I never know exactly where I'm going with a story, whether it's a short story or a novel. If I did I'd soon grow bored of it. The fun, for me, is in the finding out and the making sense of it.

I've written over 100 short stories. You could say I'm obsessed with short stories.

I'm not trying to write cinematic novels, but I have been told several times that my style is cinematic.

I am interested in power and in the idea of one country exerting power over another. The Soviets took this to an extreme.

Who was it recently invented some machine that will enable her to sign a book from 5,000 miles away? Margaret Atwood. Get off your arse, love, and sign it in person. Publishers and circumstance made you a bestselling author. Give a little back.

What the short story needs above all is for one of the big publishers to get an equivalent series up and running and to support it and promote it.

The short story feels like the most natural length for prose fiction, or certainly for the kind of ideas and situations I like to encounter.