You may know Ray Bradbury – but do you know him well enough?

He wrote 27 novels and over 600 short stories, sold by the millions all over the world. So, 100 years after his birth, why is he still overlooked by the literary community, asks David Barnett

The American writer was known for his enthusiasm for life, even when he was approaching the end of his own (Getty)

You know Ray Bradbury. He’s the boy who, at the age of 12, went to see the travelling Dill Brothers Combined Shows that often passed through his home state of Illinois, and stood, entranced, before the spectacle of Mr Electrico, one autumn night.

The carnival act sat in an electric chair while a stagehand threw a lever that sent 50,000 volts pulsing through his body, his hair standing on end, lightning crawling over his skin like glowworms. He raised a sword, a real-life sword, and with electricity humming at its sharp tip, he anointed the young Bradbury with the lightning, exhorting him in a quiet whisper to “Live forever!”

You know Ray Bradbury. He’s the man who wrote more than 600 short stories. You’ll have read some of them. If you haven’t, you’ll be aware of them, of the things he wrote about which has seeped into your consciousness through some strange osmosis, like a spell cast by an April witch.