Quotes of All Topics . Occasions . Authors
I was really impressed by '2312.'
I'm still bothered by the threat of nuclear war.
It's an ancient technique known as lying, Khouri.
To be remembered at all is an achievement of sorts.
You can't underestimate the importance of cover art.
A city's only ever three hot meals away from anarchy.
Ideas have a certain gestation period that can't be forced.
Dreams of warp drives and hyperspace are just that - dreams.
I hope that 'House of Suns' functions as an independent novel.
I'm not massively fond of right-wing nutters or war criminals.
Science fiction can be very relevant, could be good literature.
Victory loses its meaning without the memory of what you've vanquished.
Without risk in our lives, we're scarcely better than machines ourselves.
I'm not actually that bothered about the 'science fiction-ness' of 'Doctor Who.'
As an SF writer, you've got the infinite toolkit of the writer at your disposal.
I'm not a morning person: I can't function until I've had a coffee - or several.
I think I've reduced the amount of blood in my caffeine system to an acceptable level.
When I'm working on one book, part of my imagination is thinking ahead to the next one.
I prioritise story over science, but not at the expense of being really stupid about it.
Autocratic governments are masters of self-contradiction. They say one thing, do another.
One of the big breakthroughs I had as a writer was when I stopped agonising over every word.
I don't like a lot of what's published as hard SF. Much of it is right-wing, reactionary crap.
I couldn't think of anything more pointless than reading a piece of fiction written by a robot.
I couldn't ever write a straight crime novel: there'd be an intrusion of weirdness at some point.
I always like Iain Banks science fiction stuff and William Gibson's cyberpunk stuff from the 1980s.
I've always been skeptical of the idea that sentience is going to be an exclusively human attribute.
You worry that we're becoming monsters. Merlin, we already were monsters. You didn't make us any worse.
If the Chinese are the first to the asteroids or the first to Mars, good for them, as far as I'm concerned.
The cards always look different when it's your turn to play them; loaded with subtly different possibilities.
I've always loved far future SF, so it was more or less a given that I would one day want to write in that form.
I don't think the computer will win the Booker, but no-one ever expected a computer to beat a chess grandmaster.
I think the danger with using the term 'trilogy' is that it sets up particular expectations in the reader's mind.
Enjoy it, kid. Enjoy feeling that you can make a difference.' Floyd flashed him a smile. 'It won't last for ever.
I'm just happy to have some American readers - enough that it's a viable proposition for my books to appear there.
When I was writing 'House Of Suns,' there were a few writers I had in mind as role models, the main being Gene Wolfe.
As the old saying went, the Manhattan Project wasn't built in a day. Or was that Rome? Something to do with Earth, anyway.
For me, the distant future and far-off galaxies is where it's at. That's where my imagination can really come out to play.
My mother was a part of a reading group, but they would never come near science fiction because they think it's not for them.
I've always been attracted to Pertwee's portrayal of the Doctor as dashing man-of-science, charming, sceptical, and rational.
It looked like a biology lesson for gods, or a snapshot of the kind of pornography which might be enjoyed by sentient planets.
As a science fiction writer, it's hard to think of a more stirring theme than the origin and ultimate destiny of life in the universe.
I never wanted to be "a writer"; I only ever aspired to be an science fiction writer. They'll tear that badge out of my cold dead hands.
We live in a science fictional world with things like cloning and face transplants, and things seem to be getting stranger and stranger.
I just start writing, and in the process, one hopefully comes up with ideas and solutions and explores all the little nooks and crannies.
If you're creating a whole universe, even if it's a universe squeezed into a solar system, you have to use a little bit of sleight of hand.
I am playing in a playground that's already been played in. I am always aware that a lot of the furniture in science fiction is second hand.
I don't know why, but American sci-fi writers seem to focus on the near-future, which has given us Brits a clear run at the most fascinating.
Daleks scared the hell out of me, to the point where I wouldn't go round to another boy's house because he had Dalek wallpaper in his bedroom.
I was never strong at maths, but I eventually got onto a university physics/astronomy course, and that led on to my Ph.D. and eventual employment.
The one thing that really terrifies me is we're going to get a signal from space that clears it all up: 'OK, this is how the universe works, guys.'