A short story is the ultimate close-up magic trick -- a couple of thousand words to take you around the universe or break your heart.

It seemed to Coraline that it was crouching, and staring down at her, as if it were not really a house but only the idea of a house—and the person who had had the idea, she was certain, was not a good person.

People are icebergs. So much of us is underneath.

For a moment he thought she was about to hit him, which would have been bad, or even start crying, which would have been much, much worse.

I was a normal child. Which is to say, I was selfish and I was not entirely convinced of the existence of things that were not me, and I was certain, rock-solid, unshakeably certain, that I was the most important thing in creation. There was nothing that was more important to me than I was.

This is a roadside attraction,' said Wednesday. 'One of the finest. Which means it is a place of power.

Most of what I want to try to do is continue to go places with fiction that I've never gone before, and tell stories I've never told before, and one of the problems you rapidly discover about fans is what fans want is the last thing they liked. They want more of that.