I'm mostly a novelist these days, but I have written short stories in Fantasy, Science Fiction and horror.

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.

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

Octavia Butler, of course, is brilliant and disturbing.

Let your Life be a garden of peace and your smile be a bloom of flowers.

Obsessed by a fairy tale, we spend our lives searching for a magic door and a lost kingdom of peace.

A nation of well-informed men who have been taught to know and prize the rights which God has given them cannot be enslaved. It is in the region of ignorance that tyranny begins.” Benjamin Franklin

When I want your opinion, I'll remove the duct tape.--T-SHIRT

Build traditions of family vacations and trips and outings. These memories will never be forgotten by your children.

I didn't want to fall into the trap of competing with all these other great guitar players. I just want to sidestep the whole thing and get out of the race.

I had to learn American sign language. And I did stuff in it, stuff that was just for me and was fun, that I don't think anyone would ever notice.

Certainly the game is rigged. Don't let that stop you; if you don't bet you can't win.

There is no opposing brutal force to the stratagems of human reason.

My name is Katniss Everdeen. Why am I not dead? I should be dead.