One of the rules I try to follow is that normal people are going to be involved even in heroic events

I would normally never set out to write a trilogy.

I like to be surprised. Fresh implications and plot twists erupt as a story unfolds. Characters develop backgrounds, adding depth and feeling. Writing feels like exploring

It is a paradox of Life that all species breed past mere replacement. Any paradise of plenty soon fills to become paradise no more.

It is said that power corrupts, but actually it's more true that power attracts the corruptible. The sane are usually attracted by other things than power.

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.

Fortunately, human beings are remarkably diverse models to work from