“I learned everything I know about plot from Dame Agatha (Christie).”

“And every place and time an author writes about is imaginary, from Oz to Raymond Chandler's L.A. to Dickens's London.”

“I think literature totally fails when it has an agenda. - From an interview on the podcast Starship Sofa, December 2010.”

“They make you settle for second best."That's what I like about the movies. There's always some minor character standing round to tell you the moral, just in case you're too dumb to figure it out for yourself."You never get what you want.”

“Will I ever see you again? No. Do I love you? Yes, for all time.”

“I was never going to get any sleep. I was going to have Alice in Wonderland conversation after Alice in Wonderland conversation until I died of exhaustion. Here, in the restful, idyllic Victorian era.”

“No," I said finally."Slowness in Answering," she said into the handheld. "When's the last time you slept?""1940" I said promptly, which is the problem with Quickness in Answering.”