Check out that one at the end. He's taken the form of a footstool. Weird...but somehow I like his style." "That is a footstool.

That's usually how they start, the young ones. Meaningless waffle.

Literature offers the thrill of minds of great clarity wrestling with the endless problems and delights of being human. To engage with them is to engage with oneself, and the lasting rewards are not confined to specific career paths.

I had a chance at him now. Things were a bit more even. He knew my name, I knew his. He had six years' experience, I had five thousand and ten. That was the kind of odds that you could do something with.

Hippo in a skirt: this was a comic reference to one of Solomon's principal wives, the one from Moab. Childish? Yes. But in the days before printing we had limited opportunities for satire.

That's usuаllу hоw thеу start, thе young оnеs. Meaningless waffle.

Getting that first draft out is a horribly hard grind, but that (perversely) is where the joy of it lies.