I came from an anxious, overly intense East Coast academic family. That was the way of our tribe.

Everybody wanted to be the hero of their own story. Nobody wanted to be comic relief.

The new Web is a very different thing. It's a tool for bringing together the small contributions of millions of people and making them matter. Silicon Valley consultants call it Web 2.0, as if it were a new version of some old software. But it's really a revolution.

The real world is horrible.

I got my heart's desire, and there my troubles began.

More than fantasy or even science fiction, Ray Bradbury wrote horror, and like so many great horror writers he was himself utterly without fear, of anything. He wasn't afraid of looking uncool - he wasn't scared to openly love innocence, or to be optimistic, or to write sentimentally when he felt that way.

Being a writer can be isolating. It's good to be among readers and booksellers.