![]() He signed it RAY B in a sweeping hand, in silver marker, then drew an arrow, in red marker, leading to the side of the page where he typed this, in response to a question in my letter: I’ll try to ask you by for a brief chat, at least! Good luck meanwhile, and again, bravo to you and JON M. on business, later that year, there was a Writer’s Guild strike and RB was off picketing):ĭear Marc Matteis: Thanks, much thanks for MOONSHADOW. First came Bradbury, with this short, sweet missive (I never did get to have that visit I’d requested. Keep in mind this was long before email: these were actual letters, created on actual typewriters, which, I suppose, makes them glorious antiques. Imagine my delight when I received answers from both of them. That letter, I’m sorry to say, really has vanished into the Crack Between Worlds.) (I knew there was a slight chance I’d hear from Ray B, as I’d written to him a few years before-a rhapsodic essay in praise of his brilliant novel Dandelion Wine -and he’d been kind enough to respond. Barrie, William Blake and Hermann Hesse, weren’t accepting mail at the time, but, happily, Vonnegut and Bradbury were so I sent copies off to them via their respective publishers, not really expecting a reply, just hoping that maybe, maybe, they’d read Moonshadow and enjoy it. ![]() Yes, Moonshadow was the story that helped me find my own voice as a writer, but in order to do that, I summoned the spirits of every literary influence I’d ever had. Rosewater one of my all-time favorite books.) As for Bradbury-well, I wouldn’t be the writer, or perhaps the person, I am today if I’d never encountered his work. No, I’d never met Kurt Vonnegut, but there’d be no G’l-Doses-the Pop! Poof! Pinging! alien zoo-masters of the story-without KV’s Tralfamadorians, and the mixture of wry skepticism and heartfelt compassion that ran through all his novels and short stories had a profound impact on me. I was liberated, I was intoxicated, and, like a proud student, I wanted to share my work with two of my greatest teachers. As I’ve said before, when I sat down to write Moon, it didn’t feel like I was Writing Comic Books, it felt like I was Writing: Real Writing, without the preconceptions and burdens of someone else’s spandex universe. Back in 1985, when the first issue of Moonshadow came out under Marvel’s Epic imprint, I knew that I’d created my first piece of work with genuine substance.
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