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I began by writing science fiction, yes, and for over thirty years I've found that my training in science fiction made it possible for me to write anything. I have written mysteries, both novels and short stories, for instance. I have also written nonfiction books on every branch of science, both popularizations for the general public and textbooks at both the graduate level and the grade-school level. I have written history books, discussions of the Bible, Shakespeare, Byron, and Milton. I have written satires and jokebooks. I have written about 150 books as of now, and I tell you, that of all the different things I write, science fiction is by far the hardest thing to do.
The introduction was entitled "So Why Aren't We Rich?" It was a bit ironic, since Asimov was one of the few science-fiction writers who was rich probably he was a millionaire by that time. In his autobiography he totaled his income at the end of each year. It revealed increasing financial success that brought him from the uncertainty of the early days when he waited anxiously for a check from Campbell to a growing bank account and growing confidence that he could leave his salaried position at Boston University with scarcely a thought about financial insecurity. He stopped revealing his annual income with the year 1962: 1961 had amounted to $69,000; 1962 to $72,000. In 1970, his divorce trial revealed his annual income as $205,000.
By almost any measure (and certainly his own, since he did not have expensive habits), he was financially secure, even though some of his savings were invested in (then shaky) New York City bonds and a generous settlement with his wife was ahead. His income came mostly from books other than his science fiction. None of his books was a best-seller though his science fiction continued to remain in print and to sell steadily but the sheer volume of the nonfiction had brought him to his present financial status. Only about 30 of those first 150 books he wrote or edited were science fiction. Books such as The Intelligent Man's Guide to Science, his first major science-popularization success, brought him a single royalty check of $27,600.
So it was that The Gods Themselves came to represent a return and a confirmation and a risk that Asimov found himself willing to take. It was an act of daring that deserved the rewards it earned. The novel sold well, was critically well received, and won both Nebula and Hugo Awards. Asimov had received the approval of his fellow fans and his fellow writers.
The novel also has particular merits as a summing-up point. Asimov had told Silverberg that he would show "what a real science-fiction writer can do. . . ." He meant that he would write a science-fiction story

 
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