Ray Bradbury

Ray Bradbury is a prolific author of fantasy and science fiction stories, to the point where not only has he been honored with numerous writing awards, but he also had one named after him. In addition to his eleven novels, Bradbury has penned literally multiple hundreds of short stories, as well as screenplays and movie scripts. He has garnered an impressive fanbase, which means that fanfiction can’t be far behind.

His official website is here.

=Major works=

The Martian Chronicles (1950)
The Martian Chronicles are a series of short stories about the human race in the 2030s. Humanity escapes from an Earth ravaged by atomic weapons and tries to settle on Mars. Mars, however, is already occupied, and the locals greet Earth’s immigrants with violence. The Chronicles were made into a BBC miniseries in 1980, which deviated significantly from Bradbury’s stories; Bradbury thought it was, “just boring.”

Fahrenheit 451 (1953)
Probably Bradbury’s best-known work, and the source of most fanfiction set in his writings, Fahrenheit 451 takes place in the not-too-distant future where books are burned by firemen to prevent them from making people think, as ignorance is bliss. One fireman, Guy Montag, begins to question this behavior and his role in it, eventually rebelling and trying to rescue books. The novel is a combination and running together of several older stories by Bradbury about a (much older) fireman in a similar situation.

Adaptation
Fahrenheit 451 was made into a film released in 1966. Details were changed from the novel (the name of Montag’s wife changed from Mildred to Linda, the action was moved from America to Great Britain, Montag is suddenly and inexplicably German), the themes and messages behind the novel are largely intact. The biggest deviation is the absence of the Mechanical Hound, a spider-like hunting robot, which was replaced by the more special effects budget-friendly “men in jet packs with clearly visible wires.”

The Green Town Trilogy (1957, 1962 and 2006)
Dandelion Wine, Something Wicked This Way Comes and Farewell Summer are a trilogy of very loosely autobiographical novels, with Green Town being a fictionalized version of Bradbury’s hometown of Waukegan, Illinois. Dandelion Wine is a series of short stories tied together by Douglas Spaulding, a stand-in for Bradbury’s younger self. Farewell Summer is a direct sequel, focusing on the conflict of age versus youth as Douglas grows older. Something Wicked This Way Comes is also set in Green Town, but has a much darker story, including a twisted carnival run by an evil ringmaster. Instead of Douglas Spaulding, the main characters are two other boys, William Halloway and Jim Nightshade. A few of Bradbury’s other short stories also take place in Green Town.

The Halloween Tree (1972)
In The Halloween Tree, a group of children set out to go trick-or-treating on Halloween, but discover that one member of their group, Pip, is on his way to the hospital instead. When they see Pip’s ghost running away later in the evening, they try to follow, only to meet a mysterious man named Moundshroud, who is also seeking Pip’s ghost. As the whole group pursues Pip across time and space, the kids learn a lesson about the true meaning of Halloween. And also, death. An animated adaptation was made for television in 1993, and was written and narrated by Bradbury himself.