Ray Bradbury

...would have been 100 last August. This is a good interview about his impact on literature, especially science fiction. I wrote to him in the early 1960s when I was in junior high school to tell him how much I liked The Martian Chronicles  and included a drawing of my impression of a Martian; he wrote back to me with his sketch of a Martian on the outside of the envelope, with its open mouth around the address. In his note he thanked me, and he generously enclosed a voucher good for free tickets for my whole English class of 30 to see the Los Angeles drama production of three of his short stories. We all went and loved the plays - which included "The Pedestrian" and "The Veldt." When I taught a science fiction writing class at Stanford during the summer quarter session in 1970, we had several well-known writers, including Frank Herbert and Harlan Ellison, visit to give talks. I had invited Ray, but he was unable to come. However, he did send his best wishes to the students for their future writing endeavors.

Ray Bradbury at 100: A Conversation Between Sam Weller and Dana Gioia - Los Angeles Review of Books (lareviewofbooks.org)

The story I like about Ray Bradbury concerns "The Bradbury Defense":

“You see, nine-year-old boys are always finding me out. A few years back, one dreadful boy ran up to me and said: ‘Mr. Bradbury?’

‘Yes?’ I said.

‘That book of yours, ‘The Martian Chronicles?’ he said.

‘Yes,’ I said.

‘On page 92, where you have the moons of Mars rising in the East?’

‘Yeah,’ I said.

‘Nah,’ he said.

So I hit him.”