Michael D. Resnick has had a long and prolific career as an author--mostly of science fiction--that dates back to the 1960s. However, it was not until the 1980s that he began to come into his own as a writer. His science-fiction stories since then have varied from comical adventures to tales of alternate universes to Westernesque sagas of rough and rugged gunslingers. But Resnick has become most noted for setting stories in the future that have themes relevant to the continent and people of Africa. Of these, his utopian short story "Kirinyaga" has become one of the most awarded works in science fiction history. "I've been writing science fiction most of my life," Resnick once stated. "The short story is still very much alive and well in science fiction, and I like writing short stories. Humor is still marketable in science fiction, and I write a lot of...