The thing about science fiction is that it's totally wide open. But it's wide open in a conditional way.

Fantasy is totally wide open all you really have to do is follow the rules you've set. But if you're writing about science, you have to first learn what you're writing about.

No one was going to stop me from writing and no one had to really guide me towards science fiction. It was natural, really, that I would take that interest.

So fantasy was fine early on, and when I discovered science fiction, I was very happy with it, because my first interest in science fiction came with an interest in astronomy.

I was attracted to science fiction because it was so wide open. I was able to do anything and there were no walls to hem you in and there was no human condition that you were stopped from examining.

I told my father I had to try political science for a year. He thought I was throwing my life away.

One of the things that ultimately led me to leave mathematics and go into political science was thinking I could prevent nuclear war.

Science has sometimes been said to be opposed to faith, and inconsistent with it. But all science, in fact, rests on a basis of faith, for it assumes the permanence and uniformity of natural laws - a thing which can never be demonstrated.

For a member to say, 'I'm a lame duck' violates political science 101.

With science fiction there's endless possibilities.