Steven Paul Leiva, who organized the incredible Ray Bradbury Week in Los Angeles in 2010, and helped persuade the Los Angeles City Council to name a downtown intersection by the Central Library “Ray Bradbury Square,” has written Searching for Ray Bradbury, a short collection of his essays about his friend and colleague.

One of these pieces, Leiva’s “Ray Bradbury’s Favorite Bookshop”, was recently published on The Huffington Post:

When a great American author recommends a bookstore to you, you would be well-advised to listen. When he does it with enthusiasm and passion, which was the only way Ray Bradbury ever did anything, you would be well-advised not just to listen, but to take note — in indelible ink on acid free paper, on any recording device you have handy, and by any method of mnemonics you practice.

“Steve, you and Amanda must come to my book signing next Wednesday. But not just for me, it’s at one of the best bookstores ever, Mystery & Imagination in Glendale, great name, huh? It’s from Poe!”

Bradbury regularly appeared at Mystery & Imagination Bookstore for signings, and fans thronged to his annual birthday celebrations there.

Naturally, Mystery & Imagination hosted the launch party for Leiva’s own collection this past May 26.

[Thanks to John King Tarpinian for the story.]

Crowd at Mystery & Imagination Bookstore for Ray Bradbury’s 88th Birthday in 2008.

Bo Derek wishes Ray Bradbury a happy 90th birthday in 2009.

Pete Atkins and Dennis Etchison outside Mystery & Imagination Bookstore