Mars Needs Women

Many years ago (I won't tell you how many) I was talking with Ron Miller at a Balticon and he said "You should join the IAAA (the International Association of Astronomical Artists) because... Mars needs women." This was because at the time there were just a handful of women members, though that has changed a lot in this century.

At the time I just knew Ron as, believe it or not, a "Babe Artist" --because he did these great pinup girls for the conventions and they were very popular. So I wasn't at all shy about talking with him about art, and we had fun conversations, and because I figured any invitation to a professional art group was worth following up on, I joined. And it's been pretty great. Of course had I know that Ron Miller was one of the concept artists for Dune and Total Recall, the author of over 50 books, and a legendary space artist, I might have been a little more reluctant to chat with him. Or maybe not--he's a very amiable guy. In any case, Quartz.com has a small interview of him on their website, and of course you can visit his studio as well at Black Cat Studios. And yes, he likes cats. :D