Ray Bradbury Allows Publishing of Fahrenheit 451 as Ebook
December 1st, 2011But it’s still not available on Amazon’s Kindle or Fire. *chortle* *snort*
Via: BBC:
The science fiction novel Fahrenheit 451 has been published as an e-book despite its author’s dislike of the format.
Ray Bradbury previously claimed electronic books “smell like burned fuel”.
Mr Bradbury’s agent said the rights for the author’s book had been close to expiring and the publisher had insisted the new contract include e-book rights.
Experts said the news reflected the growing importance of e-formats.
Fahrenheit 451, first published in 1953, describes a dystopian future in which the US has outlawed reading and firemen burn books.
It has sold more than 10 million copies since publication.
‘Too many machines’
As late as last year, Mr Bradbury remained firmly opposed to the idea of his book appearing as a digital title.
“I was approached three times during the last year by internet companies wanting to put my books on an electronic reading device,” he told the Los Angeles Times in 2010.
“I said to Yahoo: ‘Prick up your ears and go to hell.'”
He also complained about the spread of modern technology.
“We have too many cellphones. We’ve got too many internets. We have got to get rid of those machines. We have too many machines now,” he said.
However, Mr Bradbury’s agent said the deal had become unavoidable.
“We explained the situation to him that a new contract wouldn’t be possible without e-book rights,” Michael Congdon said.
“He understood and gave us the right to go ahead.”
