Pain held no terror for him. Pain was, if not friend, then family, something he had grown up with in his crรจche, learning to respect but never yield to. Pain was simply a message, telling him which limbs he could still use to slaughter his enemies, how far he could still run, and what his chances were in the next battle.
Paolo BacigalupiThe surfeit of bad trends pushes me to set my stories in worlds which are often diminished versions of our own present.
Paolo BacigalupiTheyโd blame a castoff just for breathing. You could be good as gold and theyโd still blame you.
Paolo BacigalupiWhat I'm hoping to do though is to ground my extrapolations in specificity, and to make sure that the story I tell is deliberately and honestly told.
Paolo BacigalupiNothing so mystical. Human beings hunger for killing, that is all. It only takes a few politicians to stoke division, or a few demagogues encouraging hatred to set your kind upon one another. And then before you know it, you have a whole nation biting on its own tail, going round and round until there is nothing left but the snapping of teeth.
Paolo Bacigalupi