Jonathan R. Eller

Jonathan R. Eller (B.S., United States Air Force Academy, 1973; B.A., University of Maryland, 1979; M.A. (1981), Ph.D. (1985), Indiana University) is a Chancellor’s Professor Emeritus and co-founder of the Center for Ray Bradbury Studies at Indiana University’s School of Liberal Arts (IUI). He directed the Bradbury Center for a decade prior to his retirement from Indiana University in 2021. He first met Ray Bradbury in the late 1980s, eventually developing a friendship and working relationship that lasted until Mr. Bradbury’s passing in 2012. During the fall of 2013, Eller coordinated the gifting of Ray Bradbury’s papers and correspondence, his entire office, working library, awards, and memorabilia to the Center for Ray Bradbury Studies.

Eller’s most recent books include the biographical trilogy Becoming Ray Bradbury, Ray Bradbury Unbound, and Bradbury Beyond Apollo, which was named a Choice Outstanding Academic Title for 2021. Since 2013 he has prefaced and prepared new historical sections for Simon & Schuster’s editions of Catch-22, Fahrenheit 451, and Something Wicked This Way Comes, and has most recently edited Remembrance: Selected Correspondence of Ray Bradbury (Simon & Schuster, 2023). Four of Professor Eller’s books on Bradbury have been LOCUS award finalists for best nonfiction title in the science fiction and fantasy field.

Eller has edited or co-edited several limited press editions of Ray Bradbury’s fiction, including The Halloween Tree (2005), Dandelion Wine (2007), and two collections of stories related to Bradbury’s publication of Fahrenheit 451 in 1953: Match to Flame (2006) and A Pleasure to Burn (2010). Eller is also the coauthor (with William F. Touponce) of Ray Bradbury: The Life of Fiction (Kent State, 2004), which was the first book on Bradbury published by a university press. He edited and annotated the texts for the three-volume series, The Collected Stories of Ray Bradbury, serving as general editor for volumes 2 and 3. He also served as general editor for volumes 4 through 6 of The New Ray Bradbury Review.

Professor Eller retired from twenty years as an Air Force officer in 1993; his military service included operational assignments with the Tactical Air Command, the Military Airlift Command, and the Pacific Air Forces before duty as an English professor at both the U.S. Air Force Academy (Colorado Springs) and the U. S. Naval Academy (Annapolis). Learn more about him and the Bradbury Center: https://liberalarts.indianapolis.iu.edu/centers/bradbury-center/.