I was trained in seismic prospecting. We'd drill a deep hole and put dynamite in the bottom and blow it up remotely, which would give you a cross-sectional picture of the subsurface, which tells you where to drill.

I'm a big fan of the Russians: Isaac Babel is just an exquisite line-to-line stylist.

A country doesn't need a businessman to run it: it needs a heartful, worldly, compassionate leader.

According to me, your life is going to be a gradual process of becoming kinder and more loving. Hurry up. Speed it along. Start right now.

So I may not have had a gothic childhood, but childhood makes its own gothicity.

I'm very happy - if I can do even a little bit of work to get the short story out more, I'm thrilled.

Some of our writers are starting to incorporate elements of social media, etc. in the work itself, which is all for the good, I think - finding new ways of being poetic.