Part of what separates us from the other creatures on earth is that we make up stories. We are storytellers. And we can tell bad stories and we can tell good stories. We can tell stories that lead to division and hate and war. Or we can tell stories that lead to cooperation and peace and progress.

I think part of the meaning of life is actually the search for the meaning of life. That may sound glib, but I truly believe it. Curiosity and looking for the meaning—even if we never find it—is the meaning.

Well, don’t you think that we are all like that? I mean in some ways the deepest fear for a lot of people is getting to the end of their life and think that they did it wrong.

I was forced to think very hard about what it meant to be me, what it means to be a person who is only a brain. Pascal's 'thinking reed' really does capture it, because I'm just a bunch of dead muscles thinking.

Well, I make the magic wherever I can. I don’t know if that’s conscious or accidental.

Beyond that, editing an anthology gives me a chance to find a few new readers for my colleagues’ excellent work.

Marry somebody you love and who thinks you being a writer’s a good idea.

I’m just practical. Life comes first for me; art second. Sometimes art comes even later than second.

Based on how the scene felt I completely switched the dynamics.

I just lack the basic fact-finding instinct.