Books may look like nothing more than words on a page, but they are actually an infinitely complex imaginotransference technology that translates odd, inky squiggles into pictures inside your head.

Personally I have a great deal of fun doing it, which is an inspiration in itself really. It really allows me to daydream, as in "schooldream" which is daydreaming with ink and get paid for it which is something I don't say to schools when I go in and talk to them.

There is much unexplained in the world. It behooves us to be wary at all times. Just when you think you've got the hang of it, along comes string theory, collateralized debt obligations or Björk's new album, and bam! You're as confused as you were when you first started.

Cats aren't really friendly, they're just cozying up to the dominant life-form as a hedge against extinction.

There is a certain degree of steampunkishness that creeps into my books.

Governments and fashions come and go but Jane Eyre is for all time.

Have you ever wondered how nostalgia isn"t what it used to be?