Lots of people would be as cowardly as me if they were brave enough.

Raise the stakes! Always push your luck because no one else would push it for you.

The most watched programme on the BBC, after the news, is probably 'Doctor Who.' What has happened is that science fiction has been subsumed into modern literature. There are grandparents out there who speak Klingon, who are quite capable of holding down a job. No one would think twice now about a parallel universe.

The Kappamaki, a whaling research ship, was currently researching the question: How many whales can you catch in one week?

As a species, we are forever sticking our finger into the electric socket of the universe to see what will happen next.

"Multiple exclamation marks," he went on, shaking his head, "are a sure sign of a diseased mind."

And all the stories had, somewhere, the witch. The wicked old witch. And Tiffany had thought: Where's the evidence?