beware of your most implacable enemy-yourself.

The really disturbing thing about Somalia is that in a country where there are few economic opportunities, pirates are perceived as glamorous and are held in awe by young boys who aspire to their lifestyle.

When I vacate this sack of old bones I won't care what you do with it. Bury or burn it but don't make much fuss.

Every time one of my books sells a million copies in paperback, Pan Macmillan gives me a gold statuette of Pan. I have about 20 of them.

I wanted to be a great white hunter, a prospector for gold, or a slave trader. But then, when I was eight, my parents sent me to a boarding school in South Africa. It was the equivalent of a British public school with cold showers, beatings and rotten food. But what it also had was a library full of books.

I write my books in my head, and not in a specific study with a view. The view is from my inner eyes.

My first novel was rejected by some of the most eminent publishers in the world. Starting again was a real wrench.