Books by Sam Weller
The Bradbury Chronicles: The Life of Ray Bradbury
by Sam Weller
Ray Bradbury is an American literary icon, an architect of wonders whose life has been as fascinating, momentous, and inspiring as his fiction, which has enthralled millions of readers the world over for more than six decades.
Born Rae Douglas Bradbury on August 22, 1920, in Waukegan, Illinois, he displayed an affinity for the fantastic at an early age -- spending hours at the local movie theater, fighting his fear of the dark to escape into glorious made-up worlds. Though he once dreamed of becoming an actor, writing was his true calling, and he remained resolute in his art throughout his early adult years despite numerous rejections -- finally breaking through with publications of his horror and fantasy stories in the "pulp" magazines of the forties. It was not long before he ascended to a higher literary plane, creating the acclaimed works that would solidify his place as one of the most important and influential authors of the twentieth century: Fahrenheit 451, The Martian Chronicles, The Illustrated Man, and Dandelion Wine, to name a very few.
Award-winning journalist Sam Weller has been granted unparalleled access to Bradbury's private archives, and has spent hundreds of hours interviewing longtime friends, family members, colleagues, and the author himself. As a result, Weller gives us a uniquely balanced, in-depth, and utterly remarkable portrait of a remarkable man, the life story up until now of a brilliant visionary artist and enigmatic mass of contradictions -- the writer who envisioned rocket travel to the stars but who never learned to drive a car; the futurist who brought astonishing tomorrows to life yet refuses to operate a computer; the passionate free spirit who remained devotedly married to one woman -- his beloved Marguerite -- for more than fifty years.
The Bradbury Chronicles is, at once, a poignant love story, an inspiring tale of struggle and accomplishment, and a spellbinding record of an extraordinary era in America's history and the man who helped define it. Here is Ray Bradbury -- dreamer, author, humanist, poet, innovator -- a one-of-a-kind literary force of nature whose extraordinary life can now be celebrated along with the enduring masterworks with which he has graced the world.
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The Bradbury Chronicles: The Life of Ray Bradbury (P.S.)
by Sam Weller
Accomplished journalist Sam Weller met the Ray Bradbury while writing a cover story for the Chicago Tribune Magazine and spent hundreds of hours interviewing Bradbury, his editors, family members, and longtime friends. With unprecedented access to private archives, he uncovered never–before–published letters, documents, and photographs that help tell the story of this literary genius and his remarkable creative journey. The result is a richly textured, detailed biography that illuminates the origins and accomplishments of Bradbury's fascinating mind.
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Shadow Show: All-New Stories in Celebration of Ray Bradbury
“Ray Bradbury is without a doubt, one of this, or any century’s greatest and most imaginative writers. Shadow Show, a book of truly great stories, is the perfect tribute to America’s master storyteller.”
—Stan Lee, legendary comic book writer and former president and chairman of Marvel Comics
“Great new tales of imagination in the Bradbury tradition.”
—Hugh Hefner, publisher and founder of Playboy Enterprises
In Shadow Show, 26 acclaimed writers have come together to pay tribute to the work of the one and only Ray Bradbury with never before published stories inspired by the master. The incomparable literary artist who has given us such timeless classics as Fahrenheit 451, The Martian Chronicles, The Illustrated Man, and Dandelion Wine, is being honored by some of the most notable names in the writing world—including Neil Gaiman, Joe Hill, Audrey Niffenegger, Margaret Atwood, Alice Hoffman, Robert McCammon, and more—with new short fiction that thrills, frightens, moves, and dazzles in the great Bradbury tradition. Edited by Sam Weller and Mort Castle, with an introduction by the man, Ray Bradbury himself, Shadow Show pays well-deserved homage to one of America’s greatest, most celebrated authors.
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Listen to the Echoes: The Ray Bradbury Interviews
Hardcover, 224 pages
7½ × 10¾ in.
19.05 x 27.305 cm.
Acclaimed biographer and Bradbury scholar Sam Weller spent more than a decade interviewing Ray Bradbury, who admitted, “Sam Weller knows more about my life than I do.” Revealed in Weller and Bradbury’s conversations, collected in Listen to the Echoes: The Ray Bradbury Interviews, is a vivid portrait of the author. A creative genius, an opinionated and occasionally contrarian thinker, “and a nostalgic futurist,” Bradbury longed for yesterday even as he looked toward tomorrow.
During the process of conducting research for the book, noted Los Angeles photographer Zen Sekizawa photographed Bradbury’s home and decades of his accumulated possessions. Her photographs present an alternate portrait of Bradbury―one that is more poignant now that his personal possessions have been sold at auction and his home of more than half a century razed.
Listen to the Echoes: The Ray Bradbury Interviews is the definitive collection
of interviews with this American icon, illustrated with Sekizawa’s stunning color photographs (including previously unpublished images). Originally issued as a paperback in 2010 by Stop Smiling Books and Melville House Publishing, Listen to the Echoes is now available as a full-color, larger-format hardcover edition with a new final chapter by Weller about Bradbury’s legacy since his death in 2012, and dozens of new photographs from the Bradbury archive. Also new to this edition are essays by Margaret Atwood and Frank Darabont.
Ray Bradbury (1920–2012), the poetic and visionary author of such classics as Fahrenheit 451, The Martian Chronicles, and The Illustrated Man, was one of the most influential writers of the 20th century. Bradbury’s sway over contemporary culture is towering―Mikhail Gorbachev, Alfred Hitchcock, and David Bowie all counted themselves as fans, to name only a very few.
Limited Edition
The limited version comes in an edition of 300, is printed on silver foil, and wrapped in a clear poly book jacket. It includes a “library card” signed by contributors Margaret Atwood, Frank Darabont, Black Francis, and Sam Weller.
Edited by J.C. Gabel
Foreword by Black Francis
Afterword essays by Margaret Atwood and Frank Darabont
Designed by Benjamin Woodlock
Original photography by Zen Sekizawa
Hat & Beard Press #10
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Listen to the Echoes: The Ray Bradbury Interviews
A definitive collection of interviews with one of America's most famous writers, covering his life, faith, friends, politics, and visions of the future.
Ray Bradbury, the poetic and visionary author of such classics as Fahrenheit 451, The Martian Chronicles and The Illustrated Man, is one of the most influential writers of the 20th century. From Mikhail Gorbachev to Alfred Hitchcock to David Bowie, Bradbury’s sway on contemporary culture is towering. Acclaimed biographer and Bradbury scholar Sam Weller has spent more than a decade interviewing the author; the fascinating conversations that emerge cast a high-definition portrait of a creative genius and a futurist who longs for yesterday. Listen to the Echoes: The Ray Bradbury Interviews is the definitive collection of interviews with an American icon.
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Ray Bradbury: The Last Interview: And other Conversations (The Last Interview Series)
Ray Bradbury was long the most influential sci-fi writer in the world, the poetic and visionary author of such classics as Fahrenheit 451, The Martian Chronicles, and The Illustrated Man
But he also lived a fascinating life outside the parameters of sci-fi, and was a masterful raconteur of his own story, as he reveals in his wide-ranging and in-depth final interview with his acclaimed biographer, Sam Weller. After moving to Los Angeles, he became an inveterate fanboy of movie stars, spending hours waiting at studio gates to get autographs. He would later get to know many of Hollywood’s most powerful figures when he became a major screenwriter, and he details here what it was like to work for legendary directors such as John Huston and Alfred Hitchcock. And then there are all the celebrities—from heads of state like Mikhail Gorbachev to rock stars like David Bowie and the members of Kiss—who went out of their way to arrange encounters with Bradbury.
But throughout that last talk, as well as the interviews collected here from earlier in his career, Bradbury constantly twists the elements of his life into a discussion of the influences and creative processes behind his remarkable developments and inventions for the literary form he mastered. Mixed with cheerful gossiping about his travels and the characters of his life, it makes for a rich reading experience and a revealing collection of interviews.
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