Godshawk looked surprised, the way that people generally do when you ask them philosophical questions in shrubberies in the middle of the night.

But we're alive, and together, and we're going to be all right.

I used to be very fascinated by Victorian stuff, and my best known books, the Mortal Engines series, have a sort of retro, Victorian vibe, despite being set in the far future.

I was fascinated by The Lord of the Rings from about the age of eight and that lasted well into my teens.

As a child I always steered clear of science fiction, but in the autumn of 1977 the bow-wave of publicity for the first Star Wars movie had already reached me, so I was eager for anything science-fictional.

Moving cities are a fairly hoary old sci-fi trope - I seem to recall they were always cropping up on Doctor Who when I was young, though I may be misremembering.

The one thing worse than an enemy is a friend turned false.