I just saw this item that Ray Bradbury has passed away. He was one of the influential science fiction writers in my own live, sometime more "fantastic" than "science".
His grandson said this:
His grandson, Danny Karapetian, shared these words with io9 about his grandfather's passing: "If I had to make any statement, it would be how much I love and miss him, and I look forward to hearing everyone's memories about him. He influenced so many artists, writers, teachers, scientists, and it's always really touching and comforting to hear their stories. Your stories. His legacy lives on in his monumental body of books, film, television and theater, but more importantly, in the minds and hearts of anyone who read him, because to read him was to know him. He was the biggest kid I know."
He will be missed.
UPDATE 5:00PM est
I've come across a number of testimonials today, and entered many a comments below with quotes extracted from them. Here's the full list of those I've found, with links, if you wish to go read them directly! The first lot was added at 1pm, the next set at 5pm
New York Times: http://www.nytimes.com/....
Think Progress: http://thinkprogress.org/....
TOR.com: http://www.tor.com/....
SyFy (Blastr.com): http://blastr.com/....
The League of Ordinary Gentlemen: http://ordinary-gentlemen.com/....
AP story on Boston.com: http://www.boston.com/....
Ars Technica: http://arstechnica.com/....
The Register: http://www.theregister.co.uk/....
David Brin on Salon.com: http://www.salon.com/...
AVClub.com: http://www.avclub.com/...
Peter Sagal on NPR: http://www.npr.org/...
President Obama release: http://www.dailykos.com/...
John Scalzi: http://whatever.scalzi.com/...
Patt Morrison in the LA Times: http://www.latimes.com/...
Nature: http://blogs.nature.com/...
Lynell George of the LA Times: http://www.mcclatchydc.com/...
Neil Gaiman: http://www.guardian.co.uk/...
3:28 PM PT: There has been some great sharing here today, stories of Ray personally and stories of how his writing have effected us.
Kitsap River has just posted her story (at comment 167), which is warm, touching and y'all should read if you have the time! It right here: Kitsap River Story (and I hope that worked!)