The God in Science Fiction

Abstract

Bradbury’s successful 1977 stage adaptation of The Martian Chronicles with Terrence Shank and Paul Gregory opens chapter ten and leads into Bradbury’s fully realized understanding of Hamlet while attending Jack O’Brien’s production at San Diego’s Globe Theater. The chapter examines Bradbury’s influential Saturday Review essay “The God in Science Fiction,” which continues his exploration of the spiritual intersection between science and science fiction. His significant Los Angeles Times review of Close Encounters of the Third Kind embraced the film’s global spiritual implications. The chapter goes on to document Bradbury’s grief over the loss of friends Loren Eiseley, Edmond Hamilton, and Leigh Brackett, and his willingness to guarantee completion of Brackett’s Empire Strikes Back screenplay. She lived to complete it and acknowledge their enduring friendship.