Señor Norman Muller, debo informarle, en nombre del presidente de los Estados Unidos, de que le han escogido para representar al electorado norteamer… - Isaac Asimov

to this day I don't know How To Write. I just write any old way it comes into my mind to write and just as fast as it comes into my mind. And that's the way I wrote "Nightfall." Mr. Campbell never sends letters of acceptance. He sends checks, instead, and very promptly, and that is an excellent way of handling the matter. I always found it thrilling. I received a check for "Nightfall" but my initial pang of delight was almost instantly snuffed out by the fact that Mr. Campbell had made a mistake. Standard payment at that time was a munificent 1 ¢ a word. (No complaints, folks; I was glad to get it.) The story was 12,000 words long and therefore I expected $120.00, but the check was for $150.00. I groaned. It would be so simple to cash the check and ask no questions, but the Ten Commandments, as preached to me by my stern and rockbound father, made it absolutely necessary to call Mr. Campbell at once and make arrangements for a new and smaller check. It turned out there was no mistake. The story seemed so good to Mr. Campbell that he gave me a bonus of ¼ ¢ a word.

I am trying now to re-create in my mind the picture of the man as I saw him in 1939- he, the revered author of Sinister Barriers, I the novice. I think I can rely on my near-photographic memory for the purpose. (I call it "near-photographic" because I can only remember things that happen to be lying around near photographs.)

Let's see, as I recall, he is six-feet seven-inches tall (when he is sitting down, that is) with a long and majestic English face. Then, too, I distinctly remember, there was a small flashing golden aura about his head, the occasional play of hissing flashes when he moved it suddenly, and the distant rumble of thunder when he spoke.

La forma más fácil de solucionar un problema es negar su existencia.