It's odd how violence and humor so often go together, isn't it?

It occurs to me that our survival may depend upon our talking to one another.

Prison always has been a good place for writers, killing, as it does, the twin demons of mobility and diversion

You've probably heard about the theory of steam-engine time - that even after the steam engine had been invented, it had to wait until people were ready to make use of it. The same thing happens in literary circles. The truth is, I'm not terribly interested in Victorian times; I'm interested in Victorian writers. I'm interested in most eras of history, but not the Victorian Era especially. I was interested in the John Franklin Expedition. I was interested in these last five weird years of Dickens' life. And I just have to take the age that comes with all that when I write about it.

Words are the only bullets in truth's bandolier. And poets are the snipers.

I'm very interested in the evolution of technology, and it's really the idea of artificial life which intrigues me, more than just intelligence - a new, evolving life form arising within our datasphere and coming into living relation with humanity.

Once evolution gets a good basic design, it tends to throw away the variants and concentrate on the near-infinite diversity within that design.