It seemed appropriate to give a tip of the hat to Ray Bradbury. Although I do not write science fiction, Mr. Bradbury had a profound influence on me as a writer, but to really understand or explain that, you have to follow me back to fourth grade (or maybe it was sixth...the years blur together as you get older. It was a simpler time....I told myself I'd slap myself if I ever wrote a line like that, but it was true. summer in my small town didn't offer a lot of excitement, and with a mother who was a teacher, limits were put on TV and other indoor activities like video games. Thankfully, I had two neighbors my age who embraced the "hip to be square" philosophy with me, and summer meant that there were days we could just hang out at our small town library....let me reiterate, this was the time when even the most conservative parents would have no problem leaving some sixth graders at the library for a couple of hours, or even a good chunk of the day. we were generally well-behaved (there would be hell to pay if we weren't)and it was there that I enjoyed books such as the Taran Wanderer series, some horse book called Tiger Roan (which grossed me out because the horse lost an eyeball or some such) and then, seeing a totally funky cover, I picked up a copy of Bradbury's "Illustrated Man." wow. I'm not saying Bradbury is the best writer I've ever read, or that he was some sci-fi Shakespeare, but his fiction had the ability to grasp my young ( and let's face it, somewhat sheltered) mind and shake it. the way the stories wove together, the Twilight Zone type feel of them, one story , "The Man" seemed to allude to astronauts just missing Jesus on a planet they visited. From then on, I reveled in every Bradbury book and short story ( a woman gives birth to a small, blue triangle? what the....?) And Fahrenheit 451 remains one of my eerily prophetic favorites. Thanks Mr. Bradbury.Link to his bio: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ray_Bradbury