Ray Bradbury dead at 91

Ray Bradbury, a giant of American literature who helped popularise science fiction with poetic, cerebral works such as The Martian Chronicles has died. He was 91.

Bradbury brought not only futuristic vision but literary sensibilities to his more than 500 works published including Fahrenheit 451, a classic dystopian novel about book censorship in a future society, and other favourites such as The Illustrated Man and"Something Wicked This Way Comes."

"Mr. Bradbury died peacefully, last night, in Los Angeles, after a long illness," said a spokesman for his publisher, HarperCollins, on Wednesday (local time).

As a science fiction writer, Bradbury said he did not want to predict the future - but sometimes wanted to prevent it. Such was the case with Fahrenheit 451, a book published in 1953 about a totalitarian, anti-intellectual society where banned books are burned by "firemen." The title refers to the temperature at which paper ignites.

The novel, which Bradbury wrote on a rented typewriter at the UCLA library, featured a world that might sound familiar to 21st century readers - wall-sized interactive televisions, earpiece communication systems, omnipresent advertising and political correctness.

"In science fiction, we dream," he told The New York Times. "In order to colonise in space, to rebuild our cities ... to tackle any number of problems, we must imagine the future, including the new technologies that are required ...

"Science fiction is also a great way to pretend you are writing about the future when in reality you are attacking the recent past and the present."

INTERNET A SCAM

But for a futurist, Bradbury did not always embrace technology. He called the internet a scam perpetrated by computer companies, was disdainful of automatic teller machines and denounced video games as "a waste of time for men with nothing else to do."

He said he never learned to drive a car after witnessing an accident that killed several people and did not travel by aeroplane until much later in life.

Bradbury was born in Waukegan, Illinois, and moved to Los Angeles as a teenager as his father sought work during the Depression. He roller-skated around Hollywood, chasing celebrities for autographs, and was strongly influenced by the science fiction works of Tarzan creator Edgar Rice Burroughs.

He did not go to college, instead educating himself by spending hours reading in libraries, and began writing for pulp magazines. In 1950 Bradbury published The Martian Chronicles - a tale of Earthlings fleeing a troubled planet and their conflicts with residents on Mars. It was given a glowing review by influential critic Christopher Isherwood, which Bradbury credited with launching his career.

Isherwood was among the first to note the quality writing in Bradbury's work, which brought him literary credibility and new respect to the science fiction and fantasy genres.

Like The Illustrated Man, another of his best-known works, The Martian Chronicles was a collection of related stories.

In a career spanning more than seventy years, other well-known titles include Dandelion Wine, I Sing the Body Electric and From the Dust Returned and he wrote hundreds of short stories as well as numerous poems, essays, operas, plays, teleplays and screenplays.

- Reuters