Everything has changed. I cannot be used anymore. Those days are over. I know too much. What I do now, I do for me.

Any moment called NOW is always full of possibles.

In every book I write, I try to name-check the most prominent influences, or the most prominent conscious influences.

A trap is only a trap if you don't know about it. If you know about it, it's a challenge.

Someone came in all Starfleet badges today. Not on my shift, sadly.' 'Fascist,' Leon had said. 'Why are you so prejudiced against nerds?' 'Please,' Billy said. 'That would be a bit self-hating, wouldn't it?' 'Yeah, but you pass. You're like, you're in deep cover,' Leon said. 'You can sneak out of the nerd ghetto and hide the badge and bring back food and clothes and word of the outside world.

Word spread because word will spread. Stories and secrets fight, stories win, shed new secrets, which new stories fight, and on.

I'd never been to a science-fiction convention until I became a professional writer.