Part of the particular interest and beauty of science fiction and fantasy: writer and reader collaborate in world-making.

There are souls, he thought, whose umbilicus has never been cut. They never got weaned from the universe. They do not understand death as an enemy; they look forward to rotting and turning into humus.

If you want your writing to be taken seriously, don't marry and have kids, and above all, don't die. But if you have to die, commit suicide. They approve of that.

While we read a novel, we are insane—bonkers. We believe in the existence of people who aren't there, we hear their voices... Sanity returns (in most cases) when the book is closed.

there are times when you have to speak because silence is betrayal.

I've got some gift for languages. You follow your gift. But Latin's not easy.

Great self-destruction follows upon unfounded fear.