My lunch with "The Godfather of Science Fiction"

I have written repeatedly about the importance of science fiction to both my world view and to our planet in general. I have shared how precient my late friend Frank Herbert (who wrote Dune) was about predicting our day and age. Thursday while in New York City, I was able to spend three hours with the single most influential publisher in the history of science fiction: Tom Doherty (of Tor Books, among many other imprints). We talked about my manuscript for THE MORGAN DOCTRINE novel depicting cyber privateering evolution. We then had a delightful lunch hosted by the daughter of my literary agent and her husband (the Israeli naval commando who gave me the U. S. Navy SEAL Team 6 baseball cap about which I wrote yesterday). To be sure, my novel will have to stand on its own in today's incredibly competitive publishing world.

Interestingly, I don't believe Mr. Doherty has the slightest concept of how much our world owes to his efforts on behalf of the science fiction community (and all the other genres for which he has been the guiding light).  He is gracious. He has no guile. He's a straight shooter. And whether or not he and his team elect to risk an investment in publishing my novel, it was a pleasure to shake his hand and to do the kind of Vulcan mind meld that can only take place in a face-to-face meeting.