Feedback is a pleasant thing. I get a lot of letters from unexpected people in unexpected places.

I can't help believing that these things that come from the subconscious mind have a sort of truth to them. It may not be a scientific truth, but it's psychological truth.

Science fiction is for real, space opera is for fun.

The feat represents immense achievement for the neotenic ape, species Homo sapiens. But behind this lie twooldattributesoftheapetribalismandinquisitiveness.

The fatal error of much science fiction has been to subscribe to an optimism based on the idea that revolution, or a new gimmick, or a bunch of strong men, or an invasion of aliens, or the conquest of other planets, or the annihilation of half the world--in short, pretty nearly anything but the facing up to the integral and irredeemable nature of mankind--can bring about utopian situations. It is the old error of the externalization of evil.

Science fiction is no more written for scientists than ghost stories are written for ghosts.

I am a writer and always was; being a writer is an integral part of my identity. Being published, being well regarded, is a component of that identity.