Ray Bradbury (1920-2012)

Science Fiction author Ray Bradbury has passed away at 91.

Bradbury shot the the forefront of sci-fi in 1950 with "The Martian Chronicles," a satire on capitalism, racism and imperialism, telling the story of a group of humans destroying a martian civilization. His next breakthrough novel was 1953's "Fahrenheit 451" which took the ideas of censorship in "The Martian Chronicles" and expanded upon them, setting up a dystopian future where instead of putting fires out, firefighters burn books.

Bradbury was born in Waukegan Ill. in 1920, eventually moving to Los Angeles in 1934 where he became an avid reader and movie buff. He sold his first story in 1941 and slowly worked his way up from pulp fiction magazines to more respectable publications such as the New Yorker. His first book, a collection of short stories titled "Dark Carnival," was published in 1947. He was so poor during those years that he had no telephone in his office, using the payphone at the gas station across the street.

"Fahrenheit 451" was written at the UCLA library on typewriter that he rented for 10 cents a half hour. The book took him nine days to complete at a cost of $9.80.

Bradbury had slowed in recent years due to a stroke, however he still wrote every day, turning out new novels, poetry, plays and screenplays. He is survived by his four daughters, his wife of 56 years, Marguerite, passed in 2003