Only a fool wants war, but once a war starts then it cannot be fought half-heartedly. It cannot even be fought with regret, but must be waged with a savage joy in defeating the enemy, and it is that savage joy that inspires our bards to write their greatest songs about love and war.

I'll happily mentor anyone who wants mentoring, and most of that goes on by internet rather than face to face.

And yes, there's a simplicity to writing books because you're not a member of a team, so you make all the decisions yourself instead of deferring to a committee.

What I mean by that is that the point of life, as I see it, is not to write books or scale mountains or sail oceans, but to achieve happiness, and preferably an unselfish happiness.

Book tours and research provide a lot of travel - too much, I sometimes think, but we do take vacations.

The existence of tricks does not imply the absence of magic.

Every day is ordinary, until it isn't.