Bradbury 100 - Celebrating the Life and Work of American Writer Ray Bradbury

It's August 22, 2026 - Ray Bradbury's birthday! So to celebrate, here's a new episode where I talk about "There Will Come Soft Rains", a story which has gained a lot of media attention these last few weeks.

As is my tradition on Ray's birthday, I have created this episode as a visual one. If you go to my website www.bradburymedia.co.uk you'll find the full visual version. But this audio podcast contains the audio from that presentation, which will still make sense most of the time...

In this episode of Bradbury 100, I review an old magazine published as a tribute to Ray Bradbury.

Back in May 1963, the award-winning Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction (which is still running today) published its second-ever author special, and it focused on Ray Bradbury. Join me in skimming through this landmark publication. You can find the full issue of the magazine for free on the Internet Archive: https://archive.org/details/Fantasy_Science_Fiction_v024n05_1963-05_PDF/mode/1up

For more information, check out the show notes on my website: https://bradburymedia.blogspot.com/2026/05/new-podcast-episode-reviewing-magazine.html

Another celebration of the 60th anniversary of the release of the feature film version of FAHRENHEIT 451...

In a previous episode (https://bradburymedia.blogspot.com/2026/03/new-podcast-episode-fahrenheit-451-film.html), I detailed how Francois Truffaut's film had an impact on Ray Bradbury. In THIS episode I go back a few steps, and look at how Truffaut became connected to Ray in the first place.

It's not an obvious story. Truffaut was no fan of science fiction, and had no knowledge of Bradbury's writings until 1960, when a friend urged him to read Fahrenheit 451. Truffaut was an extraordinary bibliophile, and delighted in Ray's book about books, and its meditation on the significance of literature in an increasingly illiterate culture.

Join me as I re-trace Truffaut's steps on the way to completing his 1966 film.

Check out the show notes at www.bradburymedia.co.uk

Bradbury 100 returns with another "Chronological" episode, this time continuing with the year 1945. In this year, Ray published no fewer than thirteen stories.

In this episode, I cover the next five stories: Skeleton (first version), The Watchers, Dead Men Rise Up Never, Corpse Carnival, and The Dead Man.

This batch of stories is once again a mix of crime stories and weird fantasy, clearly Ray's preferred genres at this time.

For more information, including links to online versions of the stories (where available), please check the full show notes on my website, here:

https://bradburymedia.blogspot.com/2026/04/new-podcast-episode-chronological.html

Francois Truffaut's film of FAHRENHEIT 451 is sixty years old! In this episode I revisit the film and talk about how it came to be made, and then move on to discussing Ray Bradbury's reactions to the film.

Not only did Ray review the film for the LA Times, but he also borrowed elements from the film when he later developed his own stage play of F451.

Check out the full show notes at www.bradburymedia.co.uk