The paradox of the English country house is that its state of permanent decline, the fact that its heyday is always behind it, is part of the seduction, just as it is part of the seduction of books in general.

Supposedly I've got traces of an English accent, though I can't hear it. I must have inherited it from my mother, who's English, and then I think it was exacerbated by the fact that I live with an Australian.

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

I guess I was raised in a household with a lot of reverence for the physical sanctity of books. You didn't destroy books.

Though the funny thing about never being asked for anything is that after a while you start to feel like maybe you don’t have anything worth giving.

I'm a fantasy writer. I don't do SF. This is important to me. If you're not clear on what genre you're in, everything gets muddled, and it's hard to know which rules you're breaking.

I never thought about doing a sequel when I was actually writing 'The Magicians.' I only ever considered it a standalone.