The Bradbury Challenge

People throw around he word, “legend” as if it were a handful of peanut shells at a steakhouse these days. Advertisers and public relations people constantly use the word to sell you material goods or ideas. That’s what they do and I don’t begrudge them for it – still dissemination occurs. The word “legend” is in danger of losing its impact. Fortunately for us true legends still walk the earth; their impact still reverberating through the past & the present and will be felt long into the future. Cities may crumble and tales will go in and out of fashion but a legend – that will endure.

Am I pouring it on enough – perhaps too much? No, not in this case; the legend I’m talking about is Ray Bradbury.

I was poking around the official Ray Bradbury site (http://www.raybradbury.com/) and found a choppy Quicktime interview with one of my all time favorite authors. The interview, for some reason, is cut into a dozen or so segments. Perhaps, ultimately, this is due to the fact that Mr. Bradbury does not have an active interest in the internet; come to think of it his choice of the dissemination of story is a big electric typewriter that he has used for years. His site (or web presence) was pieced together by his publishers at Harper Collins and he doesn’t have too much to do with it.

Please forgive me I’m digressing.

On this page (http://www.raybradbury.com/at_home_clips.html), in one segment of the interview entitled, “Bradbury of Short Stories”, Mr. Bradbury says, “…You defy yourself to write 52 bad short stories in a row – and it’s impossible. Somewhere along the line you’re gonna write a good one.” This statement started me to thinking. What a great idea; 52 short stories – a years worth of stories! As Ray said himself, “…they cant’ be all bad.”

…Well, maybe?

So this being said, I’m thinking of accepting the Bradbury Challenge but first there are certain things that I must do, first I’m going to finish my novel, “Bonny, Read & Rackham”, then I may participate in Nanowrimo (http://www.nanowrimo.org/) that is coming up in November. After these literary feats of wonder I think I’m going to accept the Bradbury challenge. When a legend suggests something like this I must ask myself the question – hey, why not? After all, they can’t all be bad.

…Right?