Contents Silverberg, Robert, FOREWORD: Pontifications, 1997. ONE: Science Fiction: Some General Thoughts --Enwonderment, 1994. (Asimov's, September, 1994.) --Bat Durston's Blasting Jets, 1984. (Amazing, November, 1984.) --Dumbing Down, 1985. (Amazing, September, 1985.) --All Those Picture-Books, 1981. (Amazing, May, 1981.) --Picture-Books, Continued, 1982. (Amazing, January 1982.) --Too Many Sequels, 1982. (Amazing, March, 1982.) --The Way the Future Looks: Blade Runner and THX-1138, 1984. --Science Fiction and the Future, 1974. --Boomers and the Science Fiction Boom, 1983. (Amazing, July, 1983.) --The Audience Grows Older, 1995. (Asimov's, October, 1995.) --Gresham's Law and Science Fiction, 1995. (Asimov's, February, 1995.) --Gresham's Law, Continued, 1995. (Asimov's, March, 1995.) TWO: About Science and Society --Genetic Hysteria, 1985. (Amazing, May, 1985.) --More Genetic Hysteria, 1985. (Amazing, July, 1985.) --Those Sinister Antifreeze Bacteria Again, 1987. (Amazing, November, 1987.) --The Case Against the Anitfreeze Bacteria, 1988. (Amazing, May, 1988.) --Killer Tomatoes from Outer Space, 1997. (Amazing, November, 1990.) --Genetic Luddites Yet Again, 1992. (Asimov's, November, 1992.) --The Last of the Codfish, 1995. (Asimov's, January, 1995.) --Extinct Again, 1996. (Asimov's, April, 1996.) --A Species Saves Is a Species Earned, 1995. (Asimov's, December, 1995.) --Ovary Transplants? 1994. (Asimov's, August, 1994.) --The Gay Gene: One, 1991. (Amazing, January, 1991.) --The Gay Gene: Two, 1994. (Amazing, Fall, 1994.) --Warning: Radiation Zone, 1988. (Amazing, November, 1988.) --Embalm Your Spouse, 1987. (Amazing, July, 1987.) --Creationism, 1989. (Amazing, July, 1989.) --Feedback, 1989. (Amazing, March, 1989.) --Alternative Energy Sources, 1983. (Amazing, July, 1983.) --Getting Rid of Acid Rain, 1985. (Amazing, January, 1985.) --Getting Rid of Acid Rain, Continued, 1985. (Amazing, March, 1985.) --The Green Flash, 1992. (Amazing, September, 1992.) --Gods Almighty, 1996. (Asimov's, February, 1996.) --The Voyager Photos, 1991. (Amazing, September, 1991.) --Six Trillion Miles High, 1997. (Asimov's, January, 1997.) THREE: The Profession of Writing --The Making of a Science-Fiction Writer, 1987. (Worlds of Wonder, 1987.) --The Long Despair of Doing Nothing Well, 1991. (Amazing, December, 1991.) --Falsus In Uno, Falsus In Omnibus, 1979. --The Curse of Thoth, 1991. (Amazing, October, 1991.) --Beginnings, 1985. (Writers of the Future, Vol. I, 1985.) --To a Writer Just Starting Out, 1994. (Writers of the Future, Vol. X, 1994.) --The Perils of Prosperity, 1978. --Starting Too Soon, 1978. --Becoming a Writer, 1986. (Amazing, May, 1986.) --What a Writer Needs to Know, 1986. (Amazing, July, 1986.) --Short Stories vs, Novels, 1992. (Amazing, August, 1992.) --Revisions, 1983. (Amazing, January, 1983.) --Writers' Correspondence, 1982. (Amazing, November, 1982.) --Long-Term Careers, 1993. (Amazing, September, 1993.) FOUR: Colleagues --Players on the Team, 1994. (Asimov's, November, 1994.) --Going to Conventions, 1993. (Amazing, September, 1993.) --Isaac, 1992. (Amazing, June, 1992.) --Heinlein, 1992. --Don Wollheim, 1991. (Amazing, June, 1991.) --Lester, 1993. (Amazing, July, 1993.) --Campbell, Boucher, Gold, 1996. (Asimov's, September, 1996.) --Philip K. Dick: A Premature Memoir, 1985. --Philip K. Dick: The Short Fiction, 1996. --James Tiptree, Jr., 1993. (Amazing, March, 1993.) --Roger and John, 1996. (Asimov's, March, 1996.) --Zelazny: This Immortal, 1986. --Harlan, 1977. (F & SF, July, 1977.) --Theodore Sturgeon, 1985. (Locus, June, 1985.) --Jack Vance: The Eyes of the Overworld and the Dying Earth, 1977. --Jack Williamson, 1988. (Amazing, November, 1988.) --City: Clifford D. Simak, 1996. FIVE: Today's World --The Power of Words: One, 1995. (Asimov's, November, 1995.) --The Power of Words: Two, 1996. (Asimov's, June, 1996.) --Gourmet to Go, 1996. (Asimov's, August, 1996.) --The International Language, 1996. (Asimov's, July, 1996.) --The Fragmented Global Village, 1983. (Amazing, May, 1983.) --Political Correctness, One: Minority Hypersensitivity, 1981. (Amazing, November, 1981.) --Political Correctness, Two: Redskins and Bloody-Nosed Aliens, 1988. (Amazing, July, 1988.) --Political Correctness, Three: Geezer Ruminations, 1990. (Amazing, September, 1990.) --I'd Like to Talk to You, Robert, 1991. (Amazing, January, 1991.) --Gold Doesn't Smell, 1995. (Asimov's, May, 1995.) --Struldbrugs, 1992. (Amazing, July, 1992.) --When Empires End, 1992. (Amazing, March, 1992.) --The Revenge of History, 1993. (Amazing, October, 1993.) --Holocaust Deniers, 1994. (Amazing, Winter, 1994.) --Coming Attractions, 1997. (Asimov's, February, 1997.) SIX: A Few Personal Items --The Books of Childhood, 1992. (Amazing, April, 1992.) --The Books of Childhood, Continued, 1992. (Amazing, October, 1992.) --The Oakland Fire, 1992. (Amazing, February, 1992.) --Dreams, 1995. (Asimov's, June, 1995.) --A Science-Fiction Garden, 1981. --Why I Wrote a Sequel After All, 1984. (Amazing, January, 1984.) --Introduction to "Sundance," 1973.