Nanny's philosophy of life was to do what seemed like a good idea at the time, and do it as hard as possible. It had never let her down.

Aliens don't get stuck in air ducts. It's practically a well-known fact.

I would rather stare at the wall for half an hour than watch an episode of any of the 53,801 Australian soap operas now cluttering up UK TV.

The people who guard the rainbow don't like those who get in the way of the sun.

People needed to believe in gods, if only because it was so hard to believe in people.

If you get the characters right you've done sometimes nearly half the work. I sometimes find I get the characters right then the characters will often help me write the book - not what they look like that's not very important - what people look like is not about their character. You have to describe the shape they leave in the world, how they react to things, what effect they have on people and you do that by telling their story.

Science fiction is fantasy with bolts painted on outside.