“… I see the main use of space colonies as religious. They should be built, not as industrial enterprise, but in the spirit of the old cathedrals, like Canterbury. We should take it all very slow and build in meaningful earth-stories and myths. Clearly space colonies have more to do with myth than science or industry. I want the connection between the Indian Coyote stories and the space colonies to be very direct and clean. I want the building of the colonies to encourage folk life and country music and old time religion, not discourage it. I want the colonies to have a lot of winos and ne’er-do-wells hanging around the computer consoles, singing and praying and spitting and telling lies.… In my head I’m against all this space stuff. But in my heart, if they’re goin’ to build ’em, I want to be on one. I want to go to heaven, by hook or crook. I’d feel a whole lot better about it, though, if that guy hadn’t hit that golf ball on the moon. I sure do dread being locked up in outer space with ten thousand golfers.”

—Gurney Norman