Why I don't read Ray Bradbury

Actually, I do. So should you. If you read his work, hopefully you'll know what I'm talking about here. If you don't read his stories, you should. Right after you finish reading this posting would be a good time to start.

I do read Ray Bradbury, but I don't read him the way I read King, Matheson, Poe, David Nickle, and most of the stuff in Cemetery Dance. With those guys I can put myself into the story and just enjoy a good scare. That's the purpose of a story.

But Bradbury wrote damn well, and he wrote in a way that made each story personal, and brought it out into this life as opposed to the paper one. That's the purpose of a story, too.

At Fen-Con I picked up the graphic adaptation of The Martian Chronicles. I haven't read the print stories themselves yet, but I saw the mini-series that came out on TV many, many moons ago. So I thought I had an idea of what I was in for.

Yeah, I was wrong. Bradbury hits a nerve that no one else does. He makes us remember what it was like to be a kid, and to dream like a kid. Then he makes us remember what it was like to get too old to hold on to all those dreams. He shows us how beautiful we all are, and all the hideous things we do. He makes us happy, sad, and scared all at once. He feeds us every flavor of life, and reminds us that the last course is graveyard dirt.

Compare him to another great writer that I can only take in controlled doses, Robert Heinlein. I recently finished Starship Troopers, and although Heinlein was able to keep from preaching to the reader at the beginning of the book, he gets right to it toward the end. By the time I finished it I wanted to get out the ouija board, bang on it with a complete edition of Stranger In a Strange Land to get his attention, and ask, 'What crack pipe did you dream up this version of the military from? Everyone in here is good, honest, clean, honorable, and mindlessly loyal! They're goose-stepping boy scouts with bazookas!' Heinlein loves to tell us how great the world would be, if only we would all give up our own opinions and follow his vision. Bradbury is more honest with us, and he won't tolerate us being dishonest with him, or with that person we always see in the mirror.

The reason that I don't regularly gorge myself on Ray Bradbury, is because his stories always feel so sad. I have a mental image of him, (blissfully formed without checking any facts) as a really happy person. How could he not be happy, when he bled all his sorrow out on paper and send it straight to everyone else in the world? For personal reasons, I don't like sad thoughts. Ask me why sometime, and I'll either say, 'I'll tell you later,' or, 'I already told you,' depending on what books I've written.

Now if you'll excuse me, I need to get back to writing them.