There's an explosion of Indian fiction of all kinds, from military thrillers to chicklit. I think that's exciting.

I can see a version of my life where it all becomes meaningless. On a good day, writing seems noble. Other times, it's narcissistic and pointless.

I suffer from vertigo. It's paralyzing in extreme situations. The most scared I've been as an adult was trying to conquer that fear by going climbing in Wales.

I'm fascinated by the emergence of a global class. They're highly mobile; they reject the idea of place.

In my early teens, science fiction and fantasy had an almost-total hold over my imagination. Their outcast status was part of their appeal.

Intellectuals who live in Hungary, or who wish to work or lecture there, are extremely circumspect in their criticism.

There are still some terrible cliches in the presentation of Indian fiction. The lotus flower. The hennaed hands. In mainland Europe, people still slap these images on my books and I go bananas.

When I try to understand somebody, create a character, I fall into them. When I think writers are telling me what to think, I get harrumphy.

Critchley and Webster’s fierce, witty exploration of Hamlet makes most other writing about Shakespeare seem simpleminded.

Suburbia is all about private ownership and not having to share, and it leads to a paranoid, defensive mindset. I know this, having grown up in Essex.

Some books I've kept because the binding is beautiful - I'm unlikely ever to read my grandmother's copy of 'The Life of Lord Nelson.' I'm addicted to secondhand bookshops.

O rose, you look sick.O rose, wake up and sing.

While I cannot be regarded as a pillar I must be regarded as a buttress of the church because I support it from outside.

I either delegate something, I dump it, or I deal with it.

I rant, therefore I am

there is undoubtedly something irritating about the favorites of fortune.

I'm a professional Jonathan Coulton. It's partially ego, to be completely honest: It feels great to have people adoring you in that way.

Clark Gable once said to me, "'Acting school?' [If you go,] I'll kill ya!"

When you come in the building with your guns don't take them off.

We need to listen to consumers' needs

If your intentions are pure, if you apply your craft with a view to observe humanity and, ultimately, God himself, very often something powerful will surface.