..the best is only bought at the cost of great pain...or so says the legend

I am writing a sequel to The Touch because I want to further explore the Chinese question that I have raised. There will be more about that in a sequel.

It's no fun to be a bluestocking in a family of jockstraps.

If you love people, they kill you. If you need people, they kill you. They do I tell you!

..the best is only bought at the cost of great pain...or so says the legend

I escaped the torture of my childhood home by reading. To this day it is still one of my greatest pleasures.

Each of us has something within us which won't be denied, even if it makes us scream aloud to die. We are what we are, that's all. Like the old Celtic legend of the bird with the thorn in its breast, singing its heart out and dying. Because it has to, its self-knowledge can't affect or change the outcome, can it? Everyone singing his own little song, convinced it's the most wonderful song the world has ever heard. Don't you see? We create our own thorns, and never stop to count the cost. All we can do is suffer the pain, and tell ourselves it was well worth it.