Re:  A Rose For Ecclesiastes

4920 Westhills Rd.
Baltimore, Md. 21229
January 6, 1968

Dear Clara,

I just received your letter.  Thank you for it.  I hope you like LORD OF LIGHT
when you finally get a chance to read it.

You ask my why I hated Gallinger so in A ROSE FOR ECCLESIASTES.  The answer is
that I hated him because he was me.  Once in my life I let a beautiful thing
die, and now it can never be.  Details are not important, in that they would
add nothing.  The story says what it must and stands or falls on its own
merits.   But you're right in your observation that it's a sad story, despite
the fact that you felt crushed and even cheated.  Life is full of these things,
and one of them motivated this tale.  I didn't want it to end that way, but it
had to, because he was me.  I felt pain along with him.  He was a better
linguist than I, and a better poet.  He was a very good, misunderstood man.
There is a sequel to the story which I will never write, where he goes back to
Mars some years later.  It is much sadder, believe me, and he doesn't deserve
to be put through those paces.  He's suffered enough.  But sometimes things
happen this way, and all that you can say is, "Look.  This is the way things
are."  That's all.

Thank you, lady, for your letter.  Have yourself a happy new year.

Sincerely,
Roger Zelazny

[pp. 21 - 22, NO-EYED MONSTER #14, Summer 1968]


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