Collection of Correspondence between Ray Bradbury and Robert W. Smith

[BRADBURY, RAY] A collection of correspondence between Ray Bradbury and Robert W. Smith, culminating in an
interview published by the cult horror & dark fantasy publication Whispers in 1983, titled Ray Bradbury: Literature as Lark.

The collection contains 14 letters and 3 postcards from Bradbury (nearly all on his stationary), multiple drafts of Smith’s Q&A style interview (one a 21p draft hand-corrected by Bradbury), research/clippings on Bradbury gathered by Smith, and correspondence between Smith and various publishers regarding the publication of the interview including a handwritten response from Stuart David Schiff, creator and editor of Whispers.

Robert Smith was a curious figure in his own right - a CIA intelligence operative, Tai Chi master, and author of over a dozen books on martial arts and hundreds of literary reviews. He first wrote to Bradbury requesting an interview in July 1981, beginning a chain of correspondence spanning nearly a decade.

In one letter of note Bradbury describes himself as, “a true hybrid...part Martian, part woman, part Illinois cornsprout, part Hollywood hayseed, part San Francisco Gumshoe, part Tarzan up a tree, part dinosaur...” preceded by a detailed list of who he considered to be the 22 best authors of the century, with notes in the postscript on Donald Barthelme, Phylis McGinley, and Jessamyn West. In the lower margin of the last page he wrote, “Dare I add a final P.S. on a hunch? My own Something Wicked This Way Comes will be read in the year 2001. How far beyond that, who can say? Not I, that’s certain. But it has a tone, a ring to it, which I stumbled on at three in the morning. Ah well. Is it ego that speaks, or intuition? Drop me a note to remind me, January 1st 2002. R”