Fantasy is, of course, booming, and I think it's beginning to stretch its range as well.

When I'm not at the keyboard, I'm generally reading, practicing tai chi or middle eastern dance, or cooking.

First and foremost, The Quiet Invasion is a first contact story. What would we do if we actually found evidence of alien life out there? It's also about politics.

I have a better internal and intuitive understanding of folklore and myth than science and technology, so in that way fantasy is easier.

Actually, after while, finding the ideas is the easy part. Sorting them through and turning them into stories, now, that's the hard work.

I have to do more close research and fact checking for the science fiction. This is not however to say that writing good fantasy does not involve doing good research.

My joking answer to this question is that I leave a bowl of milk out on the back porch every night for the Idea Fairy. In the morning, the milk is gone and there's a brand-new shiny idea by the bowl.

Becoming a mother cannot help but change things. An author's life is reflected in their writing, whether they want it to be or not, and parenthood is one of the biggest life changes there is.

I graduated from the University of Michigan with a BA in Communications and left formal education behind.

Octavia Butler, of course, is brilliant and disturbing.

The Lord of the Rings movie set an entirely new standard for fantasy in the movies.

Busy days galore...thoughts in a kaleidoscope of dervish dances.

My lifesaver has always been the hazel iris of your soul. It never fails. When the world plunges me deep into the darkness, one look from you is all it takes to save me.

Most of the people of this world are asleep in their minds.

A youthful age is desirable, but aged youth is troublesome and grievous.

I know myself," he cried, "but that is all-

When people like me, they like me "in spite of my color." When they dislike me; they point out that it isn't because of my color. Either way, I am locked in to the infernal circle.

"Doctor, my leg hurts. What can I do?" The doctor says, "Limp!"

Bonsai won the Chilean Critics Award for best novel of the year in 2006and it's easy to understand why.

I'm not nearly the saint some of my fans imagine and I'm nowhere near the devil my detractors wish, so you simply take both of those with a grain of salt.

You are already free. You only have to know and realize this truth.