Comments on: Ray Bradbury hates e-books and turned down Yahoo publication offer

By: Living Hour

Living Hour — Tue, 17 Aug 2010 12:44:33 +0000

I think we should cut Ray Bradbury a little slack here considering he is 89 years old. The fact that he made the comment the internet is “meaningless; it’s not real. It’s in the air somewhere” demonstrates that his faculties are not once they once were. He will always remain a great author nonetheless.

By: Elizabeth

Elizabeth — Sun, 05 Jul 2009 17:00:46 +0000

I agree with Mr. Bradbury. The internet is a distraction, and I would be a hell of a lot better off had I never associated with it. I consider it an addiction.

By: Sorcha Fatooh

Sorcha Fatooh — Fri, 26 Jun 2009 19:34:41 +0000

The internet is a series of tubes in the air somewhere.

The phenomenon of e-books needs some – a lot of – work, but that doesn’t make them unworkable. Every new publishing medium needs work starting out, but I think online publications hold a lot of potential to be how most people read in a decade or two. Bradbury shouldn’t knock it ’til he’s tried it, or at least not until it’s evolved further.

By: Steve Jordan

Steve Jordan — Thu, 25 Jun 2009 13:32:24 +0000

Maybe now we know why Ray’s so unhappy…

By: Tony Rabig

Tony Rabig — Thu, 25 Jun 2009 10:57:45 +0000

That’ll teach me to hit that buy button at 1:30 in the morning.

They ARE badly formatted (no TOC for Martian Chronicles, for instance). Hadn’t taken note of the publisher first as HarperCollins has done a few of Bradbury’s titles as ebooks already and was now doing print editions of the 4 titles that just showed up on the Kindle. Wouldn’t be surprised if they are bootlegs.

So, re: my note from earlier this morning — never mind.

Bests to all,

–tr

By: Garson O'Toole

Garson O'Toole — Thu, 25 Jun 2009 07:59:12 +0000

There is a conversational thread at Kindle Boards about the $1.99 editions of the Bradbury books. Some commentators state that the ebooks are badly formatted, and other participants wonder if the works are unauthorized bootlegs. The same “publisher” was offering two works by Ayn Rand that were expeditiously pulled from distribution claim the distrustful discussants.Of course it is imaginable that the Bradbury editions are authorized.

By: Tony Rabig

Tony Rabig — Thu, 25 Jun 2009 06:33:41 +0000

FYI, gang.

Five minutes ago while poking around Amazon’s Kindle store, I found Fahrenheit 451, Dandelion Wine, The Martian Chronicles, and Something Wicked This Way Comes for 1.99 each.

Bests to all,

–tr

By: Leslie

Leslie — Mon, 22 Jun 2009 14:35:58 +0000

While I don’t think printed books are going to go the way of the dinosaur, I do believe that the new technologies that can offer wonderful stories such as Mr. Bradbury’s are going to have their day. I see far too many young people that just don’t read and anything that encourages them, from putting books on computers or Blackberries or whatever is something I have to approve, even though I happen to be a book dealer, myself!

By: Steve Jordan

Steve Jordan — Mon, 22 Jun 2009 02:33:11 +0000

Well, I wouldn’t go so far as digging Mr. B’s works out of the darknet (I still have the paperbacks, as it is). I just won’t be carrying them around on trips, on the train, in my pocket to yank out while waiting for people, etc…

By: John Hagewood

John Hagewood — Sun, 21 Jun 2009 20:13:05 +0000

Like many e-readers, I only read e. my eyes cannot take the fonts used in most p, and all my old Bradbury books are in a box somewhere (not necessarily in my possession).

If Ray’s books were available in e, I would re-purchase them ALL and read them all again after 25+ years. Alas, he chooses to ignore this not-so-new but definitely “emerging” medium, and hence him and his publishers loose out on sales.

And when something isn’t available in e at all, like “Martian Chronicles”, “Dandelion Wine” and the rest of his classic and compelling works, do I feel the LEAST bit guilty about getting it from the darknet (considering I have already purchased it ALL in p before, and would gladly repurchase it in e if I could) ? Nope….

By: Steve Jordan

Steve Jordan — Sun, 21 Jun 2009 13:50:37 +0000

I’d hate to comment on Mr. Bradbury’s dislike of the internet without more details. Does he feel it distracts people from reading? Does he feel it is preventing himself and other elite authors from making a living, while the paupers and outsiders undermine the old publishing castle? Does he own Weyerhaeuser stock?

Mr. Bradbury is well-known for his attitude that technology has to be watched closely, lest it get away from us. If he feels the net has already gotten away from us, I can understand how he could feel that way. Hopefully he’ll stick around long enough to see more of its potential (Hello universal access!) than its downsides.

By: Spider Mattheson

Spider Mattheson — Sun, 21 Jun 2009 04:45:11 +0000

I’m sad he feels that way but many (how do I put this lightly) people of his age group feel similarly towards technology. I have a lot of respect for him, though. He’s a very perceptive writer and he sticks to his guns. I saw him speak at San Diego Comic-Con 2007 and he spoke his mind (as if he has anything to lose) when asked a political question when many people of his public standing would have sidestepped the question. But the world evolves and how humans live and interact change; we go on.

I know it’s not what many here would ideally like to hear but my introduction to Ray Bradbury came from darknet ebooks when I was a young, cash-strapped individual. The internet definitely opens up a lot of possibilities, especially for younger people. I was able to get a hold of many things I never would have had access to without the internet (and I’m not talking just about porn!). Generally, I think society is better for it. People who want to use the internet to better themselves by downloading fine literature and taking advantage of all the other educational resources on the net can do it quite easily.

By: Rob Preece, Publisher

Rob Preece, Publisher — Sun, 21 Jun 2009 03:36:40 +0000

Here I thought The Hitchhiker’s Guide was the perfect prediction.

Ray Bradbury has always been a bit of a ludite. Many of his stories are about technology running amuck. Nothing wrong with this–we do need to watch technology and make sure we’re using it rather than it using them.

I personally think eBooks are a great example of what technology is for, but that’s me.

Rob Preece

By: Felix Torres

Felix Torres — Sat, 20 Jun 2009 23:27:18 +0000

Science Fiction isn’t about predicting but about imagining. And the main subject of the imaginings has always been humans and their behavior, what we do; what we might do in a given set of circumstances. Any prediction is generally incidental. Stories that actively *try* to predict are more often than not the most boring, most quickly dated. That said, the internet as it now evolving was most closely imagined by Niven & Pournelle in THE MOTE IN GOD’S EYE, (1974)
http://www.webscription.net/chapters/0671741926/0671741926.htm
…where every body carried pocket computers (described as essentially “one big integrated circuit”) that were manipulated via stylus and connected wirelessly to a massive centralized database.
If cloud computing really takes off, we may yet see Asimov’s Multivac (the universal computer and repository of all human knowledge, which outlasted humanity and the universe itself, to become god of a new universe),
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Multivac
…but in general, most pre-80′s SF saw computers in the centralized mainframe computing/data processing model, not the distributed computing model that microprocessors have created. And most definitely, *not* the creativity tool that modern PCs have become.

As for Mr Bradbury, he is perfectly entitled to his opinion.
And we are entitled to ignore it as irrelevant.

By: pond

pond — Sat, 20 Jun 2009 22:47:44 +0000

I wonder if Mr Bradbury ever made such attacks on radio. Is there much difference between radio and television?

I wonder if he ever attacked movies. He wrote for movies of course. I wonder if he preferred silent movies to those new-fangled ‘talkies’?

Alas, it is all to easy to lampoon the old codger, and how much more ironic that he is a SCIENCE FICTION author!

Sad, really. Just sad. Maybe Mr Bradbury should go to Alaska for a sojourn at Ted Stevens’ house…