People are people, messy and mutable, combining differently with one another from day to day - even hour to hour.

But in fantasy, you can make a complete break, and you can put people in a situation where they are confronted with things that they would not confront in the real world.

I can become very emotional about math, although I'm not that good at it.

One of my degrees was a science degree in biology.

There is simple ignorance, not knowing, and willful ignorance that refuses to know, that covers the light of knowledge with the dark blanket of bias.

I actually feel that the different kinds of stories come out of different parts of my brain.

When a person responds emotionally to intellectual things, or emotionally only to traditional emotional things - I find that an interesting break between myself and some other writers and fans.