re: "And the cool, green hills of Earth"
Well, Phil, when I was on 5th grade (14 years old), our french teacher asked us to write a story. I wrote a science fiction short story which was read out loudly by the teacher and i got a price for it.
At the iuniversity, the literature course was about SF so I felt very much at ease with it!
When we get some inspiration, it can work.
Raoul