She could not mourn. She could no longer weep grasping the essence of annihilation, she wished only to cease, to be no more, as if sunk in some profound sleep devoid of wakening.

There was no violence, no speed. It moved to the rhythm of an elder dance, putting all the rituals of the world to shame. Black, silver, gold and moon-opal, night and sea, fire, earth, air and water.

He sat by her, watching every gesture she made, as if he would paint her portrait afterward.

As a child, my mother told me lots of fairy stories, many her own invention. She, too, tended to reverse the norm.

Pirates have always fascinated me.

When I am fascinated by something, I like to play with it.

At an early school, when I was about 5, they asked what we wanted to be when we grew up. Everyone said silly things, and I said I wanted to be an actress. So that was what I wanted to be, but what I was, of course, was a writer.