First, to Jan William Coffey, WHO SAID: _Earth_ seemed very realistic to me. _Artifact_ was also very believable. I really liked the _Galactic_Center_ work. I found that the early books were great near future novels that were very believable. As the story progressed I kept buying it. 9 ) In the end Benford had me accepting a lot of far fetched stuff as easily as the first, near future, book. So as far as "it could happen" I would say _Galactic_Center_ except, as I rethink it, the end of the work is not quite as believable as the beginning. I still do, some how, accept it as believable in a way though. I attribute this paradoxical situation to the skill of the writer. gb: Good points. I realized, writing the series over 20+ years, that I was going from near future to far, and hoped I'd gradually win the reader over to more fantastic things. (They'll all happen--guaranteed!--just wait...) I'd never seen that done in sf and wanted to try it. --------------------------------------------------------- Now, though it'll make a long file, I attach a somewhat old essay on cryonics, as some asked... Hope it doesn't swamp the system! Incidentally, just learned that my novella, IMMERSION, from SF AGE last year, is on the Hugo ballot. Thanks to whomever nominated it! I think I'll be able to make the con, too. I'm the oldest surviving (sorta) Texas fan, having published fanzines from Dallas in the late 1950s...so I should go to the first Texas worldcon. (I was on the failed Texas bid of the 1960s.) [442 lines left ... full text available at <url:http://www.reference.com/cgi-bin/pn/go?choice=message&table=04_1997&mid=4892990&hilit=CULTURAL+CULTURE+FUTURE> ] -------------------------------- Article-ID: 04_1997&4758555 Score: 83 Subject: MY: Our Vision 2020 wins over nations