Sometimes the reader will decide something else than the author's intent; this is certainly true of attempts to empirically decipher reality.

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.

Creating the fictional background for a game world isn't significantly different from creating a background for fiction.

At one point I intended to write precursor and sequel novels, about the establishment of the Web and its next evolution, but I am very unlikely to now; they would take place in a different universe.

Sometimes the reader will decide something else than the author's intent; this is certainly true of attempts to empirically decipher reality.

We're not lost. We're locationally challenged

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.