Mr Blawke always reminded me of a heron; I'm not sure why. Something to do with a sense of rapacious stillness, perhaps, and also the aura of one who knows time is on his side.

Even galaxy-spanning anarchist utopias of stupefying full-spectrum civilisational power have turf wars within their unacknowledged militaries.

The bomb lives only as it is falling.

Most mainstream male fiction is littered with heroines, and female characters are basically so great, you want to fall in love with them.

I've always loved Scotland, and I'm not a huge fan of big cities, to be honest. I like them to dip into for a bit, but I'm not sure I would want to live in one again.

I think the future stopped looking American when you think back to Blade Runner and Neuromancer, when it started to look more Japanese.

By the usual reckoning, the worst books make the best films.