In the 1970s and 1980s there was so little decent fiction for young people, but we're now in a golden age that shows no sign of fading. Philip Pullman, J. K. Rowling, Lemony Snicket are only three of the best known among a good number of equals.

This world, he thinks, contains just one masterpiece, and that is itself.

I remain thankful to God for all his mercies.

I'm not from a milieu where high-register language or philosophical ideas were welcome.

I'm from a time and place where bigheadedness was a really savage crime, and you'd get cut down for it by your peers and parents.

Travel far enough, you meet yourself.

Your turn has come to sift through the dreck of humanity for rare specks of originality