I have to say that after some initial resistance, I'm now a complete 'Game of Thrones' addict.

I don't think there really is much of a left in America, certainly by European standards even the left is quite right wing here.

Rock n' roll was a kid when I was a kid.

Even when things are at their worst, there's a little voice in your head saying, 'Good story!'

Certainly, poverty and economic decline have a lot to do with the so-called rage of Islam. You've got all these young men in countries which are economically in bad shape. The idea that they might be able to make a good living and get married and have a family, a decent life, seems very remote to a lot of people in a lot of the world.

Masks beneath masks until suddenly the bare bloodless skull.

As I look back, I feel a touch of pride at my younger self's dedication to literature, which gave him the strength of mind to resist the blandishments of the enemies of promise. The sirens of ad-land sang sweetly and seductively, but I thought of Odysseus lashing himself to the mast of his ship, and somehow stayed on course.