So there I was at a wedding last night, escorting a lovely young lady
while my wife was out of town at a concert. I was seated at the table
with the lady’s aunt, Diane Sullivan, who also happened to be the
mother of the groom. We got to chatting, and she asked what I did for a
living. I mentioned that, among other things, I worte science fiction
form time to time.
“Really?” she said. “I used to work with Fred Pohl. I was the associate
editor of Galaxy and If and Worlds of Tomorrow
back in the mid-60’s.”
Boggle. If I was a coffee drinker, I would’ve been doing a fair
impersonation of Danny Thomas then.
If you’re moderately versed in the field, you have an idea of what was
coming out then. If you don’t here’s a partial list: The discovery of
Larry Niven from the slushpile. The serialized version of Heinlein’s The Moon Is a Harsh Mistress,
along with Niven’s “Neutron Star” and Harlan Ellison’s “I Have No
Mouth, and I Must Scream.” Samuel Delany. Issac Asimov. Roger Zelazny.
Yikes.
I’m going to try and drag her to the SFWA Authors & Editors Reception this November, I know there are a lot
of people who will want to meet her.
Oh, and the wedding was a happy event too. Although, to be fair, it’s
not the first wedding I’ve been to where the Imperial March from Star Wars was played– but it was the first one where I didn’t anticipate the possibility of it happening.