R.I.P. Ray Bradbury, 1920-2012
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Science fiction author Ray Bradbury passed away this morning at the age of 91. Of course, when I say “science fiction author,” that barely begins to cover it — Bradbury is one of the greatest sci-fi authors who ever lived, writing classic such as Fahrenheit 451, The Martian Chronicles, Something Wicked this Way Comes, and so many more; books that aren’t just celebrated by nerds like ourselves, but are actually taught in schools when teachers don’t actually want to bore their students. He’s received countless awards, from the National Medal of Arts, the World Fantasy Lifetime Achievement Award, an Emmy, a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, the French Order de Arts et des Lettres medal, was named a Science fiction Writers of America Grand Master, and more. He has both a park and an asteroid named in his honor, and there’s a crater on the moon named after one of his works. The SFWA award for screenwriting was named for him — he has his own award. Oh, and there’s this.
About The Author
Robert Bricken is one of the original co-founders of the site formerly known as Topless Robot, and its first editor-in-chief, serving from 2008-12. He brought the site to prominence with “nerd news, humor and self-loathing” as its motto, raising it from total internet obscurity to a readership in the millions, with help from his savage “FAQ” movie reviews and Fan Fiction Fridays. Under his tenure Topless Robot was covered by Gawker, Wired, Defamer, New York magazine, ABC News, and others, and his articles have been praised by Roger Ebert, Avengers actor Clark Gregg, comedian and The Daily Show correspondent John Hodgman, the stars of Mystery Science Theater 3000 and Rifftrax, and others. He is currently the managing editor of io9.com. Despite decades as both an amateur and professional nerd, he continues to be completely unprepared for either the zombie apocalypse or the robot uprising.