To say that a writer's hold on reality is tenuous is an understatement-it's like saying the Titanic had a rough crossing. Writer's build their own realities, move into them and occasionally send letters home. The only difference between a writer and a crazy person is that a writer gets paid for it.

True genius can be identified by the fact that its expression changes the world into something it has never been before.

I'm frustrated with Hollywood and television and the movies because they see science fiction as an excuse for eye candy, for lots of great special effects.

The secret of the universe is this: The universe doesn't care. That part of the job is yours.

The human race never solves any of its problems, it only outlives them.

I had always been fascinated by the whole idea that Australia was this different ecology and that when rabbits and prickly pears and other things from Europe were introduced into Australia, they ran amok.

The problem with the gene pool is that there's no lifeguard.