Ray Bradbury

雷•布拉德伯裏（1920-2012）

生於美國伊利諾伊州的沃基甘。自一九四三年起開始專業寫作。他七十多年的寫作生涯，激勵瞭數代讀者去幻想、思考和創新。他創作瞭數百篇短篇小說，齣版近五十本書，此外還寫瞭大量的詩歌、隨筆、歌劇、戲劇、電視和電影劇本。

《華氏451》和《火星編年史》是他最為著名的作品，奠定瞭其科幻小說大師的地位。他被譽為二十世紀最重要的美國作傢之一，“將現代科幻領入主流文學領域最重要的人物”。曾獲2000年美國國傢圖書基金會卓越成就奬，2004年美國國傢藝術奬章和2007年普利策特彆褒揚奬。

2012年6月6日，九十一歲高齡的布拉德伯裏病逝於洛杉磯。時任美國總統的巴拉剋•奧巴馬親緻悼詞：“他的敘事纔華重塑瞭我們的文化，拓寬瞭我們的世界。”

In a summer that refuses to end, in the deceiving warmth of earliest October, civil war has come to Green Town, Illinois. It is the age-old conflict: the young against the elderly, for control of the clock that ticks their lives ever forward. The first cap-pistol shot heard 'round the town is dead accurate, felling an old man in his tracks, compelling town elder and school board despot Mr. Calvin C. Quartermain to marshal his graying forces and declare total war on the assassin, thirteen-year-old Douglas Spaulding, and his downy-cheeked cohorts. Doug and his cronies, however, are most worthy adversaries who should not be underestimated, as they plan and execute daring campaigns-;matching old Quartermain's experience and cunning with their youthful enthusiasm and devil-may-care determination to hold on forever to childhood's summer. Yet time must ultimately be the victor, with valuable revelations for those on both sides of the conflict. And life waits in ambush to assail Doug Spaulding with its powerful mysteries-;the irresistible ascent of manhood, the sweet surrender to a first kiss . . . </p>

One of the most acclaimed and beloved of American storytellers, Ray Bradbury has come home, revisiting the verdant landscape of one of his most adored works, Dandelion Wine. More than fifty years in the making, the long-awaited sequel, Farewell Summer, is a treasure-;beautiful, poignant, wistful, hilarious, sad, evocative, profound, and unforgettable . . . and proof positive that the flame of wonder still burns brightly within the irrepressible imagination of the incomparable Bradbury. </p>