When I was growing up, I didn't feel strong. I felt weak. I felt like a scared little kid. So I naturally turned to books to deal with that feeling, and I really turned to fantasy. That's really what influenced my decision to write a fantasy novel.

The way I felt growing up, which was like an outcast - I was weird, I was a nerd, I read fantasy books - I think a lot of fantasy book readers and a lot of readers and writers in general have that experience of isolation.

Evil comes in many forms, and whether you are male or female, that doesn't matter as much as what lurks in your mind.

The 'Harry Potter' books had a huge impact on me.

The construction of extensive railways, however, and particularly the consolidation of small, experimental lines into large systems, dates from the days of the discovery of gold in California.

The historian of science may be tempted to exclaim that when paradigms change, the world itself changes with them.

Modern science cannot explain why the laws of physics are exactly balanced for animal life to exist.

I read so much science fiction when I was young. I believe science fiction is the genre for exploration and to learn about possibilities via book.