TW: How did you get started writing? Any specific influences?

EF: I started writing when I was about 14 years old. I can't really remember exactly what triggered off my decision to do so. The main influences on me at that age were Robert Heinlein, Andre Norton, and the historical novelist Edison Marshall.

TW: What are some of the best perks of being a science fiction writer?

EF: Well, I don't know that these are specific to being an SF writer, other than being invited to conventions a lot. The main perks, from my viewpoint, are simple: No boss and no time clock. :)

TW: Do you have any favorites among your characters?

EF: No, not really. Whatever character I'm working with at the moment tends to be my favorite at that moment.

TW: What was the first sf story you ever read?

EF: Either Robert Heinlein's Citizen of the Galaxy or Tom Godwin's The Survivors (which I probably read under the novel title Space Prison).

TW: Who are some of your favorite non-sf authors?

EF: Oh, jeez. That list would start getting very long, very quickly. Right off the top of my head, James Joyce, Mark Twain, Fyodor Dostoyevsky, and William Faulkner.

TW: What invention or scientific leap in understanding would you most like to see made in your lifetime?

EF: A cure for longterm debilitating diseases.

TW: If you could go back to one incident in all of history to watch as a spectator what would it be?

EF: Again, that list would get too long too quickly. Off the top of my head, I'd like to see who really wrote Shakespeare's plays.