Damon Knight: Orbit 17

Stuart Dybek (“The Maze”) teaches writing at Western Michigan University in Kalamazoo; he also teaches a science fiction course there. Before he became a teacher, he spent two years as a social worker in Chicago, and another two years scuba diving and teaching scuba in the Virgin Islands.

John M. Curlovich (“Quite Late One Spring Night”) trained to be an English teacher, but found when he graduated in 1970 that the bottom had fallen out of the market. He now works for the Pennsylvania State Unemployment Bureau, finding jobs for other people. His pets are two Australian chameleons named Amram and Yoshidel. (Australian chameleons are larger than other kinds; the male has three huge dinosaurish horns.) This is his first story.

Том Reamy (“Under the Hollywood Sign”) has worked as a movie projectionist, collector for a finance company, bank teller, dispatcher at a concrete plant, technical illustrator in aerospace, screenwriter, etc., but he says the only way to make all this interesting would be to have it played by George Maharis. “Under the Hollywood Sign” was the second story he sold, by three minutes —because he opened a letter from Harry Harrison first.