Ellen Asher was the editor of the Science Fiction Book Club for thirty-four years and three months, thereby fulfilling her life’s ambition of beating John W. Campbell’s record as the person with the longest tenure in the same science fiction job. She has recently become a lady of leisure, which means she’s as busy as ever but doesn’t have to get up early in the morning. When she’s not meeting friends for lunch, she rides horses and takes ballet classes, and does about as well at both as you’d expect of a middle-aged editor who grew up in New York City. Her hobbies are growing things in flower pots on the window sill and not watching television. In 2001 she was the recipient of NESFA’s Skylark Award, of which she is still inordinately proud.