So, whenever I'm writing, I'm writing in the presence of all the other books I've read and I think we all are.

And I grew up on a steady diet of science fiction, especially apocalyptic and postapocalyptic fiction.

Because that's what heaven is...it's opening the door of a house in twilight and everyone you love is there.

We live, we die. Somewhere along the way, if we're lucky, we may find someone to help lighten the load.

It happened fast. Thirty-two minutes for one world to die, another to be born.

There was something in the pages of these books that had the power to make him feel better about things, a life raft to cling to before the dark currents of memory washed him downstream again, and on brighter days, he could even see himself going on this way for some time. A small but passable life. And then, of course, the end of the world happened.

So perhaps the greatest worry of all was that one day you would realize that all the worries of your life amounted to one thing: the desire to just stop worrying.