Ray Bradbury dies, were you a fan?

Bradbury died in Los Angeles, California, on June 5, 2012, at the age of 91, after a "lengthy illness".The New York Times'obituary stated that Bradbury was "the writer most responsible for bringing modern science fiction into the literary mainstream." The Los Angeles Times credited Bradbury with the ability "to write lyrically and evocatively of lands an imagination away, worlds he anchored in the here and now with a sense of visual clarity and small-town familiarity".
Several celebrity fans of Bradbury paid tribute to the author by stating the influence of his works on their own careers and creations. Filmmaker Steven Spielberg stated that Bradbury was "his muse for the better part of his sci-fi career.... On the world of science fiction and fantasy and imagination he is immortal". Writer Neil Gaiman felt that "the landscape of the world we live in would have been diminished if we had not had him in our world". Author Stephen King released a statement on his website saying, "Ray Bradbury wrote three great novels and three hundred great stories. One of the latter was called 'A Sound of Thunder.' The sound I hear today is the thunder of a giant's footsteps fading away. But the novels and stories remain, in all their resonance and strange beauty."