From a good book, I want to be taken to the very edge. I want a glimpse into that outer darkness.

Bore children, and they stop reading. There's no room for self-indulgence or showing off or setting the scene.

From a good book, I want to be taken to the very edge. I want a glimpse into that outer darkness.

I think one of the things you have to learn if you're going to create believable characters is never to make generalizations about groups of people.

The way of creating believable characters is not by conforming to a set of PC rules.

I am atheist in a very religious mould. I'm always asking myself the big questions. Where did we come from? Is there a meaning to all of this? I read the King James Bible, as all English writers should. And when I find myself in church, I edit the hymns as I sing them.

My book has a very simple surface, but there are layers of irony and paradox all the way through it.