Readers, after all, are making the world with you. You give them the materials, but it's the readers who build that world in their own minds.

In war everybody is a prisoner.

I have never heard a dancer asking for advice about how to stay focused on her footwork, or a painter complaining about the dull day-to-day task of painting. What task worth doing isn't worth daily effort? Do you think Michelangelo was having fun the whole time he was on his back painting the Sistine Chapel's ceiling?

If science fiction is the mythology of modern technology, then its myth is tragic.

Not even need and love can defeat fate.

I have become very critical of the whole book award system and could preach on that subject for quite a while, but I do know what an award can mean to a writer early in her career. It can give an essential validation.

To see a candle's light one must take it into a dark place.