Lessing's "Canopus" sequence received a mixed reception from mainstream literary critics. John Leonard praised her 1980 novel "The Marriages Between Zones Three, Four and Five" in "The New York Times", but in 1982 John Leonard wrote in reference to "The Making of the Representative for Planet 8" that "of the many sins for which the 20th century will be held accountable is that it has discouraged Mrs. Lessing... She now propagandises on behalf of our insignificance in the cosmic razzmatazz," to which Lessing replied: "What they didn't realise was that in science fiction is some of the best social fiction of our time. I also admire the classic sort of science fiction, like "Blood Music", by Greg Bear. He's a great writer." She attended the 1987 World Science Fiction Convention as its Writer Guest of Honor. Here she made a speech in which she described her dystopian novel "Memoirs of a Survivor" as "an attempt at an autobiography."