Science Fiction

You can take Walter Mosley out of Los Angeles - in fact, Mosley did so himself, moving to New York decades ago - but you can't take L.A. out of Walter Mosley. The master of several genres keeps the city present, from his Easy Rawlins detective novels set in black postwar Los Angeles to the Greek-myths-in-South-Central elements in one of the two novellas in his latest volume. Mosley appeared to wrap it up with Rawlins in "Blonde Faith" in 2007, but five years later, he's found more for his most famous detective to do, just as Mosley has for himself.

After the coffee. Before sneaking out early to catch the Celtics-Heat game. The Skinny: Thursday's headlines include an appreciation of science fiction genius Ray Bradbury, producer Joel Silver is near a deal with Universal Pictures and a close look at Netflix's content deal with CBS, which could mean headaches for the streaming service. Daily Dose: Next week, Disney/ABC Television Group President Anne Sweeney will jet to beautiful Monte Carlo so Prince Albert II can present her with the "Golden Nymph" prize at the Monte Carlo Television Festival.

Ray Bradbury belonged to Los Angeles. Like many with a similar tie to this city, he came from somewhere else - Waukegan, Ill. - but it was really after his family moved to California in 1934 that he came into his own. Bradbury developed as a writer here, partly because of the Los Angeles Science Fiction Society, a phenomenal group that counted among its members Robert Heinlein and Forrest J. Ackerman and met at Clifton's Cafeteria downtown....

In his fervid imagination, Ray Bradbury roamed across time and space. But as a longtime Angeleno, he was deeply rooted in the otherworldly landscapes and swiftly evolving human topography of his adopted home of Southern California. Not only did Los Angeles, where Bradbury lived for decades, help shape his fantasy andsci-fiwritings. The author also was known across the city as a beloved and familiar figure: supportive of the local literary and theater communities, a regular at bookstore readings and speaking engagements, a haunter of libraries and bookshops, and an enthusiastic promoter of the culture of reading.

Ray Bradbury, the writer whose expansive flights of fantasy and vividly rendered space-scapes have provided the world with one of the most enduring speculative blueprints for the future, has died. He was 91. Bradbury died Tuesday night in Los Angeles, his agent Michael Congdon confirmed. His family said in a statement that he had suffered from a long illness. Author of more than 27 novels and story collections - most famously "The Martian Chronicles," "Fahrenheit 451," "Dandelion Wine" and "Something Wicked This Way Comes" - and more than 600 short stories, Bradbury has frequently been credited with elevating the often-maligned reputation of science fiction.

Ray, darlin'. That's what I called him. It was, he had told me, what an Irish cabbie had called him, back when Ray Bradbury was still rather a lad of a writer, albeit an acclaimed one, and had gone off to Ireland to work on the screenplay for the 1956 movie "Moby Dick. " The John Huston film starred Gregory Peck as the divinely mad Captain Ahab and Orson Welles in a harrowing cameo as the preacher, and the epic donnybrooks between Ray and Huston were probably just as cinematic as anything that ended up on film.

WASHINGTON - President Obama paid tribute to the memory of science fiction writer Ray Bradbury Wednesday after the renowned author died at the age of 91. Citing Bradbury's “gift for storytelling” that “reshaped our culture and expanded our world,” Obama praised the author of 11 novels and 600 short stories, for understanding “that our imaginations could be used as a tool for better understanding, a vehicle for change and an expression of...

Months before the release of director Ridley Scott's "Prometheus," the studio behind his big-budget science-fiction film has been building buzz online with an unorthodox campaign. Aside from traditional movie trailers, 20th Century Fox has been carefully introducing the film's major characters (and a bit of back story) through a series of online videos - including one released Tuesday that features actor Michael Fassbender ("Shame") in an eerily deadpan performance as an android named David.

Han Song predicted the destruction of the Twin Towers a year before 9/11. In his novel "2066: Red Star Over America," Han, China's premier science-fiction writer, depicts a disturbing future. It is the year 2066. China rules the world while the U.S. festers in financial decline and civil war. A team has been sent to America to disseminate civilization through the traditional Chinese board game Go. But during the critical Go match held at the World Trade Center, terrorists strike.

When Walt Disney Co.'s "John Carter" opens in theaters this weekend, the science-fiction adventure may encounter obstacles as formidable as its hero faces on Mars. The film brings to the big screen a century-old fantasy tale, from Tarzan creator Edgar Rice Burroughs, that has inspired generations of filmmakers and science fiction writers including James Cameron, George Lucas, Arthur C. Clarke and Ray Bradbury. Its sweeping scope and $250-million budget suggest director Andrew Stanton's ambition to create a cinematic adventure on a par with movies such as "Avatar" and "Star Wars" — works that were informed by Burroughs' original pulp fiction.