I also remember a line from a song by Smog [Bill Callahan], which seems to describe the experience of a town-dweller moving to the country: "I was raised in a pit of snakes/Blink your eyes - I was raised on cake."

I would say that, apart from being a writer, I have also always been very conscious of the idea of a 'world elsewhere'.

I think the natural is, for many people, the gateway to something supernatural or otherworldly.

When we fail to live up to our ideals, for instance, we might begin to wonder who we are - most people are aware of a discrepancy, I think. There are idiosyncrasies and foibles, but we're not sure if these are essential. Some people think they are the most essential things of all.

I grew up in North Devon, by the sea, and feel a special affinity for the landscape there, despite a lack of actual ancestry.

The quality of that 'who I am', is what I hope comes out in the writing.

Non-pantheist models for god seem almost completely untenable to me, though not without interest.