Editing Ray Bradbury (section)

==Career==
[[File:Amazing stories 194412.jpg|thumb|right|upright|Bradbury's "Undersea Guardians" was the cover story for the December 1944 issue of ''[[Amazing Stories]]''.]]

Bradbury was free to start a career in writing when, owing to his bad eyesight, he was rejected for induction into the military during [[World War II]]. Inspired by science-fiction heroes such as [[Flash Gordon]] and [[Buck Rogers]], he began publishing science-fiction stories in fanzines in 1938. He was invited by [[Forrest J. Ackerman]]{{Citation needed|date=June 2012}} to attend the Los Angeles Science Fiction Society, which at the time met at [[Clifton's Cafeteria]] in downtown Los Angeles. There he met [[Robert A. Heinlein]], [[Emil Petaja]], [[Fredric Brown]], [[Henry Kuttner]], [[Leigh Brackett]] and [[Jack Williamson]]. Bradbury's first published story was "[[Hollerbochen's Dilemma]]", in the January 1938 number of Ackerman's [[fanzine]] ''Imagination!''.<ref name=isfdb/> In July 1939, Ackerman and his girlfriend [[Morojo]] gave 19-year-old Bradbury the money to head to New York for the [[1st World Science Fiction Convention|First World Science Fiction Convention]] in New York City, and funded Bradbury's fanzine, ''[[Futuria Fantasia]]''.<ref>[http://www.raybradbury.com/ubb/Forum1/HTML/000825.html Marguerite bradbury – Ray Bradbury Discussion] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170531133222/http://www.raybradbury.com/ubb/Forum1/HTML/000825.html |date=May 31, 2017 }} Ray Bradbury Official website</ref> Bradbury wrote most of its four issues, each volume printed in limited number due to publishing costs.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Eller |first=Jonathan |title=Becoming Ray Bradbury |year=2011 |publisher=University of Illinois Press |isbn=9780252093357 |pages=37}}</ref> Between 1940 and 1947, he was a contributor to [[Rob Wagner]]'s film magazine, ''Script''.<ref name="Paris Review"/>

In 1939, Bradbury joined [[Laraine Day]]'s Wilshire Players Guild, where for two years he wrote and acted in several plays. They were, as Bradbury later described, "so incredibly bad" that he gave up play-writing for two decades.<ref name="bradbury1972">{{cite book|title=The Veldt|publisher=Dramatic Publishing|author=Bradbury, Ray|author-link=Ray Bradbury| year=1972| location=Woodstock, Illinois|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=9YP_awFRqToC&pg=PA4| page=4| isbn=978-1-58342-028-7}}</ref> His 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.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.s9.com/Biography/Bradbury-Raymond-Douglas| title=Biographies: Bradbury, Raymond Douglas|publisher=s9.com|access-date=December 9, 2009}}</ref>
[[File:Ray Bradbury 1959.JPG|thumb|Bradbury in 1959]]
Bradbury sold his first solo story, "The Lake", for $13.75 at 22 and became a full-time writer by 24.<ref name="playboy"/> His first collection of short stories, ''[[Dark Carnival (short story collection)|Dark Carnival]]'', was published in 1947 by [[Arkham House]], a small press in [[Sauk City, Wisconsin]], owned by [[August Derleth]]. Reviewing ''Dark Carnival'' for the ''[[New York Herald Tribune]]'', [[Will Cuppy]] proclaimed Bradbury "suitable for general consumption" and predicted that he would become a writer of the caliber of British fantasist [[John Collier (fiction writer)|John Collier]].<ref>Cuppy, Will, "Review of Dark Carnival", ''New York Herald Tribune Books'', May 25, 1947.</ref>

After a rejection notice from the pulp ''[[Weird Tales]]'', Bradbury submitted "Homecoming" to ''[[Mademoiselle (magazine)|Mademoiselle]]'', where it was spotted by a young editorial assistant named [[Truman Capote]]. Capote picked the Bradbury manuscript from a [[slush pile]], which led to its publication. "Homecoming" won a place in the [[O. Henry Award]] Stories of 1947.<ref>{{Cite web|last=Robinson|first=Dean|date=June 6, 2012|title=Ray Bradbury, From Truman Capote to A.T.M.'s|url=https://archive.nytimes.com/6thfloor.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/06/06/ray-bradbury-from-truman-capote-to-a-t-m-s/|access-date=December 29, 2022|website=The 6th Floor Blog|language=en}}</ref>

Bradbury first published ''The Fireman'', a short story about 25,000 words long, in ''[[Galaxy Science Fiction]]'' in February 1951. Bradbury was asked to extend it by 25,000 words so that it would be published as a novel. Bradbury got the title after the [[Los Angeles]] fire chief told him that book paper burns at 451&nbsp;°F. In [[UCLA]]'s [[Powell Library]], in a study room with typewriters for rent for ten cents per half-hour., Bradbury wrote his classic story of a [[book burning]] future, ''[[Fahrenheit 451]]'', which was about 50,000 words long, costing him $9.80 in typewriter rental fees.<ref>{{cite web |author=NEA |date=June 6, 2010 |title=NEA Big Read: Meet Ray Bradbury |url=https://www.arts.gov/stories/video/nea-big-read-meet-ray-bradbury |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230610182031/https://www.arts.gov/stories/video/nea-big-read-meet-ray-bradbury |archive-date=June 10, 2023 |access-date=June 10, 2023 |website=National Endowment for the Arts |publisher=arts.gov}}</ref> ''[[Fahrenheit 451]]'' was also published in serial form in the March, April and May 1954 issues of [[Playboy Magazine]].<ref name=aggelis_pxxix>{{cite book|editor-last=Aggelis|editor-first=Steven L.|title=Conversations with Ray Bradbury|year=2004|publisher=University Press of Mississippi|location=Jackson, MS|isbn=1-57806-640-9|page=xxix|quote=...[in 1954 Bradbury received] two other awards—National Institute of Arts and Letters Award in Literature and Commonwealth Club of California Literature Gold Medal Award—for ''Fahrenheit 451'', which is published in three installments in ''Playboy''.}}</ref> ''Fahrenheit 451'' remains a staple in discussions about censorship and dystopian futures.

A chance encounter in a Los Angeles bookstore with 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 followed.<ref name="CI50">{{Citation| last=Isherwood| first=Christopher| author-link=Christopher Isherwood| title=A Review of ''The Martian Chronicles''| journal=Tomorrow| volume=10| pages=56–58| date=October 1950}}</ref>