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Mark A. Rayner's posts Post Back to profile
Mark A. Rayner

TIL: Ray Bradbury wrote Fahrenheit 451 on a coin-operated typewriter he found in the basement of UCLA's Powell Library:

“So, exhilarated, I got a bag of dimes and settled into the room, and in nine days I spent $9.80 and wrote my story; in other words, it was a dime novel,” Bradbury said.

Source: magazine.ucla.edu/exclusives/f (via Neatorama: neatorama.com/2024/06/09/Ray-B)

#ScienceFiction #RayBradbury #SFF #scifi #humor #humour #typewriter #typewriters
12 June at 14:24 | Open on mas.to
30 comments
Les Blazemore
Log 🪵

@markarayner Dystopic fiction written on dystopic non-fiction device.

Coin-operated, metered-use typewriter!

12 June at 15:22 | Open on mastodon.sdf.org
Ordinating Aether Show

@markarayner

The more things change...

At least there is only a slim chance that the cog/ratchet/lever mechanism will make a copy of your work and send it to Remington.

12 June at 15:41 | Open on retro.pizza
sidereal

@markarayner Damn, in 1950 dollars, with inflation that would be $127.71 just to type out a story. I guess he was dedicated

What's wild though is back then writing sf short stories paid enough to make this worth his while

12 June at 15:42 | Open on kolektiva.social
Mark A. Rayner

@sidereal Yep -- back then you could actually make a living doing it. (Barely.)

12 June at 15:48 | Open on mas.to
nekonvencionalnovreme
Petra van Cronenburg

@markarayner I do need this. This could massively shorten the self-doubt breaks when writing! 😁

12 June at 15:56 | Open on mastodon.online
Misha Van Mollusq 🏳️‍⚧️ ♀

@markarayner sounds like something out of a Philip K Dick story

12 June at 15:58 | Open on sfba.social
Sen the Professional

@markarayner I checked an inflation calculator and that works out to ~$114 in today's dollars. He was a working writer so that will have been no trivial sum for him. Imagine taking a flier like that

12 June at 16:32 | Open on mas.to
Mark A. Rayner

@epiceneVivant An investment in himself and his vision! So glad he did it!

12 June at 16:37 | Open on mas.to
Eric Normandeau

@markarayner And thus was born the Pomodoro technique...

12 June at 16:53 | Open on genomic.social
Doreen32128
Fardels Bear

@markarayner

At 30 minutes a dime, that's 49 hours to write a classic.

12 June at 17:26 | Open on mastodon.social
Aviva Gary
4d3fect

@markarayner I typed a few papers on rental typewriters in the bowels of Royce Hall, across the quad from Powell. No coin-op though.

12 June at 19:29 | Open on sfba.social
Mark A. Rayner

@4d3fect I was lucky enough to have my own typewriter at uni. Can't imagine the stress of a coin operated one!

12 June at 21:10 | Open on mas.to
Vincent :coffeecup:

@markarayner In '06 I heard him say that he and his bride were very poor, so their first apartment was overlooking a gas station pay phone. He listed that payphone as his phone number and would run downstairs every time it rang. And this was how he communicated with his editors at the time.

12 June at 19:45 | Open on mastodon.coffee
rexi

@markarayner
If he were like any other of the young writers I have known, it wouldn't have taken long for him to figure a way to get that lock-box open again. Hunger is not just virtual.

12 June at 19:51 | Open on mastodon.social
Kermode
Beachbum

@markarayner it was one of my favorite books. Mandatory reading in high school.

12 June at 20:07 | Open on mastodon.sdf.org
Lady Wicket

@markarayner I read this at Secondary School way back in the day and still sits in my head 💗

12 June at 20:21 | Open on mastodon.online
eichkat3r

@markarayner me paying 179€/a for an overleaf subscription
12 June at 20:44 | Open on hessen.social
grillchen
@eichkat3r @markarayner me having free acess to overleaf by university but using zarathura and kakouna instead
12 June at 20:50 | Open on brotka.st
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