WITHOUT CALLING HIM A FASCIST, GEORGE R.R. MARTIN REMEMBERS JERRY POURNELLE “Pournelle was fond of talking about all the help Robert A. Heinlein (whom he always called ‘Mr. Heinlein,’ at least in my hearing) gave him when he was starting out, and he was a passionate advocate of RAH’s ‘pay it forward’ philosophy, and did much to help the generations of writers who came after him. He served a term in the thankless job of SFWA President, and remained an active part of SFWA ever after, as part of the advisory board of Past Presidents and (even more crucially) on GriefCom, the Grievance Committee. Jerry could be loud and acrimonious, yes, and when you were on the opposite side of a fight from him that was not pleasant… ahh, but when you were on the SAME side, there was no one better to have in your foxhole. . . . His politics were not my politics. He was a rock-ribbed conservative/ libertarian, and I’m your classic bleeding-heart liberal… but we were both fans, and professional writers, and ardent members of SFWA, and we loved SF and fantasy and fandom, and that was enough. You don’t need to agree with someone on everything to be able to respect them.”