I just like that balance of the real and the fantastical because as a reader and consumer of stories and fantasy, I always want to feel like I can find that world.

We cling to our fairy tales until the price for believing in them becomes too high.

If you must fail ... fail spectacularly!

I have an unusual hobby: I collect pictures of people I don't know. It started when I was a kid growing up in South Florida, the land of junk stores, garage sales, and flea markets, as a kind of coping mechanism.

I grew up feeling like a weirdo like many kids do. But I was lucky to find my own home for peculiar children. I went to a school for the gifted in Florida, and it was full of kids who - we were all strange together. And that was a real blessing.

Do you ever find yourself climbing into an open grave during a bombing raid and wish you'd just stayed in bed?

Our debt was too great and the words thank you too small.