In many ways, it was much, much harder to get the first book contract. The hardest thing probably overall has been learning not to trust people, publicists and so forth, implicitly.

I liked myths. They weren't adult stories and they weren't children's stories. They were better than that. They just were.

Life is a disease, sexually transmitted and fatal.

I started out writing much more science fictiony stuff and writing about science fiction.

All writers have this vague hope that the elves will come in the night and finish any stories.

Set your fantasies in the here and now and then, if challenged, claim to be writing Magical Realism.

I realized the other day that about the only author I genuinely read for pure pleasure is one of the worst authors in the world, a guy called Harry Stephen Keeler, a long dead American mystery writer. He was probably the greatest bad writer America ever produced.