Ray Bradbury, author of "The Martian Chronicles," "Something Wicked This Way Comes," and his most popular work, "Fahrenheit 451" died in his sleep last night after being sick for many years.  

Bradbury who was 91-years-old had an illustrious career having written 11 books and 600 short stories. He also wrote the screenplay for "Moby Dick" and adapted 65 of his stories for television.

HarperCollins, the publisher of many of his books, issued a statement that read in part, ""In a career spanning more than seventy years, Ray Bradbury has inspired generations of readers to dream, think, and create," the statement said. "A prolific author of hundreds of short stories and close to fifty books, as well as numerous poems, essays, operas, plays, teleplays, and screenplays, Bradbury was one of the most celebrated writers of our time." 

Since the news broke, there has been an outpouring of grief and insightful commentary on the Internet about Bradbury's life. In the online magazine, PopMatters, Dominic Umile has a particularly touching essay entitled "Ray Bradbury Wrote Me Back."  He writes of how he wrote Bradbury after devouring his books to thank him and how to his surprise and delight, Bradbury sent a hand-written letter in response saying "thanks for the kind words," and signed off with "Onward, to 2000!"  

Bradbury not only had a successful career as a writer, it appears from his own words that he also had a good life."  In a 2005 book of essays, he wrote, "In my later years I have looked in the mirror each day and found a happy person staring back." "Occasionally I wonder why I can be so happy. The answer is that every day of my life I've worked only for myself and for the joy that comes from writing and creating. The image in my mirror is not optimistic, but the result of optimal behavior."