Where’d I read it? several emailers want to know. In Leslie A Fiedler’s In Dreams Awake (“a historical-critical anthology of science fiction”), which I picked up in the dollar tray outside a Long Island bookstore. But it’s been anthologized all over, & is probably on the web somewhere.

I picked up the Fiedler because it has lots of old favorites, not just IaGL. Also Lovecraft’s “The Colour uut of Space,” van Vogt’s “Resurrection,” Heinlein’s “Green Hills of Earth,” Arthur C. Clarke’s “The Nine Billion Names of God,” Philip Jose Farmer’s “Mother,” and others.

And while I’m on the sci-fi thread: I have now watched four episodes of Firefly with considerable pleasure, a totally disproportionate amount of said pleasure generated by the lovely Inara (who is far better-looking on-screen, moving and talking, than in any still photos I’ve seen). The central conceit of the thing — a sort of Western in outer space (there are even interplanetary cattle rustlers in one episode) is a bit short on imagination, but some of the story lines are neat, and the writers have a good line in tough-guy dialogue. And when all else fails, there’s still Inara to look forward to….