We need the expressive arts, the ancient scribes, the storytellers, the priests.

I submitted manuscripts to publishers. This was not so much a feeling that I should be published as a wish to escape the feared and hated drudgery of normal work.

Madness. I did not get myself born to die. I have better things to do.

I love writers all across the board, but one who influenced me very directly at the beginning was Mary Renault.

It gets cold in the desert at night, particularly up in the mountains; the stars hammer on the rock and strike frost.

The other writer who had a very important early influence on me when I was about 17 was C.S. Lewis.

I hate the way, once you start to know someone, care about them, their behavior can distress you, even when it's unreasonable and not your fault, even if you were really trying to be careful, tactful.