Margaret Cavendish (1623 - 1673) was an aristocrat, philosopher, poet, scientist, fiction-writer, and playwright. Her utopian romance, The Blazing World, is one of the earliest example of science fiction and she is unique for having published extensively on the subjects of natural philosophy and early modern science. She was also the first woman to attend a meeting at the Royal Society of London in 1667 where she criticized and engaged with the members Thomas Hobbes, Rene Descartes, and Robert Boyle. Michael Robbins is a poet and literary critic. He is the author of the poetry collections Alien vs. Predator and The Second Sex and his poems have appeared in the New Yorker, Poetry, Harper's, and elsewhere. His critical work has appeared in several publications, including London Review of Books, Chicago Tribune, and Spin. His forthcoming critical work, Equipment for Living, will publish in July 2017. He lives in Brooklyn.