Introduction to
EPIPHANY FOR ALIENS

Though your editor has met ninety per cent of the writers he has included in this volume (and can call about sixty per cent of that ninety "friends"), there are those few whose stories came in unsolicited and with whom the editor has had only postal acquaintance. One of these is David Kerr.

However, even if I can't lay out deep and meaningful comments about the writers I haven't grown to know, I always try to say something deep and meaningful about the story appearing under that writer's name. Occasionally I'm stumped on even that approach. As George Ernsberger (a very fine editor) once pointed out, there is not something to be said for every story, and frequently not for the very best. I think that's the case for "Epiphany for Aliens." Save to note that of all the stories I've read for A,DV and The Last Dangerous Visions, accepted and rejected alike, this one touched me the most profoundly. I have a great warmth for this tale; it seems to have a quality that makes one's empathy flare up. I cannot explain it, nor do I care to try. I simply mention it by way of giving Mr. Kerr his due, and I look forward more to meeting him than any of the others I've never known.

I think "Epiphany for Aliens" is an extraordinarily fine piece of writing.

And, as has grown our custom through these pages, here is Mr. Kerr's statement of credentials and background:

"Born in Carlisle England (near the Scottish border) in 1942, the only son of a motor mechanic.

"I was educated in the State system until the age of n, when I transferred to a Roman Catholic seminary, Ushaw College, Durham, considerably less horrifying than Joyce's but similarly traumatic. At the age of 18 I became disillusioned with the seminary, left it and shortly afterward the Catholic Church.

"At about this time I started writing poetry, infrequently but intensely.

"I read English at Newcastle University and took a B.A. degree. After graduation I travelled in Southern Europe in France, Spain, Italy, Egypt and Greece, mostly living rough. I was able to follow up an interest in archeology and antiquities. On my return to England I took odd labouring jobs for a time before settling down as a teacher at West Ham College of Further Education, a Technical College in East London; I taught English and Liberal Studies.

"At about this time I started getting poetry published in small magazines.

"I became assistant editor of an East London Arts magazine called Elam and wrote editorials, reviews and poetry for the magazine, and helped organise the local arts festival associated with it. In 1968 Elam published a paperback collection of my poetry called FIRSTPRINT.

"During this period I have also given several readings of poetry in pubs and colleges in London.

"I have spent the last year doing a postgraduate course in social and cultural studies. At present I have just taken up the post of lecturer in English at the University of Malawi in East Africa."