I can write three novels in the time it takes to write one novella. I'm probably not going to go with that form again.

Coffee takes on an almost ritualistic meaning. I learned that from being on hurricane patrol for a year in the North Atlantic.

My books are offered through Podiobooks.com and the iTunes Music Store as free audio downloads. I don't sell them.

Podiobooks rules. It's still the best way I know to find an audience for longer works in any genre.

Ignore the trade-pub narratives about how little success indies enjoy.

More and more of my audio fans are asking for audiobook versions - files without the intro/outro/etc that go into the podcasts. More and more want them from Audible.

Stop aspiring. Start doing.

My characters are all "just people" - people you might know - and the things that happen are things that anybody might do if they lived on a freighter that spent most of its time in the Deep Dark.

I credit Podiobooks and the free audio podcasts for helping me develop the audience I needed when I started selling my books in text forms.

My opinion is that more authors could use podcasts to differentiate themselves in a crowded text-based marketplace.

specialize in small cast/single reader long fiction so I only compete against other podcasts of novels in that form.

One always begins to forgive a place as soon as it's left behind.

The idea that the EU is somehow the guarantor of peace on the continent - that is in itself rash, in my view, and risks undermining the vital role of Nato.

Japanese food makes me feel particularly good.

Fire truck with back end on fire drives really fast in circles.

I acted for so many years and sat on a million sets and worked with a million different directors so that is to me some of the best training you can get.

The landscapist lives in silence.

You know that place between sleep and awake? The place where you still remember dreaming? That's where I'll always love you... Peter Pan. That's where I'll be waiting.

Physical strength is the most important thing in life. This is true whether we want it to be or not.

We shall see our friends again. We can lay them in the grave; we know they are safe with God.

I know why the caged bird sings.