An experienced slush-pile reader doesn't need more than a few seconds to see if a story has potential. You don't need to eat all of a rotten egg to determine that it's rotten.

I've probably read more bad science fiction than anyone else alive. But I've also read more good science fiction than anyone else alive.

Even after all these years, finding a really first-rate story is still a thrill, one I want to share with others.

When I first started editing a 'Year's Best' volume in the '70s, the job was pretty straightforward - there were three or four monthly magazines to read and a few original anthologies from trade publishers every year.

When I was a boy in Salem, Mass., in the 1950s, if you wanted to buy a book, you had to take a train to Boston. And when you got there, to a bookstore, there was no such thing as a science-fiction section.

I've experienced writer's block, but never for more than a few days.