From a craft standpoint, telling a story in the first-person present tense over the course of 500 pages is a daunting challenge.

Compared to Americans, Canadians are often more gentle in their approach to things. They're much more apologetic. There's less room for conflict.

We all fight on two fronts, the one facing the enemy, the one facing what we do to the enemy.

When I die, nieces, I want to be cremated, my ashes taken up in a bush plane and sprinkled onto the people in town below. Let them think my body is snowflakes, sticking in their hair and on their shoulders like dandruff.

During World War I the Canadians were the shock troops. In many historical cases, Canadians have been very proficient at killing, and doing what we have to in order to survive. But no one wants to acknowledge that fact.

I never want to play down to the reader. I think readers are willing to go along if they're intrigued.

We aren't the masters of the earth. We're the servants.