I don't really do themes. I might accidentally, but themes are an emergent phenomena of the writing of the book, of just trying to get a story out there.

My point has always been that, ever since the Industrial Revolution, science fiction has been the most important genre there is.

There's an old Sysan saying that the soup of life is salty enough without adding tears to it.

Torture is such a slippery slope; as soon as you allow a society or any legal system to do that, almost instantly you get a situation where people are being tortured for very trivial reasons.

What's one more meaningless act of violence on that zoo of a planet? It would be appropriate. When in Rome; burn it.

I think we need politicians; we need people who want to serve.

I think a lot of people are frightened of technology and frightened of change, and the way to deal with something you're frightened of is to make fun of it. That's why science fiction fans are dismissed as geeks and nerds.