Mostly she just loved sitting down and writing. For being a black female growing up in Los Angeles in the '60s, she was attracted to science fiction for the same reasons I was: It liberated her. She had a far-ranging imagination, and she was a treasure in our community.

I'm very leery of show business, having been in Los Angeles for the last 10 years. Buzz is a dangerous thing that I've heard applied to a lot of people that I've since not heard of again.

We appreciate the offer, but Los Angeles is not under consideration.

I got Maxwell just before we moved to Los Angeles,

I've driven by the port of Los Angeles and I can't imagine the whole thing is being watched for nuclear weapons. I'd like to have an IPv6-connected sensor network to every possible point of entry into the country to sense radiation and more complicated sensors for biological and chemical weapons.

Firefighters also spent part of the afternoon battling a 25-acre blaze near Lake Elizabeth in northern Los Angeles County. It's a classic Santa Ana, arriving right on schedule.