But when you have order, you don't need Gods. When everything is well ordered and disciplined then nothing is unexpected. If you understand everything,' I said carefully, 'then there's no room left for magic. It's only when you're lost and frightened and in the dark that you call on the Gods, and they like us to call on them. It makes them feel powerful, and that's why they like us to live in chaos.

I sometimes wonder what would have happened if the first book had not sold... doesn't bear thinking about, but I suppose we'd have made it work somehow.

A man does not see where he treads in battle, for he is watching the enemy.

We don't build,' I said to my son, 'we just destroy.

At risk of sounding foully pompous I think that writers' groups are probably very useful at the beginning of a writing career.

I know nothing about producing TV drama and any involvement on my part is liable to prove an obstacle to the producers, so I prefer to be a cheerleader and let them get on with it.

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