I'm not independently wealthy.

'Lord of the Rings' was a set of books in which the world had been conceived before the characters were placed within that context.

Even the closest relationships that I have I know could potentially fall away. That's not to speak pessimistically or negatively about those relationships. In a weird way, it's the opposite. I value them.

'House of Leaves' is certainly about the unsettling nature of fear - and it was my aim to address that - but it's also about recovering from fear.

At the breakfast table we are footnoting everything that we read. We don't recognise it as such but we encounter an article in the newspaper and then suddenly we recall that a friend had a certain comment on that particular story, a certain bit of news that we saw on the television applies to that and we immediately assemble an idea of a story.

I believe the structure of 'House of Leaves' is far more difficult to explain than it is to read. And while I'd like to lay claim to some extraordinary act of originality, truth is I'm only taking advantage of capabilities inherent in everyone.

I'm a big believer in big books, and that doesn't necessarily mean long books.

Immensely clever story, and quite creepy, in a delightfully scary way.

It’s a nice idea but it reeks of hope. False hope.

Though if he did say it no one there ever heard him.