Not suitable/safe for work (NSFW), not work-suitable/safe (NWS), not safe for life (NSFL), or not school-suitable (NSS) is Internet slang or shorthand. Typically, the NSFW tag is used in e-mail, videos, and on interactive discussion areas (such as Internet forums, blogs, or community websites) to mark URLs or hyperlinks which contain material such as pornography or profanity, which the viewer may not want to be seen accessing in a public or formal setting such as at work.

NSFW has particular relevance for individuals making personal use of the Internet at workplaces or schools which have policies prohibiting (even inadvertent) access to sexually provocative content. Companies and schools frequently adopt such policies because they regard the presence of sexual content as a misuse of company property (or education resources) and, potentially, a violation of sexual harassment policy.^[1]

Determining a site to be NSFW is invariably subjective, and poses challenges for academics who study sexuality.^[2]

On November 28, 2007, Fark.com founder Drew Curtis filed an application^[3] to trademark the phrase, but registration was denied.^[4]

See also[link]

• State of Connecticut v. Julie Amero

References[link]

Nadya Denise Doud-Suleman (born Natalie Denise Suleman; July 11, 1975^[1]), known as Octomom in the media, is an American woman who came to international attention when she gave birth to octuplets in January 2009.^[2][3] The Suleman octuplets are only the second full set of octuplets to be born alive in the United States. One week after their birth, they surpassed the previous worldwide survival rate for a complete set of octuplets set by the Chukwu octuplets in 1998. The circumstances of their high order multiple birth have led to controversy in the field of assisted reproductive technology as well as an investigation by the Medical Board of California of the fertility specialist involved.^[4]

Public reaction turned negative when it was discovered that Suleman already had six other young children and was unemployed and on public assistance programs. Suleman conceived the octuplets and her six older children via in vitro fertilization (IVF).^[5] Although she initially denied ever having used public assistance,^[6] she confirmed in April 2012 on NBC's Today show that she was indeed on public assistance.

Early life and education[link]

Suleman was born in Fullerton, California.^[7] She is the only child of Angela Victoria (born 1940) and Assyrian Iraqi American^[8] Edward Doud Suleman (born 1942). Her parents married in Las Vegas in 1974, and divorced in 1990.^[9][10]

She graduated from Nogales High School in 1993. Suleman earned a psychiatric technician license and worked as a psychiatric technician at Metropolitan State Hospital. She attended California State University, Fullerton (CSUF) and received a Bachelor of Science degree in child and adolescent development in 2006. Suleman returned to CSUF to pursue a master's degree in counseling, but dropped out of the program in 2008.^[11]

Marriage and divorce[link]

In 1996, Suleman married Marco Gutierrez. They separated in 2000. Gutierrez filed for divorce in November 2006, which was finalized in January 2008.^[12] In an interview with Inside Edition Gutierrez explained their divorce was due to failed attempts to have children. Suleman was desperate and wanted to try in-vitro fertilization, but Gutierrez disliked the idea of test tube babies and refused to take part in the procedure. Gutierrez said he is not the father of any of Suleman's children and that he wishes his ex-wife the best.

Gutierrez later remarried and has two biological children.^[13][14]

Children[link]

Suleman began IVF treatments in 1997, when she was 21 years old,^[15] under the supervision of Dr. Michael Kamrava, who was expelled from the American Society for Reproductive Medicine in October 2009.^{[16][17][18][19]} In 2001, Suleman gave birth to her first child, a son named Elijah. After her first daughter, Amerah, was born in 2002, she received additional IVF treatments, which resulted in three additional consecutive pregnancies (including one set of fraternal twins) and a total of six children (four sons, two daughters).^[20][21][22]

Octuplets[link]

In 2008, Suleman stated she had six embryos left over from her previous IVF treatments. She explained at the time that she requested that all of the remaining embryos be implanted, despite the norm for a woman her age being two or three implanted at the most.^[4] Suleman states that part of her reasoning for attempting a sixth pregnancy was so that the frozen embryos would not be destroyed. Supposedly, the six remaining embryos were implanted and two of the embryos split into twins, resulting in a total of eight embryos. Dr. Kamrava stated recently that she insisted on all 'fresh' cycles, and in fact she still has embryos stored with Dr. Kamrava.^[23] In June 2011, during a California Medical Board investigation, it was found that Kamrava had implanted twelve embryos, which the board found to be an "extreme" departure from standard of care.^[24] After reviewing Suleman's case, in combination with three other cases, the Medical Board of California voted to revoke Kamrava's medical license, effective July 1, 2011.^[24]

News of the octuplets caused an international media sensation.^[25] Public response was largely negative, including death threats.^[26] There has been much public discussion about Suleman's decision to have the octuplets, including a minor protest outside the Suleman home.^[27] Many expressed concern that Suleman's decision for more children would burden taxpayers via public support.^[28][29][30] Suleman claims to be able to independently support her children, saying that she is planning to return to school to complete her master's degree in counseling, but records show that Suleman is currently unemployed after having received disability between 2002 and 2008 as payment for a back injury suffered during a riot in September 1999.^[31]

As of March 2009, Suleman bought a new house in La Habra,^[32] and many stories questioned that the octuplets would be released from the hospital, while Suleman expressed concern about losing custody of them.^[33] In the early morning hours of April 1, the day she would bring the seventh octuplet, vandals threw a baby seat through the back window of her Toyota minivan.^[34][35][36] As of April 14, 2009, all of the children are home with their mother and grandmother. The octuplets celebrated their first birthday on January 26, 2010. Suleman told People Magazine, "I don't get much sleep, about two or three hours a night. But I'm continuing to move forward with my life and trying to be the best mother I can be."^[37]

In a June 2011 interview, Suleman purportedly told In Touch: "I hate babies, they disgust me... Obviously, I love them—but I absolutely wish I had not had them."^[38] Suleman later stated she did not give an interview with the magazine,^[39] but a recorded audio tape surfaced three weeks later.^[40]

Public profile[link]

Suleman quickly captured the public eye with the birth of octuplets. Within the first week, the media dubbed her "Octomom". Suleman hired the Killeen Furtney Group as her initial public relations company, with Wes Yoder providing a small amount of pro bono advice. Both groups soon ended their involvement after receiving death threats.^[41] Her next spokesman was Victor Munoz,^[42] who quit on March 6, 2009.^[43]

Suleman has appeared on many television shows, starting with a February 2009 interview with Ann Curry. Suleman rejected suggestions that her decisions have been selfish or that she may not be able to care for her children, stating, "I know I'll be able to afford them when I'm done with my schooling. If I were just sitting down, watching TV and not being as determined as I am to succeed and provide a better future for my children, I believe that would be considered to a certainly degree selfish".^[44] Suleman would later make another appearance later in March on Dr. Phil alongside fellow guest Gloria Allred. Allred had a list of criticisms regarding Suleman's performance as mother and homemaker.^[45]

On April 16, 2009, Suleman revealed she struck a deal for a reality TV show in the UK, though The Hollywood Reporter said some US networks were reluctant to pick up the show.^[46] Suleman signed an agreement with the Los Angeles Superior Court on July 24 to have each of her children earn $250 a day to star in a reality show; filming was set to begin on September 1.^[47] On May 4, 2009, it was announced that Allred had filed a case with Orange County Superior Court requesting that a guardian be appointed to protect the rights of the infants.^[48] Later Fox aired their own two-hour special titled, Octo-Mom: The Incredible Unseen Footage, aired on August 19.^[49] There were many parodies and other media events based on the story, including a 2009 musical performed in Los Angeles, although she was not involved in its production.^[50]

Suleman was featured in the February 2010 issue of Star, where she gave an interview. Several pictorials followed, focused mainly on her weight loss since delivering the octuplets a year earlier.^[49]

In April 2010 Suleman was on The Oprah Winfrey Show and Idol Gives Back, in which she denied claims that she had received plastic surgery and stated that she refused to star in pornographic movies. She added that she had severely rethought her decision to give birth to and raise her children,^{[clarification needed]} and that she hoped to become a teacher.^[51] She made another appearance on The Oprah Winfrey Show, where she asked and received help from Suze Orman about financial issues that she was then facing with her children and discussed her compulsive hoarding disorder developed from childhood.^[52]

In January 2011, videos and images surfaced on the Internet depicting Suleman participating in a fetish video. The video showed Suleman whipping an acquaintance of hers, Los Angeles radio personality, Tattoo, inside her home.^[53]

In March 2012, Suleman posed semi-nude for the U.K. magazine, Closer.^[54] On April 5, 2012 it was reported that Suleman was back on welfare.^[55]

On April 30, 2012, Nadya Suleman filed for personal bankruptcy in Orange County Superior Court. Suleman said she had $50,000 in assets and up to $1 million in debts. Her home in La Habra was set to go up for auction. Earlier she was accused of neglecting her children while spending hundreds of dollars on herself for services such as Brazilian blowouts. However, the social workers after visiting her house determined that the children were not in danger and should not be removed.^[56]

Extended family[link]

Before knowledge of the octuplets became public, Suleman had been living with her six older children and mother in a small three-bedroom house in Whittier, California. Property records show the Suleman house in mortgage default, scheduled to be sold at auction in May 2009.^[57] Suleman's parents filed for bankruptcy in 2008, citing nearly $1 million in liabilities.^[58] In March 2010 it was reported that Suleman's own La Habra house was facing foreclosure.^[59]

Suleman's father, Edward Doud Suleman,^[60] identified himself as a former Iraqi military man and said he would be returning to his native Iraq as a translator and driver in order to financially support his daughter and her fourteen children.^[61] Suleman's mother, Angela Victoria Suleman, a retired high school teacher, has helped to look after the first six children. She has indicated that she is overwhelmed looking after them, and has been critical of her daughter in her earlier public statements. Amongst similar interviews, she revealed that her daughter never expected to give birth to the large number of children, nor did she expect to be unemployed and use public assistance.^[62]

See also[link]

	Greater Los Angeles portal
	Biography portal

References[link]

External links[link]

• Nadya Suleman at the Internet Movie Database

"The Greatest Generation" is a term coined by journalist Tom Brokaw to describe the generation^[1] who grew up in the United States during the deprivation of the Great Depression, and then went on to fight in World War II, as well as those whose productivity within the war's home front made a decisive material contribution to the war effort. The generation is sometimes referred to as the G.I. Generation (a term coined by authors William Strauss and Neil Howe who are known for their generational theory).^[2] It follows the Lost Generation who fought in World War I and precedes the Silent Generation who did not come of age until near the end of the war. Baby boomers are mostly the children of the Greatest Generation, although some are also silent generation. Their grandchildren are mostly of Generation X and Generation Y. The youngest members of the Greatest Generation may have Generation Z grandchildren.

The Greatest Generation is generally agreed to have begun in 1901, as those people would have turned 18 after World War I ended. However, people born from 1901-1909 came of age during the 1920s and identified more with the culture of that decade than the 1930s and 1940s. The core of the Greatest Generation consists of those born in 1914-1924, with 1925-1927 forming a bridge to the Silent Generation.

Most Greatest Generation members were the children of the Lost Generation (which spanned 1883-1900). Their children are generally Baby Boomers or Silent Generation.

Tom Brokaw's book[link]

Broadcast journalist Tom Brokaw wrote in his 1998 book The Greatest Generation, "it is, I believe, the greatest generation any society has ever produced."^[3] He argued that these men and women fought not for fame and recognition, but because it was the right thing to do. When they came back they rebuilt America into a superpower." The book was a great popular success.^[4] Some critics and historians found the phenomenon overblown, or simplistic.^[5][6] Others felt an implied criticism of the Baby Boom Generation, and defended that generation's social values against those of the Greatest Generation.^[7]

In their 1992 book Generations: The History of America's Future, 1584 to 2069, the historians William Strauss and Neil Howe define the "G.I. Generation" as the cohorts born in the United States from 1901 through 1924. This generation came of age during the Great Depression and World War II. ^[2]

Recently, criticism is being directed at the Greatest Generation for United States war crimes during World War II, such as American mutilation of Japanese war dead, as well as raising the Baby Boom generation poorly. The Baby Boom Generation is now, in some circles, being characterized as the most selfish generation in United States history. They are also being blamed for the financial and political turmoil taking place globally.^[8][9][10]

Famous Members[link]

• Creighton Abrams: (1914–1974), veteran of World War II, Korean War and general in the United States Army commanding military operations in the Vietnam War from 1968–72.
• Joseph Barbera: (1911-2006) American animator, co-founder of Hanna-Barbera Productions
• Saul Bellow: (1915–2005) Canadian/American author, winner of 1976 Nobel Prize in Literature
• Leonard Bernstein: (1918–1990) American conductor, composer, author, music lecturer and pianist
• Don Bradman: (1908-2001) "The Don", an Australian cricketer and widely acknowledged as the greatest batsman of all time.
• David Brinkley: (1920-2003), NBC News reporter and anchor
• Lenny Bruce: (1925–1966) American humorist and social critic
• William S. Burroughs: (1914–1997) American author
• George H.W. Bush: (b. 1924), 41st President of the United States
• Joseph Campbell: (1904–1987) American mythologist, writer and lecturer
• Jimmy Carter (b. 1924) 39th President of the United States, winner of 2002 Nobel Peace Prize
• Julia Child: (1912–2004) American chef, author and television personality.
• Lynn "Buck" Compton: (1921-2012), World War II Veteran of the 101st Airborne, famous for his portrayal in the Band of Brothers and for his prosecution of Sirhan Sirhan.
• Walter Cronkite: (1916–2009), reporter for CBS News from 1951 to 1997, one of eight journalists selected by the United States Army Air Forces to fly bombing raids over Germany in a B-17 Flying Fortress
• Benjamin O. Davis, Jr.: (1912–2002), United States Air Force General and commander of the World War II Tuskegee Airmen
• Joe DiMaggio: (1914–1999), famous player for the New York Yankees
• Eugene B. Fluckey: (1913–2007), United States Navy submarine commander who received the Medal of Honor during World War II
• Margot Fonteyn: (1919-1991) British prima ballerina assoluta
• Gerald Ford: (1913–2006) 38th President of the United States
• Joe Foss: (1915–2003), World War II USMC fighter ace, Governor of South Dakota, featured prominently in Brokaw's book
• Friz Freleng: (1905-1995), American animator
• Betty Friedan: (1921–2006) American writer, activist, and feminist
• John Glenn: (b. 1921) Marine Corps fighter pilot, Mercury astronaut, U.S. Senator from Ohio
• Billy Graham: (b. 1918), televangelist
• Woody Guthrie: (1912–1967), American musician and author
• William Hanna: (1910-2001), American animator
• Daniel Inouye: (b. 1924), third longest-serving US Senator in history, officer in the 442nd Regimental Combat Team
• Lyndon B. Johnson: (1908–1973) 36th President Of the United States
• Chuck Jones: (1912-2002), American Animator
• Howard Keel: (1919–2004), American actor
• John F. Kennedy: (1917–1963), 35th President of the United States
• Jack Kerouac: (1922–1969), American author
• Henry Kissinger: (b. 1923) American political scientist and diplomat. 1973 Nobel Peace Prize laureate.
• Zoya Kosmodemyanskaya: (1923-1941) Soviet partisan and revered person.
• Timothy Leary: (1921–1996) American psychologist and writer. Advocated advanced research into the therapeutic benefits of psychedelic drugs.
• Norman Mailer: (1923–2007) American author
• Thurgood Marshall:(1908–1991) American civil rights attorney and Associate Justice Of the United State Supreme Court
• Lee Marvin:(1924-1987) American Academy Award Winning Actor and World War II Veteran; Purple Heart recipient
• Bill Mauldin: (1921–2003) American cartoonist and author
• Joseph McCarthy: (1908–1957) United States Senator, anti-Communist crusader
• George McGovern: (b. 1922 ), U.S.Senator, Presidential candidate
• Arthur Miller: (1915–2005) American playwright
• Thelonious Monk: (1917–1982) American musician
• Edward R. Murrow: (1908–1965) American broadcast journalist
• Richard Nixon: (1913–1994) 37th President of the United States
• Robin Olds: (1922–2007), American fighter pilot, ace, general officer in the U.S. Air Force and veteran of World War II and Vietnam War.
• J. Robert Oppenheimer: (1904–1967) American theoretical physicist, head of Los Alamos laboratory during the Manhattan project
• Charlie Parker: (1920–1955) American musician
• Maya Plisetskaya: (b 1925) Soviet prima ballerina assoluta
• Jackson Pollock: (1912–1956) American painter, a major figure in the abstract expressionist movement
• Ronald Reagan: (1911–2004), 40th President of the United States
• Jackie Robinson: (1919–1972), American Major League Baseball player, Civil Rights pioneer
• J. D. Salinger: (1919–2010), an author best known for the controversial 1951 novel, The Catcher in the Rye
• Jonas Salk: (1914–1995) American medical researcher and virologist. Developed first safe and effective polio vaccine.
• Sophie Scholl: (1921-1943), Member of the White Rose resistance organisation. Executed by the nazis.
• Charles M. Schulz: (1922–2000), American cartoonist, served with U.S. 20th Armored Division in World War II
• Pete Seeger: (b. 1919) American musician and folklorist
• Eugene Sledge: (1923–2001), United States Marine who served in the Pacific Theater during World War II, specifically Peleliu and Okinawa. He documented his experience in his memoir, With the Old Breed. Certain material from the memoir was used by Ken Burns in his seven-part documentary The War. It was also used by Tom Hanks and Steven Spielberg in their miniseries The Pacific.
• Jimmy Stewart: (1908-1997), Academy Award-winning actor, enlisted in U.S. Army Air Corps during World War II.
• I.F. Stone: (1907–1989) American independent journalist
• Charles Upham: (1908-1994) New Zealand WW2 war veteran, only combat soldier to have been awarded two VCs.
• Paul Volcker: (b 1927) Chairman of the Federal Reserve Board from August 1979 to August 1987.
• Kurt Vonnegut: (1922–2007) American author
• Muddy Waters (1913–1983), American musician
• Hank Williams (1923–1953) American musician
• Ted Williams: (1915–2002), famous baseball player for Boston Red Sox, fought in World War II and Korean War
• Orson Welles: (1915–1985) American film director, actor, theatre director, screenwriter, and producer
• Jonathan Winters: (b. 1925) American comedian and actor.
• Richard Winters: (b. 1918–2011), World War II veteran of the 101st Airborne Division, famous for his portrayal in Band of Brothers
• Andrew Wyeth: (1917–2009) American realist painter
• Galina Ulanova: (1910-1998) Soviet prima ballerina assoluta
• Chuck Yeager: (b 1923) American pilot, WW2 ace, and first to break the sound barrier
• Howard Zinn: (1922–2010), author and historian famous for his A People's History of the United States
• Jacque Fresco: (1916- present) self educated structural designer, philosopher of science, concept artist, educator, and futurist.
• Carrol Shelby: (1923 - 2012) Hot-Rodder who went on to build innovative sports cars

See also[link]

• Military history of the United States during World War II
• United States home front during World War II
• Great Depression in the United States
• List of generations

Notes[link]

References[link]

• The Greatest Generation by Tom Brokaw (1998) ISBN 0-375-50202-5 (hardback) ISBN 0-385-33462-1 (paperback), depicts the Americans who came of age during the Great Depression and fought World War II.
• The Greatest Generation Speaks by Tom Brokaw (1999) ISBN 0-375-50394-3 (hardback) ISBN 0-385-33538-5 (paperback)
• The Great Boom 1950–2000: How a Generation of Americans Created the World's Most Prosperous Society by Robert Sobel (2000) ISBN 0-312-20890-1
• Generations: The History of America's Future, 1584 to 2069 by Strauss and Howe (1991) ISBN 0-688-11912-3

External links[link]

• Booknotes interview with Tom Brokaw on The Greatest Generation, March 7, 1999.
• LifeCourse Associates Generations in Anglo-American History

Ray Bradbury
Born	(1920-08-22) August 22, 1920 (age 91) Waukegan, Illinois
Nationality	American
Period	1938–present
Genres	Science fiction, fantasy, horror fiction, mystery (fiction)
Notable work(s)	The Martian Chronicles, Fahrenheit 451, Something Wicked This Way Comes
Influences H. P. Lovecraft, George Orwell, Mary Shelley, Edgar Allan Poe, George Bernard Shaw, Jules Verne, H.G. Wells, Yevgeny Zamyatin, Alex Raymond, Jack Williamson, Edgar Rice Burroughs
Influenced Leigh Brackett,[1] Neil Gaiman, Kim Harrison, Stephen King, [2], Dean Koontz, Charles L. Grant
Signature
www.raybradbury.com

Ray Douglas Bradbury (born August 22, 1920) is an American fantasy, horror, science fiction, and mystery writer. Best known for his dystopian novel Fahrenheit 451 (1953) and for the science fiction stories gathered together as The Martian Chronicles (1950) and The Illustrated Man (1951), Bradbury is one of the most celebrated among 20th and 21st century American writers of speculative fiction. Many of Bradbury's works have been adapted into television shows or films.

Early life[link]

Bradbury was born in 1920^[3] in Waukegan, Illinois^[4] to Esther Moberg Bradbury, a Swedish immigrant, and Leonard Spaulding Bradbury,^[5] a power and telephone lineman.^[6]

Ray Bradbury is related to the American Shakespeare scholar Douglas Spaulding.^[7] He is also directly descended from Mary Bradbury, who was tried, convicted and sentenced to hang as a witch in Salem, Massachusetts in 1692. She was married to Captain Thomas Bradbury of Salisbury, Massachusetts.

Bradbury was a reader and writer throughout his youth^[8] who was greatly influenced by the writings of Edgar Allan Poe. Bradbury was especially impressed with Poe's ability to draw readers into his works. In his youth, he spent much time in the Carnegie library in Waukegan, Illinois, reading such authors as H.G. Wells, Jules Verne, and his favorite author, Edgar Rice Burroughs who wrote novels such as Tarzan of the Apes and The Warlord of Mars.^[9] He loved Burroughs' The Warlord of Mars so much that at the age of twelve he wrote his own sequel.^[10] An aunt read him short stories when he was a child.^[11] He used this library as a setting for much of his novel Something Wicked This Way Comes, and depicted Waukegan as "Green Town" in some of his other semi-autobiographical novels—Dandelion Wine, Farewell Summer—as well as in many of his short stories.^[12]

He attributes to two incidents his lifelong habit of writing every day. The first of these, occurring when he was three years old, was his mother's taking him to see Lon Chaney's performance in The Hunchback of Notre Dame^[13]. The second incident occurred in 1932, when a carnival entertainer, one Mr. Electrico,^[14] touched the young man on the nose with an electrified sword, made his hair stand on end, and shouted, "Live forever!" It was from then that Bradbury wanted to live forever and decided on his career as an author in order to do what he was told: live forever. It was at that age that Bradbury first started to do magic. Magic was his first great love. If he had not discovered writing, he would have become a magician.^[15]

The Bradbury family lived in Tucson, Arizona in 1926–27 and 1932–33 as the father pursued employment, each time returning to Waukegan, but eventually settled in Los Angeles in 1934, when Ray was thirteen. Bradbury graduated from Los Angeles High School, where he took poetry and short story writing courses that furthered his interest in writing,^[16] but he did not attend college. Instead, he sold newspapers at the corner of South Norton Avenue and Olympic Boulevard. In regard to his education, Bradbury said:

It was in UCLA's Powell Library, in a study room with typewriters for rent, that Bradbury wrote his classic story of a book-burning future, The Fireman, which contained about 25,000 words. It was later published at about 50,000 words under the name, Fahrenheit 451.^[18]

Career[link]

Bradbury in 1975

Ray Bradbury was free to start a career in writing when, owing to his bad eyesight, he was rejected admission into the military during World War II. Having been inspired by science fiction heroes like Flash Gordon and Buck Rogers, Bradbury began to publish science fiction stories in fanzines in 1938. Bradbury was invited by Forrest J Ackerman to attend the Los Angeles Science Fiction Society, which at the time met at Clifton’s Cafeteria in downtown Los Angeles. This was where he met the writers Robert A. Heinlein, Emil Petaja, Fredric Brown, Henry Kuttner, Leigh Brackett, and Jack Williamson.^{[citation needed]} His first published story was "Hollerbochen's Dilemma", which appeared in the fanzine Imagination! in January, 1938. Launching his own fanzine in 1939, titled Futuria Fantasia, he wrote most of its four issues, each limited to under 100 copies. Between 1941 and 1947, he was a contributor to Rob Wagner's film magazine, Script.

Bradbury's first paid piece, "Pendulum", written with Henry Hasse, was published in the pulp magazine Super Science Stories in November 1941, for which he earned $15.^[19] He became a full-time writer by the end of 1942. His first collection of short stories, Dark Carnival, was published in 1947 by Arkham House, a small press in Sauk City, Wis., owned by writer August Derleth.

A chance encounter in a Los Angeles bookstore with the British expatriate writer Christopher Isherwood gave Bradbury the opportunity to put The Martian Chronicles into the hands of a respected critic. Isherwood's glowing review^[20] followed.

Once described as a "Midwest surrealist", he is generally labeled a science fiction writer. Bradbury resists that categorization, however:

First of all, I don't write science fiction. I've only done one science fiction book and that's Fahrenheit 451, based on reality. It was named so to represent the temperature at which paper ignites. Science fiction is a depiction of the real. Fantasy is a depiction of the unreal. So Martian Chronicles is not science fiction, it's fantasy. It couldn't happen, you see? That's the reason it's going to be around a long time—because it's a Greek myth, and myths have staying power.^[21]

On another occasion, Bradbury observed that the novel touches on the alienation of people by media:

In writing the short novel Fahrenheit 451 I thought I was describing a world that might evolve in four or five decades. But only a few weeks ago, in Beverly Hills one night, a husband and wife passed me, walking their dog. I stood staring after them, absolutely stunned. The woman held in one hand a small cigarette-package-sized radio, its antenna quivering. From this sprang tiny copper wires which ended in a dainty cone plugged into her right ear. There she was, oblivious to man and dog, listening to far winds and whispers and soap-opera cries, sleep-walking, helped up and down curbs by a husband who might just as well not have been there. This was not fiction.^[22]

Besides his fiction work, Bradbury has written many short essays on the arts and culture, attracting the attention of critics in this field. Bradbury also hosted "The Ray Bradbury Theater" which was based on his short stories. Bradbury was a consultant for the American Pavilion at the 1964 New York World's Fair and the original exhibit housed in Epcot's Spaceship Earth geosphere at Walt Disney World.^[23][24][25] In the 1980s, he concentrated on detective fiction.^[26]

Personal life[link]

Ray Bradbury married Marguerite McClure (1922–2003) in 1947, and they had four daughters. Bradbury has never obtained a driver's license.^[27]

Bradbury was a close friend of Charles Addams, and Addams illustrated the first of Bradbury's stories about the Elliotts, a family that would resemble Addams' own Addams Family placed in rural Illinois. Bradbury's first story about them was "Homecoming," published in the 1946 Halloween issue of Mademoiselle, with Addams illustrations. He and Addams planned a larger collaborative work that would tell the family's complete history, but it never materialized, and according to a 2001 interview, they went their separate ways.^[28] In October 2001, Bradbury published all the Family stories he had written in one book with a connecting narrative, From the Dust Returned, featuring a wraparound Addams cover of the original 'Homecoming' illustration.^[29]

Another close friend is animator Ray Harryhausen. During a BAFTA 2010 awards tribute in honour of Ray Harryhausen's 90th birthday, Bradbury talks of how he first met Harryhausen at Forrest J Ackerman's house when they were both 18 years old. Their shared love for Sci-Fi, King Kong, and the King Vidor directed film The Fountainhead, written by Ayn Rand, was the beginning of a lifelong friendship. These early influences inspired the pair to believe in themselves and affirm their career choices. Since their first meeting they have kept in touch at least once a month, spanning over 70 years of friendship.^[30].

Bradbury made regular appearances at science fiction conventions until 2009 when he retired from the circuit on the grounds of old age and lack of energy.^{[citation needed]}

Despite the numerous (and often prescient) technological predictions of his novels, he has expressed skepticism about the value of the Internet to society, stating that it has reduced people's ability to communicate and hold conversations with each other.^{[citation needed]} He has also exhibited scepticism with regard to modern technology by resisting the conversion of his work into e-books and stating that

"We have too many cellphones. We've got too many internets. We have got to get rid of those machines. We have too many machines now."^[31]

Bradbury has chosen a burial place at Westwood Village Memorial Park Cemetery and a headstone that reads "Author of Fahrenheit 451".^[32][33]

Critical reception[link]

Critical opinion of Bradbury's work is sharply divided. In his review of The Martian Chronicles,^[20] Christopher Isherwood wrote:

... the sheer lift and power of a truly original imagination exhilarates... His is a very great and unusual talent.

At the other extreme, science fiction author and critic Damon Knight wrote:^[34]

Although [Bradbury] has a large following among science fiction readers, there is at least an equally large contingent of people who cannot stomach his work at all... His imagination is mediocre; he borrows nearly all his backgrounds and props, and distorts them badly; wherever he is required to invent anything—a planet, a Martian, a machine—the image is flat and unconvincing.

Bibliography[link]

Adaptations to other media[link]

From 1951 to 1954, 27 of Bradbury's stories were adapted by Al Feldstein for EC Comics, and 16 of these were collected in the paperbacks, The Autumn People (1965) and Tomorrow Midnight (1966), both published by Ballantine Books with cover illustrations by Frank Frazetta.

Also in the early 1950s, adaptations of Bradbury's stories were televised on a variety of anthology shows, including Tales of Tomorrow, Lights Out, Out There, Suspense, CBS Television Workshop, Jane Wyman's Fireside Theatre, Star Tonight, Windows and Alfred Hitchcock Presents. "The Merry-Go-Round," a half-hour film adaptation of Bradbury's "The Black Ferris," praised by Variety, was shown on Starlight Summer Theater in 1954 and NBC's Sneak Preview in 1956. During that same period, several stories were adapted for radio drama, notably on the science fiction anthologies Dimension X and its successor X Minus One.

Producer William Alland first brought Bradbury to movie theaters in 1953 with It Came from Outer Space, a Harry Essex screenplay developed from Bradbury's screen treatment "Atomic Monster". Three weeks later came the release of Eugène Lourié's The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms (1953), which featured one scene based on Bradbury's "The Fog Horn", about a sea monster mistaking the sound of a fog horn for the mating cry of a female. Bradbury's close friend Ray Harryhausen produced the stop-motion animation of the creature. Bradbury would later return the favor by writing a short story, "Tyrannosaurus Rex", about a stop-motion animator who strongly resembled Harryhausen. Over the next 50 years, more than 35 features, shorts, and TV movies were based on Bradbury's stories or screenplays.

Bradbury was hired in 1953 by director John Huston to work on the screenplay for the 1956 film Moby Dick, which was faithfully based on the novel by Herman Melville and starred Gregory Peck as Captain Ahab, Richard Basehart as Ishmael, and Orson Welles as Father Mapple. A significant result of the film was Bradbury's book Green Shadows, White Whale, a semi-fictionalized account of the making of the film, including Bradbury's dealings with Huston and his time in Ireland, where exterior scenes that were set in New Bedford, Massachusetts, were filmed.

Bradbury's short story I Sing the Body Electric (from the book of the same name) was adapted for the 100th episode of The Twilight Zone. The episode was first aired on May 18, 1962.

In 1965, three of Ray Bradbury's stories were adapted for the stage. These included The Wonderful Ice Cream Suit, The Day It Rained Forever and Device Out Of Time. The latter was adapted from his 1957 novel Dandelion Wine. The plays debuted at the Coronet Theater in Hollywood and featured Booth Coleman, Joby Baker, Fredric Villani, Arnold Lessing, Eddie Sallia, Keith Taylor, Richard Bull, Gene Otis Shane, Henry T. Delgado, F. Murray Abraham, Anne Loos and Len Lesser. The director was Charles Rome Smith and the production company was Pandemonium Productions.

Oskar Werner and Julie Christie starred in Fahrenheit 451 (1966), an adaptation of Bradbury's novel directed by François Truffaut.

In 1966 Bradbury helped Lynn Garrison create AVIAN, a specialist aviation magazine. For the first issue Bradbury wrote a poem – Planes that land on grass.

In 1969, The Illustrated Man was brought to the big screen, starring Rod Steiger, Claire Bloom and Robert Drivas. Containing the prologue and three short stories from the book, the film received mediocre reviews.

The Martian Chronicles became a three-part TV miniseries starring Rock Hudson which was first broadcast by NBC in 1980. Bradbury found the miniseries "just boring".^[35]

The 1983 horror film Something Wicked This Way Comes, starring Jason Robards and Jonathan Pryce, is based on the Bradbury novel of the same name.

In 1984, Michael McDonough of Brigham Young University produced "Bradbury 13," a series of 13 audio adaptations of famous Ray Bradbury stories, in conjunction with National Public Radio. The full-cast dramatizations featured adaptations of "The Ravine," "Night Call, Collect," "The Veldt", "There Was an Old Woman," "Kaleidoscope," "Dark They Were, and Golden-Eyed", "The Screaming Woman," "A Sound of Thunder," "The Man," "The Wind," "The Fox and the Forest," "Here There Be Tygers" and "The Happiness Machine". Voiceover actor Paul Frees provided narration, while Bradbury himself was responsible for the opening voiceover; Greg Hansen and Roger Hoffman scored the episodes. The series won a Peabody Award as well as two Gold Cindy awards and was released on CD on May 1, 2010. The series began airing on BBC Radio 4 Extra on June 12, 2011.

From 1985 to 1992 Bradbury hosted a syndicated anthology television series, The Ray Bradbury Theater, for which he adapted 65 of his stories. Each episode would begin with a shot of Bradbury in his office, gazing over mementoes of his life, which he states (in narrative) are used to spark ideas for stories. During the first two seasons, Bradbury also provided additional voiceover narration specific to the featured story and appeared on screen.

Five episodes of the USSR science fiction TV series This Fantastic World adapted Ray Bradbury's stories I Sing The Body Electric, Fahrenheit 451, A Piece of Wood, To the Chicago Abyss, and Forever and the Earth.^[36] A Soviet adaptation of "The Veldt" was filmed in 1987.^[37]

The 1998 film The Wonderful Ice Cream Suit, released by Touchstone Pictures, was written by Ray Bradbury. It was based on his story "The Magic White Suit" originally published in The Saturday Evening Post in 1957. The story had also previously been adapted as a play, a musical, and a 1958 television version.

In 2002, Bradbury's own Pandemonium Theatre Company production of Fahrenheit 451 at Burbank's Falcon Theatre combined live acting with projected digital animation by the Pixel Pups. In 1984, Telarium released a for Commodore 64 based on Fahrenheit 451.^[38] Bradbury and director Charles Rome Smith co-founded Pandemonium in 1964, staging the New York production of The World of Ray Bradbury (1964), adaptations of "The Pedestrian", "The Veldt", and "To the Chicago Abyss."

In 2005, the film A Sound of Thunder was released, loosely based upon the short story of the same name. The film The Butterfly Effect revolves around the same theory as A Sound of Thunder and contains many references to its inspiration.^[39] Short film adaptations of A Piece of Wood and The Small Assassin were released in 2005 and 2007 respectively.^[40][41]

In 2005, it was reported that Bradbury was upset with filmmaker Michael Moore for using the title Fahrenheit 9/11, which is an allusion to Bradbury's Fahrenheit 451, for his documentary about the George W. Bush administration. Bradbury expressed displeasure with Moore's use of the title but stated that his resentment was not politically motivated. Bradbury asserts that he does not want any of the money made by the movie, nor does he believe that he deserves it. He pressured Moore to change the name, but to no avail. Moore called Bradbury two weeks before the film's release to apologize, saying that the film's marketing had been set in motion a long time ago and it was too late to change the title.^[42]

In 2008, the film Ray Bradbury's Chrysalis was produced by Roger Lay Jr. for Urban Archipelago Films, based upon the short story of the same name. The film won the best feature award at the International Horror and Sci-Fi Film Festival in Phoenix. The film has international distribution by Arsenal Pictures and domestic distribution by Lightning Entertainment.^[43]

In 2010, The Martian Chronicles was adapted for radio by Colonial Radio Theatre on the Air.

Bradbury's works and approach to writing are documented in Terry Sanders' film Ray Bradbury: Story of a Writer (1963).

Honors[link]

• The Ray Bradbury Award, presented by the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America for screenwriting, was named in Bradbury's honor.
• For his contribution to the motion picture industry, Ray Bradbury was given a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 6644 Hollywood Blvd.
• In 1971, an impact crater on Earth's moon was named "Dandelion Crater" by the Apollo 15 astronauts, in honor of Bradbury's novel Dandelion Wine.
• Ray Bradbury Park was dedicated in Waukegan, Illinois in 1990. The author was present for the ribbon-cutting ceremony. The park contains locations described in Dandelion Wine, most notably the "113 steps" stairs. In 2009 an interpretive panel designed by artist Michael Pavelich was added to the park detailing the history of Ray Bradbury and Ray Bradbury Park.
• An asteroid discovered in 1992 was named "9766 Bradbury" in his honor.
• In 1994, Bradbury received the Peggy V. Helmerich Distinguished Author Award, presented annually by the Tulsa Library Trust.
• In 1994, He won an Emmy Award for the screenplay of The Halloween Tree.
• Medal for Distinguished Contribution to American Letters Award for 2000 from the National Book Foundation.^[44]
• Honorary doctorate from Woodbury University in 2003. Bradbury presents the Ray Bradbury Creativity Award each year at Woodbury University. Winners include sculptor Robert Graham, actress Anjelica Huston, Cosmopolitan editor Helen Gurley Brown, director Irvin Kershner, humorist Stan Freberg, and architect Jon A. Jerde.
• On November 17, 2004, Bradbury was the recipient of the National Medal of Arts, presented by President George W. Bush and Laura Bush. Bradbury has also received the World Fantasy Award life achievement, Stoker Award life achievement, SFWA Grand Master, SF Hall of Fame Living Inductee, and First Fandom Award. He received an Emmy Award for his work on The Halloween Tree. He received the Prometheus Award for Fahrenheit 451.
• On April 16, 2007, Bradbury received a special citation from The Pulitzer Board, "for his distinguished, prolific, and deeply influential career as an unmatched author of science fiction and fantasy."^[45]
• In 2007, Bradbury received the French Commandeur Ordre des Arts et des Lettres medal.
• In 2008, he was named SFPA Grandmaster.^[46]
• In 2010, Spike TV Scream Awards Comic-Con Icon Award went to Ray Bradbury
• In 2010, on occasion of his 90th birthday, Bradbury received Pulsar Award from Sarajevo SF Club PulSar

Notes[link]

References[link]

• Albright, Donn (1990). Bradbury Bits & Pieces: The Ray Bradbury Bibliography, 1974-88. Starmont House. ISBN 1-55742-151-X. 
• Eller, Jonathan R.; Touponce, William F. (2004). Ray Bradbury: The Life of Fiction. Kent State University Press. ISBN 0-87338-779-1. 
• Nolan, William F. (1975). The Ray Bradbury Companion: A Life and Career History, Photolog, and Comprehensive Checklist of Writings. Gale Research. ISBN 0-8103-0930-0. 
• Paradowski, Robert J.; Rhynes, Martha E. (2001). Ray Bradbury. Salem Press. 
• Reid, Robin Anne (2000). Ray Bradbury: A Critical Companion. Greenwood Press. ISBN 0-313-30901-9. 
• Tuck, Donald H. (1974). The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction and Fantasy. Chicago: Advent. pp. 61–63. ISBN 0-911682-20-1. 
• Weist, Jerry (2002). Bradbury, an Illustrated Life: A Journey to Far Metaphor. William Morrow and Company. ISBN 0-06-001182-3. 
• Weller, Sam (2005). The Bradbury Chronicles: The Life of Ray Bradbury. HarperCollins. ISBN 0-06-054581-X. 

Further Reading:

Eller, Jonathan B. Becoming Ray Bradbury. University of Illinois Press. ISBN 0-252-03629-8.

External links[link]

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: Ray Bradbury

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Ray Bradbury

• Ray Bradbury - Official Website
• Bradburymedia - detailed coverage of Bradbury's work in film, TV, radio, theatre
• Sam Weller (Spring 2010). "Ray Bradbury, The Art of Fiction No. 203". Paris Review. http://www.theparisreview.org/interviews/6012/the-art-of-fiction-no-203-ray-bradbury. 
• Ray Bradbury at the Internet Movie Database
• Ray Bradbury at the Internet Speculative Fiction Database
• Center for Ray Bradbury Studies
• Ray Bradbury: Story of a Writer, film by Terry Sanders
• Survey of Bradbury Scholarship - Chronological analysis of Bradbury criticism
• Full stories list with filter by collection, year and alphabet
• A film clip "Ray Bradbury: Story of a Writer by David L. Wolper" is available for free download at the Internet Archive [more]
• Works by Ray Bradbury on Open Library at the Internet Archive
• Ray Bradbury biography at the Science Fiction Hall of Fame

Lucy Kirkwood (born c. 1984) is a British playwright. She is writer in residence at Clean Break Theatre Company.

Kirkwood is from East London and has a degree in English Literature from the University of Edinburgh where she performed as part of the improvisational comedy troupe, The Improverts.

History[link]

In 2005, she wrote and starred in her first play, Grady Hot Potato, at the Bedlam Theatre. It was also selected for the National Student Drama Festival.

The following year she took two productions of her second play, Geronimo to the Edinburgh Fringe, under the title The Umbilical Project. The two plays, Cut and Uncut, were an experiment in cutting the cord between writer and production. Uncut was directed by Lucy herself and Cut by a completely separate company under the direction of Matt Addicott. No contact was made between the two companies during the rehearsal period, prompting the tag line "Two casts, two crews, two directors, two venues, one new play... no communication".^[1]

Her third play Guns or Butter, about soldiers being overcome by the horror of war, was written for the Terror 2007 Festival at the Union Theatre, London.^[2]

Tinderbox, a dark comedy set in a fictional 21st Century England, premiered at the Bush Theatre in 2008. It starred Jamie Foreman and Sheridan Smith.^[3] In the same year she also contributed to the Bush's 50 Ways To Leave Your Lover. Her version of Ibsen's Hedda Gabler, entitled Hedda, premiered at London's Gate Theatre in 2008 to favourable reviews.

Kirkwood's promenade play about Sex Traffiking It Felt Empty When The Heart Went At First^[4] But It Is Alright Now was produced by Clean Break Theatreat the Arcola theatre. Her short Horror piece Psychogeography premiered at the Bush in 2008 and was revived at the Southwark Playhouse. She is also under commission to the Manhattan Theatre Club to write a science play. She is also developing a TV series with Kudos Film & Television and writes for the Company Pictures TV series Skins.^[5]

External links[link]

• Lucy Kirkwood at the Internet Movie Database

References[link]