In the end, living is defined by dying.

Human spirit is the ability to face the uncertainty of the future with curiosity and optimism.

... from our vantage point it is now clear that the only thing the population had to fear was fear itself.

The only thing binding individuals together is ideas. Ideas mutate and spread; they change their hosts as much as their hosts change them.

Are you saying a society wracked by plague is preferable to one wracked by indifference?

A society that fears knowledge is a society that fears itself.

I just love the idea that people disappear into the story for a while. You grab a book, and you want to get back to it, and your life becomes a bit of an interruption. I would love readers to feel like that.