For me, the old saw The Golden age of science fiction is twelve is too true to be funny.
Like many science fiction lovers of my generation, I discovered Andre Norton on the shelves at the junior high’s library. As usual, the protagonists were male, but unusual for that time, many of them were outcasts of various sorts, often from cultures other than the North American white majority.
I was as eager a writer as I was a reader. That dearth of active girl protagonists I mentioned above was one of the reasons I started writing my own stories during grade school. When I turned thirteen and took a typing class, with typical early teen enthusiasm and total lack of critical ability, I started sending my stuff to publishers, once I’d babysat long enough to earn the postage.
