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20 August 2012

Let's Talk About The Martian Chronicles by Ray Bradbury

So, cats and dogs, ever since Ray Bradbury passed on in June, many of us in the genre reading and writing communities have been thinking about his incredible contributions. Personally, I rewatched the excellent Something Wicked This Way Comes and attempted, albeit a little lamely, to live up to Mr. Bradbury's call to arms for writers.

Over at Stringing Words, we've planned to make The Martian Chronicles our book for the month of August. Given the furious dedication of some of our core members, myself included, to attempting to write a novel this month, it's been rough going. (I also hampered my Martian Chronicles reading by starting Game of Thrones, an incredibly absorbing and lengthy work. It was excellent, by the way.)

So, I wanted to let all of you know that we're getting into discussion of The Martian Chronicles over at the forum shortly, should you wish to come over and join in the conversation. I plan to post about it as I read over there.

If forum joining isn't your thing, I'm planning a Twitter conversation about The Martian Chronicles for the second Sunday in September, that would be September 9th, let's say 3-4pm EST. Hashtag #martianchronicles. It's a short book, but well worth the read, as I recall. Let's honour Ray Bradbury's memory by reading him. I hope you join us and please spread the word!

15 comments:

Andrew Leon said...

I've actually been wanting to re-read Martian and a bunch of his other stuff, lately. I'm not sure when I'll get to it, though. I'm so behind!

Elizabeth Twist said...

It is not that long! My edition is 200 scantily typeset pages or so. I hope you get a little bit under your belt and can join me for some Twitversation in September.

Andrew Leon said...

Well, if I was on twitter, I might do that, but I'm still avoiding it like the plague. I don't need another technology thing to tie up my time. I'll go check the length in my edition, because I remember it as being a longish book, especially for Bradbury. Are you sure yours isn't abridged?

Elizabeth Twist said...

Pretty sure. My edition is not a p-back, it's a hardcover, so the pages may be larger. Your mileage may vary. Having just finished Game of Thrones, almost any book looks short to me.

Too bad about you and Twitter. I find it's the least time consuming of my technology habits and the most satisfying in terms of transient conversations. I don't know if it's my personal brilliance or what, but I score a few new followers almost every time I post.

I guess if you like random cocktail parties where you speak to complete strangers you'll probably never encounter again but who might be wildly entertaining for a few minutes, it's great?

Andrew Leon said...

My current edition is also hardcover. It's a collected volume of Bradbury's works, although I'm not remembering exactly what's in it. Martian takes up a lot of it, though. I used to have a paperback of it, but I'm not sure where that got off to.

As for twitter, well, I've mostly broken myself of my bad FB habits and tend to only use it responsibly these days (no more farmville), so I'll have to see. Blogging takes up enough of my time that I have not wanted to get involved in anything else that could conceivably siphon off even more writing time.

Also, I'm not most terse person, so 140 characters seems more limiting than I'd like. I could use more followers, though, I suppose.

Elizabeth Twist said...

I've found there isn't a ton of crossover from Twitter followers to blog followers. In other words, if someone follows you over there, they aren't necessarily that likely to follow your blog. However, I do get a small bump in blog stats any time I post a link to my blog at Twitter, so it's doing something. And it is much easier to build a Twitter following than it is to build a blog following. The time investment is much, much lighter. Pros and cons.

Andrew Leon said...

Hmm... okay, well, I'll think about it. If it's like everything else, though, I'll hop on board and everyone else will decide it's not a "thing" anymore.

Mark K said...

I just sit agog and amazement at your writing volume and drive. I hope you don't burn out as I'd like a signed copy of your book, please :)

Many thanks Aunty Liz :) x

Elizabeth Twist said...

You'll be first on my list for a signed copy of any book I actually manage to finish, Mark. Pinky swear.

So good to see you online! I am actually looking forward to the fall and everyone's en masse return to the internet, my own included.

Mina Lobo said...

Hey, a Twitter conversation, what a nifty idea! (I'd seriously never heard of scheduling something like that, but then I freely admit I'm ign'ant.) I haven't read this, but I'll at least spread the word!
Some Dark Romantic

Catherine Stine said...

Hey, sounds great! I LOVED the Martian Chronicles, and I actually taught two of the chapters in a creative writing class I ran this summer.

Laura Eno said...

I loved the Martian Chronicles as a teenager. I need to go back and read it again.
Thanks for your comment over on Jay's blog about my guy in the red shirt. It gave me a giggle.

Laura Eno
A Shift in Dimensions

Mina Lobo said...

Aw, fudge - I missed it. I was all stoked for the Twitter convo, stoked to read Martian Chronicles, and yet I totally missed it. Sorry, Dude. :-(
Some Dark Romantic

Elizabeth Twist said...

Ha, Mina: I skipped it too! There just wasn't enough interest. So no worries. We've got a super slow conversation about it developing at Stringing Words (stringingwords.com)(a tiny but hearty writer's forum to which I belong) if you're still interested in reading and discussing.

Mina Lobo said...

^Whew! I got caught up in a book by a fellow blogger and want to finish it before I start in on Martian Chronicles (I know there are folks who can juggle reading multiple books at a time, but I ain't one of them). Once I've got myself together, I will totally join in. Thanks!
Some Dark Romantic

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