I grew up reading Tolkien, and I love him. But I love him in the way that you love that rambly old grandfather. You have to sit through some pretty off-topic stuff before he starts telling his cool old war stories.

I loved college. I wish I was still taking classes instead of teaching them.

A troublesome question? Those tend to be the only whorthwhile kind.

How about this?' Simmon asked me. "Which is worse, stealing a pie or killing Ambrose?" I gave it a moment's hard thought. "A meat pie, or a fruit pie?

I was nervous about writing Slow Regard.

Humor is important. If you're going to tell any sort of realistic story, you're going to have to have humor in it, because people are funny. Clever people especially.

You want to publish with a publisher because a publisher knows how to publish a book. And you don't. You really don't.