Smith: Your friends and associates are unaware that you are a science fiction writer, so you don’t want SF people finding out who your friends and associates are. But how about telling us what you are willing to let us know about you? Tiptree: Well, I was born in the Chicago area a long time back, trailed around places like colonial India and Africa as a kid (and by the way, I knew in my bones that they weren’t going to stay “colonial” any more than I was going to stay a kid, but nobody ever asked me). I’m one of those for whom the birth and horrendous growth of Nazism was the central generation event. From it I learned most of what I know about politics, about Human life, about good and evil, courage, free will, fear, responsibility, and What To Say Goodbye To… And, say it again, about Evil. And Guilt. If one of the important things to know about a person is the face in his nightmares, for me that face looks much like my own. In some ways it is easier to live with a Devil who is clearly different, black or white or yellow, old, young, female or male, or such.
What do You think about Meet Me At Infinity (2015)?
