In 1969 I was 16, and for me anything was possible. '2001: A Space Odyssey' was in theaters. Man's future in space seemed limitless, and here on TV to punctuate it all were men walking on the moon.

I remember going to London with my father in 1968 to see '2001: A Space Odyssey.' I just soaked in that movie. To me, that was real; it was going to happen.

The notion of getting the general public into low-Earth orbit I don't think is far-fetched at all.

If you are not happy when you're weightless, then something's wrong.

There's always an anxiety about playing literary characters because one of the great joys of reading books is that you can create your own vision of things.

I've always been about learning. No matter how long I've been in the business or where I've been in a company, I've always wanted to continue to learn.

I can't consciously explain how people feel after reading my books. All is too personal.

I just submitted what I had to the 'Octopus Books' contest open reading period, and they said they wanted to publish my poetry book. Then I started to publish more and more poetry because people would ask me to do readings or ask me submit something for their journal.