Happy Birthday, Ray Bradbury (1920-2012)!

My lifelong obsession, gifts, musical tributes, my book news.

Aug 22, 2024

Apologies to those who already saw this post in my personal essay newsletter

. I accidentally published this under the wrong newsletter, quickly UN-published it (thanks to Substack for letting us do that), but I know that it had already been sent out to those who were subscribed to that newsletter.

The image is a scrapbook-style page featuring a black and white photograph of Ray Bradbury, an American author known for his works in science fiction and fantasy. To the left of the photo is a typed note briefly summarizing Bradbury's accomplishments, mentioning some of his famous works like Fahrenheit 451 and The Martian Chronicles. Below the note is a handwritten inscription that reads, "To Debbie Ohi! With the friendly wishes of Ray Bradbury, March 23, 1979." The page also includes a small sketch of a building and Ray Bradbury's name in a decorative font at the bottom.

I never had the privilege of meeting Ray Bradbury in person, but am a longtime fan of his work. Reading Dandelion Wine while I was growing up, I became aware of much a writer’s voice could influence reader experience.

My family and friends know about my longtime obsession with Ray Bradbury. My sister Ruth gave me a copy of the book for Christmas many years ago:

The image is divided into two sections. On the left side, there is a worn copy of Ray Bradbury's book Dandelion Wine resting on a closed black notebook, with a red fountain pen placed diagonally on top of the notebook. The book cover features an illustration of a boy standing in a field of dandelions with the text, "The captivating novel of a boy's magical summer." On the right side, there is a close-up of a handwritten note dated "1979.12.25" with the message, "Merry Christmas and many happy New Years! Love, Ruth," accompanied by a red heart with an arrow pointing downward.

My childhood friend Cathy gave me this framed print of one of my favourite Ray Bradbury quotes ever:

The image shows a kitchen countertop with a wooden knife block, paper towel holder, and various kitchen utensils. Above the countertop hangs a framed picture of Ray Bradbury, featuring a quote in white text. The quote reads: "You must write every single day of your life... You must lurk in libraries and climb the stacks like ladders to sniff books like perfumes and wear books like hats upon your crazy heads... may you be in love every day for the next 20,000 days. And out of that love, remake a world." The image includes an annotation with a yellow arrow pointing to the quote, emphasizing its importance. The bottom of the image is captioned, "Framed quote inside our kitchen, a gift from my friend Cathy. - Debbie."

I’m also a fan of his science fiction stories, of course! I wrote a song based on one of my favourites, inspired by “The Rocket Man” from Bradbury’s short story collection, R Is For Rocket. Like Bradbury’s story, my “Homecoming” song is about love and loss and family.

Here’s a recording of the song from one of my music group’s concerts, with Jodi Krangle singing lead and Allison Durno on lead guitar and harmonies. I’m singing some harmonizing and on rhythm guitar.

I was thrilled when my friend Sunnie Larsen covered the song in one of her concerts in the UK, with the help of Steve Macdonald, Mike Whitaker, and Marcos Duran:

You can hear Sunnie’s recorded version of “Homecoming” from her album, The Space Between Notes.

I also love my friend Errol Elumir’s cover of my song:

You can download the lyrics and chords to my song here. If you decide to cover my song, please do let me know! I’d love to hear it.

POLL: Are you a Ray Bradbury fan? What author or authors or books influenced YOU as a young creator?

p.s. If you’re not offended by profanity, I recommend looking up Rachel Bloom’s humorous and irreverent musical tribute to Ray Bradbury.

Handwritten text reads "Notes from Debbie" with an illustration of a paint can with a brush handle sticking up, pink paint splotches on the can and on the ground.

I’m excited about my new picture book coming out from Simon & Schuster Books For Young Readers on Sept. 17th, 2024! I Want To Read ALL The Books is my first solo picture book (that I’ve written and illustrated) in nearly seven years.

To those in Toronto: I invite you to help me celebrate on Tue. Sept. 24th, 2024 at Type Junction (2887 Dundas St. W.)! Details here. Thanks to Simon & Schuster Canada and Type for their help.

I’m also going on book tour in IL, WI, and MA Oct. 7-11th, 2024! Details here. Thanks to Simon & Schuster Children’s U.S. and indie bookstores Book Stall (Chicago, IL), Boswell Book Company (Milwaukee, IL), Copper Dog Books (Beverly, MA), and Porter Square Books (Cambridge, MA) for their help.

Thanks to all who have pre-ordered so far! I’ve been doing monthly giveaways from those who filled out my form; you can see a list of the winners here. Even if you can’t afford to buy (no worries, I totally understand!), there are so many other ways to show your support.

Apologies for the Substack hiatus; I’ve been doing more reading than posting, but plan to return to a more regular schedule soon. Thanks so much for your support, and especially for reading this far. ❤️

Handwritten text shows Debbie's signature and a small hand-drawing cartoon smiling face.

Sue Ko

Aug 22

Totally!!! Nerdy, enduring, inspiring obsessions and heroes from our childhood -- I love this post.

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1 reply by Debbie Ridpath Ohi

Moe Murph

Debbie Ohi,

What an absolutely lovely posting. I am currently job-hunting or I would sign on as a paid subscriber.

I have a lovely memory of a big chunk of my summer (at 14) discovering "The Martian Chronicles" then quickly gobbling everything ever written by Bradbury. I thought it was the perfect way to discover him, the last summer I had the luxury of long, idle (almost, except for a little under-the-table chambermaiding) days and reading late into the night.

P.S. I feel my story I wrote about my Android "would be son" (a sensitive job recruiter named "AI ROGER") may have been unconsciously inspired by all that Bradbury reading. Sending along a Medium "Friend" link to it if you are so inclined to read! --

https://medium.com/@ma_murphy_58/roger-cant-help-being-an-ai-a-fantasy-tale-by-moe-murph-c3a68b9f1627

Cheers!!!

Maureen Murphy ("Moe")

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Happy Birthday, Ray Bradbury (1920-2012)!

My lifelong obsession, gifts, musical tributes, my book news.

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