Farewell Mr. Bradbury: Earth and Mars will miss you

In Grade 8, thanks to the brilliance of  whoever designed the 'required reading' curriculum and sandwiched in between Hemingway's Old Man and The Sea and the Red Pony, was My Very First Science Fiction story called,  ''Dark They Were and Golden Eyed'.
Even though 'hard core' SF readers may dismiss his books as more magical fantasy than 'true' SF (my husband among them) it was this book and many more from his pen, that firmly set my feet on the path that led me to Asimov and Heinlein and Ellison and yes, Star Trek and 2001 (my First Date Movie) and Star Wars (our honeymoon Movie)
I believe it was Bradbury in this book who truly took the old concept of 'alien' and turned it on its head as in this novel, you begin to wonder just who the aliens are.
This theme would later be expanded in successive movies (many written by Bradbury) and tv episodes.
For Bradbury, in most of the novels I read, it was always summer, the circus was in town and the grandparents had an attic just full of treasures for a young boy to explore and investigate.

In late 1979, my husband and I along with our dear friend Nell, were in England for a brief stop before we headed home. We had visited an art gallery with Nell and while there, I remembered an advert I had seen in one of the SF magazines that Gary had bought, about the 'world's largest SF and Comic Bookstore in London."
The name of that Majestic Emporium?  Dark They Were and Golden Eyed.
I asked at the art shop if they had a telephone directory and when they produced this weighty tome, one of the clerks asked what I was looking for.
When I told him, he said, "Really?" and when we found it, he said, "I wouldn't have believed that unless I had seen it!"
We got the address and as I recall, had a wonderful hour of completely spell bound delight, wandering in and out of the stalls, totally overwhelmed with all the offerings on display.
A veritable treasure trove of every kind of SF, Comix and Fantasy books and zines you could imagine!
Somewhere I hope I have still have that small paper bag with the shop's logo on it.

So Farewell Ray Bradbury, Thank you for writing such wonderful stories!
May it be eternally summer for you, with high grasses, soft winds that carry the smell of popcorn and candy floss and may the circus always be in town along with the occasional visits from your Martian relatives.
Blessings