Back in 1977, Ray Bradbury was coming to give a talk at Fresno State. My English teacher suggested that we invite him to my high school, so I sent him a telegram. I didn't know any better, and this was an era before email and faxes.
Bradbury was so impressed with getting a telegram - like right out of the movies - that he invited us to meet him back stage before the talk. It was a moment of pure charisma for me - a moment exactly like the moment when I was confirmed and for one split second I could tell that the bishop was focused on me. He was enthusiastic and charming and very interested in us 17 year olds.
His talk was about dinosaurs and King Tut and others things that he was enthusiastic about.
I was not that much of a Ray Bradbury fan; Robert Heinlein was my guy. But shaking Ray Bradbury's hand was a great moment for me because he was such an authentically decent man.
Mark Shea writes:
Eternal light grant him, Father, through Christ our Lord. He gave a lot of people a lot of joy and I mourn his passing.
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