Hello Am researching and writing a paragraph or two to replace the simple allusion to critics pinning ignorantly usually the space opera label on work by Simmons It is taking more time than I would have hoped so I am taking a 5 minute break on doing this to tell you I am working on it Simmons does not write classic hard science science fiction like the old masters Asimov Clarke and Heinlein Instead he writes a form of grandiose social SF which is sometimes related to the social SF or Soft science fiction tradition of Bradbury Le Guin Vance and others I wanted to do fast justice to his continuation in his own very particular style of that tradition by making a rapid allusion to the fact that his literary approach is really not space opera Well yes that justice was too fast and I am correctng it By the way it is customary to add messages at the bottom of somebody s talk page and not at the top like you did The fact that it is at the bottom does not make it less visible 18 36 27 Jun 2004 UTC