In this episode I go through the story behind Dark Carnival, and review the new editions. For more information, check out the show notes at https://bradburymedia.blogspot.com/2024/03/new-bradbury-100-episode-dark-carnival.html

In my occasional series of "Chronological Bradbury" episodes, we reach the year 1942. This was Ray Bradbury's first full year as a professional writer, and the year he broke through to two of the leading science fiction and fantasy pulp magazines: Astounding Science Fiction, and Weird Tales. So it's an important year, although he only published two stories in that year. For full shownotes, visit my website: www.bradburymedia.co.uk

For Christmas this year, I bring you a bumper double-length episode of Bradbury 100! Member of the "Science Fiction Book Club" Facebook group provided questions about Ray Bradbury for me to answer. So this whole episode is given over to my ponderings on some terrific questions. For more details, check the full show notes at www.bradburymedia.co.uk

In this new episode of Bradbury 100, I explore FUTURIA FANTASIA - the fanzine that Ray Bradbury produced when he was a teenage science fiction fan. The first issue of Futuria Fantasia, published when Ray was eighteen years old, catches him just before he heads off to New York for the first-ever World Science Fiction Convention. In that first issue, he is very much focused on "Tecnhnocracy", a movement which promised to turn science fiction into political reality. For more information, check out the shownotes at www.bradburymedia.co.uk

In my occasional series of "Chronological Bradbury" episodes, we reach the year 1941. Ray Bradbury makes his first professional sale, appearing in pulp science fiction magazine SUPER SCIENCE STORIES! For full shownotes, visit my website: www.bradburymedia.co.uk

In this episode I review three new Bradbury products that have come my way - two blurays, and one book. For full show notes, check out my website, www.bradburymedia.co.uk

Welcome to the FIFTIETH episode of Bradbury 100! This is another episode in my "Chronological Bradbury" strand - where I go through Ray Bradbury's publishing history in order. We've reached the year 1940, when Ray turned 20. It's a year which sees him getting no fewer than nine pieces of fiction published in amateur magazines. He's still a year away from his first professional sale (which will come in 1941), but 1940 shows him rapidly developing his plotting, characterisation, and use of language.

This time on Bradbury 100 I talk about The New Ray Bradbury Review, the online journal I edit on behalf of the Ray Bradbury Center. Specifically, I talk about the origins of the journal - which stretch way back to 1952, and William F. Nolan's original fan publication, called simply "Ray Bradbury Review". I also pay tribute to Nolan as the first person to really study Ray's work, and I discuss his ongoing engagement with Ray as both a friend and a colleague. For the full shownotes, head to my website: www.bradburymedia.co.uk

This is another episode in my "Chronological Bradbury" strand - where I go through Ray Bradbury's publishing history in order. We've reached the year 1939, when Ray turned 19. It's a year which sees him strengthening his ties with the science fiction fan community... and getting no fewer than five pieces of fiction published in amateur magazines. He's still two years ago from his first professional sale (which will come in 1941), but his jokey science fiction vignettes are beginning to evolve into proper stories. For more information, and links to some of the stories, check out the show notes at https://bradburymedia.blogspot.com/2023/10/new-bradbury-100-podcast-episode.html

22 August 2023 would have been Ray Bradbury's 103rd birthday, so in time-honored tradition (a tradition going back a whole three years...) I did a livestreamed version of the podcast via Facebook. Here's the audio from that livestream, very slightly edited. I think most of the references to visual things will make sense from context, but if you're curious about what was onscreen while I was talking, you can always check out the full video recording over on my Youtube channel: https://youtu.be/uNiqsN-amMA

In this episode, I begin a new strand: Chronological Bradbury! In this strand, I'll be going through Bradbury's publishing history in order. Sometimes I'll cover multiple stories (as with this episode), and sometimes I'll focus on a single story - depending on the significance of the story. So we begin here, with the year 1938. This is where the seventeen-year-old Bradbury gets a piece of fiction in print for the very first time: "Hollerbochen's Dilemma".

Last time on Bradbury 100, we looked at the origin of Ray Bradbury's SOMETHING WICKED THIS WAY COMES, and its peculiar history as a film script that became a book, and then became a film script again. This time, I continue the story, examining how the film - disastrously previewed in 1982 - was rescued through some re-writing, re-shooting and re-editing. Ray claimed that he "directed" or "edited" the film doing this re-make period, rescuing it from the clutches of director Jack Clayton. But is this really true? Join me as I dig into the archives, and look for evidence of what REALLY went on.

It's forty years since the film version of SOMETHING WICKED THIS WAY COMES was released! So in this episode, I take a detailed look at the origins of SWTWC, going all the way back to the short story "The Black Ferris" (1948) and working through to the shooting of the film. Bradbury wrote the screenplay, and the film was directed by his good friend Jack Clayton (director of Room at the Top (1959) and The Innocents (1961). So everything must have worked out really well...

In a file in the Ray Bradbury archive, we find his proposed book projects for the years 1960-1962. While some of the titles are familiar, some of them just never came to be. Find out about these Bradbury plans in this episode! One of the proposed books was an anthology to be edited by Ray. I'll give you the full list of contents on my website, www.bradburymedia.co.uk

In February 2023, I gave a public talk on FAHRENHEIT 451 for Wolverhampton Literature Festival. This podcast episode is a version of that talk - minus all the visual bits and pieces, of course. (If you want to see the visuals, head over to my Youtube Channel, BRADBURY 101!)

In a 1947 issue of Planet Stories magazine, Ray Bradbury penned a humorous writer bio of himself, in which he claims that all his stories are written for him by a posse of talented professionals including Robert Heinlein. That magazine slipped into the public domain in 1975, because the copyright wasn't renewed (following the 28-year-renewal rules in operation at that time). So, I'm bringing you the full article today! For more on Bradbury, and for show notes - including a link to the 1947 Planet Stories issue - remember to check out my website, www.bradburymedia.co.uk