Girls, I Know I Should Say Something!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

                        
                                     Darlings, so many of you have asked me why I have not said a thing about Ray
Bradbury's passing. Well, now I am about to.  It isn't that I had no frame of reference for him--I do, and shall discuss it--but when it came to his genre, which was basically sci-fi, that was not my thing!!!!

                                        While it is true that Famous Monsters Of Filmland was an important part of my childhood, so I knew Mr. Bradbury's name before a lot of my peers did, I was never much of a sci-fi reader.  Oh, to be sure, as a voracious and informed reader, I read all the so-called classics of my youth--
"Stranger In A Strange Land," "The DUNE Trilogy (when it really WAS just a trilogy) and Arthur Clarke's
"Childhood End."  They did not inspire me to explore further.

                                            When it came to reading Ray Bradbury, I went for his more lyrical stuff--
"Dandelion Wine," "Something Wicked This Way Comes," and his wonderful short story "The Foghorn," which was expanded into the 1953 giant monster classic, "The Beast From 20, 000 Fathoms."

                                                All of which I loved; 'Beast' remains one of my favorite movies, and one of the best of the giant monster genre.  So, while I was not one of Bradbury's disciples (I never read, but certainly agree with his philosophical messsage in "Fahrenheit 451") I did and do acknowledge his greatness, for what not only I enjoyed of his, but what he created for others to enjoy even more!!!!!!!!!

                                                  His voyage has ended.  Or begun!  And I wish him well!!!!!!!!!!!!!!