Unless the perfidious wolves have the temerity to disobey the High King's plans, we should meet Shalhassan's forces by the Latham in mid-wood with the wolves between us. If they aren't,' Diarmuid concluded, 'we blame anyone and everything except the plan.

The world could bring you poison in a jewelled cup, or surprising gifts. Sometimes you didn't know which of them it was.

How we remember changes how we have lived. Time runs both ways. We make stories of our lives.

There was some sadness in how that could happen, falling out of love with something that had shaped you. Or even people who had.

Sometimes you didn't really arrive at a conclusion about your life, you just discovered that you already had.

After a while, you start to realize that you should write a book you would want to read. I try to write a book I would enjoy.

Fantasy is, at its best, the purest access to storytelling that we have. It universalizes a tale, it evokes wonder and timeless narrative power, it touches upon inner journeys, it illuminates our collective and individual pasts, throws a focus beam on the present day, and presages the dangers and promises of the future.