We're all living on borrowed time. The trick is to come up with works of sufficient interest to pay off the debt.

Well, it's an adventure story, and a Bildungsroman, of course, but there was also the intention to describe a culture that had been seen in rather narrow terms.

I don't think anyone wants a reader to be completely lost - certainly not to the point of giving up - but there's something to be said for a book that isn't instantly disposable, that rewards a second reading.

I'm very happy that the New York Times has spoken well of my stuff; who wouldn't be? But it's not a choice I made.

The language fictional characters use is chosen for effect, at least if the author is concentrating.

Every book is three books, after all; the one the writer intended, the one the reader expected, and the one that casts its shadow when the first two meet by moonlight.

We're all living on borrowed time. The trick is to come up with works of sufficient interest to pay off the debt.