Sci-fi author envisions future -- of library

Alex Coolman

COSTA MESA -- When famed science-fiction writer Ray Bradbury imagines a

library of the future, there is no doubt he thinks of gleaming computer

terminals, robotic reference desks and encyclopedias written in Martian

tongues.

But at a Wednesday night benefit held at the Costa Mesa Senior Center,

Bradbury was working to help create a library of the more immediate and

concrete future: one that could appear in only a few years rather than in

eons, and be used by local residents rather than the aliens and cyborgs

of fantasy writing.

Bradbury’s appearance was part of “Author! Author!,” a series of events

organized by The Costa Mesa Library Foundation, a group working to raise

money and awareness for a new city library.

The series kicked off last month with a reading by Laguna Beach novelist

T. Jefferson Parker, author of “Little Saigon” and “Laguna Heat.” Jo-Ann

Mapson, author of “The Wilder Sisters,” will appear for the final event

of the series on Nov. 17.

About 100 Bradbury fans crowded the Senior Center on Wednesday, a crowd

comprising both older book aficionados and enthusiasts from local high

schools. A line of giddy autograph-seekers -- many of them carrying

stacks of their dogeared copies of titles like “The Martian Chronicles”

and “Fahrenheit 451” -- began to form before Bradbury began speaking.

In his extemporaneous remarks, the silver-haired, delightfully disheveled

author shared a few tales from his long career as a writer of short

stories, novels and movies.

He described the moment the gruff director John Huston cornered him in a

hotel room and asked him to write the screenplay for the 1956 film

version of the book “Moby Dick.”

“I said, ‘Gee, Mr. Huston, I’ve never been able to read the damn thing,”’

Bradbury recalled.

The foundation hopes to eventually create a 70,000-square-foot library

that would give readers reason to stay and browse through the collection,

take advantage of the computer center or check out the options of a

resource center.

In order to create such a building, the foundation needs to raise about

$15 million. Only about $4,000 of that total is expected to come from the

series of readings, but foundation president Sandy Genis characterized

the fund-raiser as an important first step in stimulating community

interest in the project.

“We’re not going to build a library on a series of author readings,”

Genis said. “But it does hopefully raise the public awareness of what

we’re trying to do.”