Writing is like a rollercoaster ride for me, an adventure. I love exploring the world through 'playing' people who are absolutely nothing like me.

My books deliberately provide no answers or messages. I'm drilled in the habit of objectivity and also aware that the steady drip of fiction has more power than facts to shape opinion, so I handle it with caution.

Regular people said they couldn’t tell the difference between one clone and another, did they? That was what came of spending too much time looking at faces and not enough wondering what shaped people and went on inside their heads.

And nobody has the right to judge a soldier from the warmth and safety of their armchair.

Why doesn’t the fact that I’m human matter to human beings.

Gra’tua cuun hett su dralshy’a.

Somehow, though, they managed to ignore the fact that being the dominant species on Earth meant that absolutely nothing about their position was inevitable or beyond their control.

As a writer, I have a moral deal with you, the reader – if I hook you with a story, my part of the deal is to follow through and give you a satisfying outcome.

Revenge might give you a warm feeling, but unless it delivers some lasting results you might as well have a nice cup of mocha instead.

I refuse to believe that gods want to make mortals unhappy and torment them. That’s what humans do. And humans are very definitely not divine.