We were born too late to explore the then-unmapped wilderness of Africa and Amazonia and the Outback, and we were born too early to explore the myriad of new worlds that await future generations - but we did what we could, and plan to do more of it, and I'm here to tell you that it's a beautiful and exotic and fascinating world out there. Even the bad experiences were worth having. I have been charged by an elephant in Botswana and a rhino in Tanzania, threatened by hyenas in Kenya and headwaiters in France, stranded with no room, no transportation, and no money in the Caribbean, deserted in an Austrian airport, left standing on a runway at Aswan ...and you know something? I may not have enjoyed them when they were occurring - let me state it more strongly: I hated them - but they have become some of my most treasured memories. Having survived them, I find the writer in me enjoys relating them at least as much as telling you about the Good Stuff. But if there wasn't a preponderance of Good Stuff, we wouldn't keep packing our bags and heading off to those faraway places...so let me share it with you now. - Mike Resnick