JiM's Dreams

So, yesterday, despite killer headache and serious ennui, we went downtown to the gallery where Ray Bradbury was expected to be signing books. He is in his mid-80's, walks with a walker and is still amazingly gracious to his fans. The gallery was full of prints of his artwork or artwork inspired by his books and movie scripts over the years. Despite having to wait about 3 hours in a hot gallery, the people-watching made it well worth the effort. We met a delightful avocational astronomer who told us all about his Trek collection, which he builds by wandering the flea markets since he doesn't go to fan conventions. We met a nice 9 yr old in a Ramones t-shirt with neon hair extensions. There were bashful teen aged boys there with their moms, aged hippy fanboys there with long-suffering wives, intense young literature students with all-natural fibers and drawers full of secret manuscripts, unexpectedly kind butch lesbian magazine editors with flossy assistants of either sex.

I bought a new Bradbury book and we bought one in a funky little bookstore in Point Reyes Station, so we got those signed. Mr. Bradbury's son(?) was helping him and was ably filling in the small chat and the thank-yous since I think Mr. Bradbury is a bit hard of hearing now.

Despite being somewhat grumpy with the heat and the crowd and the headache, I really was glad to have been there. I heard him speak about 8 years ago on a panel with Ray Harryhausen abut creativity and the process of creation. Nice to see that he is still creating. It gives one hope.