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.

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

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

Sometimes, on our way through the world, we meet someone who touches our heart in a way others don't.

But boys will be boys, even the ones who are only girls dressed up: That's one of the rules of the world.

I still feel, as I did when I was six or seven, that books are simply the best way to experience a story.

It was a dark, blustery afternoon in spring, and the city of London was chasing a small mining town across the dried-out bed of the old North Sea.