Happy Birthday, Ray Bradbury (1920-2012)!

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

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

The Red Balloon by Debbie Ridpath Ohi

. 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.

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:

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

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.

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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. ❤️