Ray Bradbury is more than just a legendary American novelist. He is also a short story writer, essayist, playwright screenwriter, poet, an owner of four cats, a father to four daughters, a grandfather to eight grandchildren, and he was a husband to Maggie until her death in November of 2003. They were married for fifty-six years and very much in love. That is a rare occurrence today. Ray Bradbury is a rare type of novelist as well. He never limits himself to only writing literary works of art. He, as he has for years, uses his creative energies on whatever he can.
             Bradbury was born on August 22, 1920 in Waukegan, Illinois. He wrote stories on butcher paper when he was only eleven years old. When he turned eighteen, he wrote his first story, "Hollerbochen's Dilemma", and had it published in Imagination!, an amateur fan magazine. Although his first story was in an amateur magazine, it was very obvious to his readers that his story was not written by an amateur. Many people recognized his talent. Encouraged, he continued to write and started writing full time at the age of twenty-three. Although his stories were recognized and his talent was put to use, it wasn't until 1945, with the publicizing of The Martian Chronicles, that he established his reputation as a science-fiction writer.
             Although Ray Bradbury is now well known as a fantastic science fiction writer, he was not always well known. He had to work very hard to get the point he is at today. After he graduated Los Angeles High School in 1938, he sold newspapers on Los Angeles street corners from 1938 to 1942. He made roughly ten dollars a week. At the same time, he was trying to write stories and advance in his career as a novelist. After he wrote The Martian Chronicles, things became easier and he had more free time to write. In 1953, Ray Bradbury wrote Fahrenheit 451, which many considered, and still consider, to be his masterpiece. He wrote his sto...