Fate is a quantity very much like TV: an unstoppable narrative, written, produced and directed by somebody else.

She wore her sexuality with an older woman's ease, and not like an awkward purse, never knowing how to hold it, where to hang it, or when to just put it down.

Generally, women can't do this, but men retain the ancient ability to leave a family and a past. They just unhook themselves, like removing a fake beard, and skulk discreetly back into society, changed men. Unrecognizable.

When I see my friends engaging in a Twitter war for an afternoon, I think that would destroy me for a month.

I'm not sure if you're the person for me any more.

You can feel bad... I mean, that's not illegal.

All novels attempt to cut neural routes through the brain, to convince us that down this road the true future of the novel lies.