Better to stay alive," I said. "At least while there's a chance to get free." I thought of the sleeping pills in my bag and wondered just how great a hypocrite I was. It was so easy to advise other people to live with their pain.

I have this theory that anything that happens to you that leaves you alive and intact can be used somewhere in your writing.

I was raised Baptist, and I like the fact that I got my conscience installed early.

And by the way, I wanted to point out that Kindred is not science fiction. You'll note there's no science in it. It's a kind of grim fantasy.

He was like me - a kindred spirit crazy enough to keep on trying.

...I can write my own stories and I can write myself in.

The differences you perceive between Humans-between groups of Humans-are the result of isolation and inbreeding, mutation, and adaptation to different Earth environments