From ON THE OCCASION OF FAREWELL SUMMER:
"ON THE OCCASION OF FAREWELL SUMMER I can only send good wishes to myself.
Please excuse me, but when I realize this coming week is the publication of FAREWELL SUMMER, which began more than 55 years ago, I can hardly believe it. Indeed, it was even further back. It was when I was 22 and, you might say, put on my first pair of tennis shoes, and ran like crazy.
I was fully in love with writing from grade school on and in high school I began to write things about the ravine in my hometown. In FAREWELL SUMMER the ravine is the center of everything; the old people and the young live on opposite sides of this ravine that divides the town.
...I wish all of you the best in reading it because I had delight in realizing that my ganglion and my antenna are still functioning and the darned thing makes, I believe, a good read.I send all of you my love,
Ray Bradbury
October 11, 2006"
But you know what I love? He died last night during the Transit of Venus. That seems appropriate.
