It's natural for a child to assume that his or her own childhood is unremarkable.

I loved fantasy, but I particularly loved the stories in which somebody got out of where they were and into somewhere better - as in the Chronicles Of Narnia, The Wizard Of Oz, The Phantom Tollbooth, the Dungeons & Dragons cartoon.

It's a great thing when you feel that you recognize yourself, deeply and movingly, in a work of literature.

It was so much easier to be angry. Being angry made him feel strong, even though-- and this contradiction did nothing to diminish his anger-- he was angry only because his position was so weak.

In our world no one ever knows what to do, and everyone's just as clueless and full of crap as everyone else, and you have to figure it all out by yourself. And even after you've figured it out and done it, you'll never know whether you were right or wrong. You'll never know if you put the ring in the right volcano, or if things might have gone better if you hadn't.

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

I recognize that on paper, you can't really tell that I'm a fan or a nerd.