I'll buy metaphor, but simile's a cop-out used by scaredycats who won't commit to anything. Simile's for cowards.

I love research so much that I do an enormous amount; it helps put off the moment of starting to write the story.

Im not supposed to be within two hundred feet of a school or a Chuck E. Cheese.

My great-grandfather was a self-taught man, and his library was extraordinary. I read the lot.

It's where I keep all my things. Get a lot of compliments on this. Plus it's not a purse, it's called a satchel. Indiana Jones wears one.

My attitude is that if anybody of any age wants to read a book, let them, but I do think that no child would want to read Boneland.

My background is deep and set in deep time, and in a narrow space, oral traditions going back a long, long time, which I inherited by osmosis.