The summer stretched out the daylight as if on a rack. Each moment was drawn out until its anatomy collapsed. Time broke down. The day progressed in an endless sequence of dead moments.

When I write my novels, I'm not writing them to make political points. I'm writing them because I passionately love monsters and the weird and horror stories and strange situations and surrealism, and what I want to do is communicate that. But, because I come at this with a political perspective, the world that I'm creating is embedded with many of the concerns that I have. But I never let them get in the way of the monsters.

Socialism and SF are the two most fundamental influences in my life.

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

Part of the appeal of the fantastic is taking ridiculous ideas very seriously and pretending they're not absurd.

I'd never understood the injunction not to regret anything, couldn't see how that wasn't cowardice.

I'm a very friendly socialist.