I have to have music as a soundtrack to writing fiction. I listen to it at other times, too, but it helps me write.

I always try to be alert to the potential for repetition, for a decaying orbit with regard to my use of technique, etc.

Some questions will ruin you if you are denied the answer long enough.

When you think about the complexity of our natural world - plants using quantum mechanics for photosynthesis, for example - a smartphone begins to look like a pretty dumb object.

The map had been the first form of misdirection, for what is a map but a way of emphasizing some things and making other things invisible?

Nothing that lived and breathed was truly objective—even in a vacuum, even if all that possessed the brain was a self-immolating desire for the truth.

There's also a lot of gritty Americana type of bands. I actually have a lot of Britpop on my iPod, too.

I also am not particularly risk-averse - I don't mind jumping off a cliff if I trust the people who've told me they'll catch me at the bottom.

Imbuing fiction with a life that extends beyond the last word is in some ways the goal: the ending that goes beyond the ending in the reader's mind, so invested are they in the story.

So many differing opinions and philosophies... are rarely housed under the roof of a single magazine.

Literary influences are harder for me to point to, because mostly it's a mulch of all of my past reading.

I think music has the ability to inspire people and to change hearts, and the heart has the power to change the mind, and the mind has the power to change the world.

It is our courage which defines us, not our constraints

Capitalism and socialism are tools. Each have pros and cons. For each task, use the one that makes the most sense.

The process of scientific discovery is, in effect, a continual flight from wonder.

Are Singaporeans so easily offended? Please. Have more of a backbone and thick-skin. Are you going to go on a frenzied witch hunt just because some foreigner called you a loser on the Internet?

A dog desires affection more than its dinner. Well - almost.

There is only one direction. (Down.) There is only one color. (Black.) And there is only one number (Zero.)

Male chimpanzees have an extraordinarily strong drive for dominance. They're constantly jockeying for position.

I don't have children, but I imagine if parents are really pushed on the subject, they probably have favorite children.

I would never have written it without you. (Erin) And I would never have lived without you. (V'Aiden)