Where subtlety fails us we must simply make do with cream pies.

Prison for the crime of puberty -- that was how secondary school had seemed.

The village is coming back, like it or not.

My first duty to write a gripping yarn. Second is to convey credible characters who make you feel what they feel. Only third comes the idea.

Change is the principal feature of our age and literature should explore how people deal with it. The best science fiction does that, head-on.

We already live a very long time for mammals, getting three times as many heartbeats as a mouse or elephant. It never seems enough though, does it?

When I begin a book, I inevitably discover many things along the way, about the characters, their past histories and the political intrigues that surround them. This discovery process is vital, and I would not prejudice it by deciding too much in advance