Ray Bradbury and Robert Heinlein were the introduction to intelligent literature for me when I was 10 years old. I remember pouring through "The Mars" stories and comparing each author to discover a world of science fiction and fantasy that I have never stopped reading. As I got older I became more broad in my reading tastes but I always looked for the new stuff when ever I could in the Bradbury and Heinlein sections of library and bookstore.

Bradbury had a spooky nature that I came to appreciate as I got older. There was also a depth to his writing that I discovered as I matured in my understanding of the world at large. When I was 10 I read what was "really neat" and then as I got older I became aware that there was social comment as well.

The Martian Chronicles was taken out of the library by me so often that the librarian at my high school gave it to me as a graduation gift. I have reread it many times in the last 40+ years and I suspect I will again very soon.

Don