The less attractive the character, the more I enjoyed writing them. Officious bureaucrats and PowerPoint weasels are where it's at for me.

...your Web browser is Ronald Reagan.

When I read a novel that I really like, I feel as if I am in direct, personal communication with the author. I feel as if the author and I are on the same wavelength mentally, that we have a lot in common with each other, and that we could have an interesting conversation, or even a friendship, if the circumstances permitted it. When the novel comes to an end, I feel a certain letdown, a loss of contact. It is natural to want to recapture that feeling by reading other works by the same author, or by corresponding with him/her directly.

Our opponent is an alien starship packed with atomic bombs," I said. "We have a protractor.

I think that this vein is close to being mined out already, but I'll say that my knowledge of and talent for linguistics are quite limited and I'm not aware of being a hell of a lot more interested in that topic than I am in others.

Whenever serious and competent people need to get things done in the real world, all considerations of tradition and protocol fly out the window.

Clearly Mr. Drkh has had a long career of being the weirdest person in any given room, but he's about to go down in flames.