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- Who are you?
I've been trying to figure that out all my life. Maybe reading the
stories here will give you a clue.
So, have you any claim to fame, even a whimsical one?
I've sold stories to every editor of ASTOUNDING/ANALOG since 1938, a year well before my birth.
How old are you?
When asked that, David Gerrold said only that he was on his second
bottle of Tabasco® sauce. Put me down for that, too.
What do you do for a living, since you visibly can't make a living
writing?
I resent that remark, though I don't deny it. I do a very boring but
stressful job in Personnel for a large organization you hate.
How big are you?
Depends on the circumstances.
I mean, how tall are you? Come on, you say you're a short guy.
I'm the small, economy size that airline seats are supposedly built for. (They're not.)
What's your education?
Formal education ended with (country) high school. Since then, wide
unsystematic reading, mostly in history, military history, science,
biography, and various odd subjects that bump my curiosity bone. I
currently subscribe to SCIENCE NEWS, WORLD PRESS REVIEW, and THE
SKEPTICAL INQUIRER, if that helps.
So you write sci-fi. What kind of sci-fi?
I try never to write "sci-fi," which is most of what you see on tube and
screen, callling itself SF or science fiction. The difference is the
same as the difference between STARSHIP TROOPERS the book and STARSHIP
TROOPERS the movie. The book is SF or science fiction, a serious
exploration of the concept of citizenship, meant to make you think. The
movie--isn't. OK? My affinities are with the former. (My abilities
may be more with the latter, but I try!)
As for "kind" of SF, I write pretty much all kinds, though I'm best
known for "hard" SF of the ANALOG type. But that's a small part of my
output now.
One of the stories here is fantasy.
Did it make you think? Did it make you cry?
So you write fantasy, too?
Says so right at the top of the page, but I do try to avoid the common
cliches of the genre. To do an original fantasy isn't easy; to get it
published, less easy. Thus, I do few fantasies.
I didn't think much of the first story either. No fights, no zooming
spaceships, boring! Just a bunch of kids.
Did it make you think? Think about this: when do you expect to buy a
ticket on a spaceship, much less stow away? Do we live in the space
age?
Two of those kids have suspicious names.
See my bio, and the bio of Bill Wu.
The third story sure sounded like fantasy.
Jack Vance has been a major influence, especially on this series.
Your article made me mad.
You're not the first. I'm sorry; I only wanted to be helpful. Both SF
and fantasy give me, at least, a different feeling from that which I get
from any other kind of fiction. The feeling is very similar for SF and
for fantasy, but for me, not quite the same. I wanted to explore why.
And of course, like many better people before me, I was seduced by the
attempt to codify the field. Usually this leads to a "definition" that
satisfies only the definer. I attempted to show why no definition will
work. We can only describe.
Are you gay or hetero?
Decidedly hetero, and so ungay that I'm downright glum at times.
Married, children?
No, and no.
So talk a little about your life, your work, and everything.
Read the bio, stories, and biblio for that....
Where can I meet you?
Good question. I never miss a ConQuest in Kansas City, but that may not
be a good place to meet me, because I'm so taken up with old friends,
some of whom I haven't seen since last year. I also usually make it to
Archon in St. Louis (actually Collinsville, IL), but it's so big you'd
find it difficult to meet me. Ditto WorldCon. --DemiCon in Des Moines
is good. I sometimes go to one or another Oklahoma con, Dragoncon or
Soonercon. Check the lists of people attending to be sure I'm one,
before you come to meet me. Or have a better reason for coming, like
having fun.
What are "cons"?
Science fiction, comics, media (Trek & drek), gaming, etc. conventions.
They all derive from science fiction cons; the term "con" dates from the
30s. (I once saw a columnist in NEWSWEEK in the late 90s use the term
for a business convention.) An internet search will tell you much; you
could do a search on the names above.
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