The sun was a molten coin burning a circle in the low-hanging overcast, surrounded by a fairy-ring of moisture.

What is writing? Writing is telepathy.

A coward judges all he sees by what he is.

The rope by which the great blocks of taxes are attached to any citizenry is simple loyalty.

Do they see the lethal insanity of a race to the brink of oblivion, and then over the edge? Apparently not. If they did, surely they wouldn't be racing to begin with. Or is it a simple failure of imagination? One doesn't like to think such a rudimentary failing could bring about the end, yet...

I think most of us can remember from our own childhood, just in the Disney cartoons, things that frightened us profoundly. For me it was Bambi, the scene when the forest was on fire. That was something I had nightmares about. I can't imagine being a little kid of eight and seeing Night Of The Living Dead with living corpses eating the flesh of living people.

The most important things to remember about back story are that (a) everyone has a history and (b) most of it isn’t very interesting.