An excellent example of a writerly toad such as yourself, Mr. Pohl, is the late naturalist Gerald Durrell. He did so poorly in elementary school, despite being obviously bright, that his mother took him out and he never returned. She procured various tutors for him, some better than others. (You can read about some of his early life in his marvelous book “My Family and Other Animals.”) So despite lacking even a high school diploma, Durrell became one of the leading naturalists of the 20th century and wrote dozens of excellent books about his zoo animal collecting trips, his family, and related subjects. Something for educators to contemplate.

“The best of these are the badgers that guard the entrances of the human domain. The worst are the toads, the ones who sleep and are reborn. These are dedicated to keeping the world from evolving to the next level. Every time things get better they make sure they really get worse.

Then there are the snakes whose wild mental energy runs out of control. For them the rest of us are toys to play with, energy to use up. Finally, there are the unfledged falcons. Well intentioned, they are the premature warriors, champions of violent solutions.”

I couldn’t say that it drove me to *write* science fiction…more a desire to do something that seemed to me a really cool thing to do, and maybe make a few bucks while doing it.

(Thirty-plus years on: no money, no success at it. Who knew? Certainly not me. And, though my desire to read SF has dimmed down, I haven’t yet lost the desire to write SF and am, once in awhile, still at it.)