“Because I was alone, even the mundane seemed charged with meaning....My emotions were similarly amplified: the highs were higher; the periods of despair were deeper and darker.”

“I mean, they were really high and pointy, and although I'm not clumsy, they were potentially lethal both to me and anyone in my general vicinity.”

“He said 'My kingdom is not of this world.' So did Bowie. It tapped into the whole Catholic idea of creating your own saints, finding icons of divinity in the mundane. As a religion, Bowieism didn't seem so different from Catholicism - the hemlines were just a little higher.”

“You were mine to protect and take care of, Jilly-girl. And the better I learned you, the deeper you burrowed into my soul. Every time I took a bit more control, the higher you flew in my arms. You were an addiction and a mystery…you fed my soul and drove me over the edge.”

“Even more alarming were persistent rumors that someone had smuggled an Emotion Amplifier on board 'Mentor'. The so-called joy machines were banned on all planets, except under strict medical control; but there would always be people to whom reality was not good enough, and who would want to try something better.”

“Rain spat at him, and he looked up, thinking that alone was the way to be, because alone meant you were in charge of what could get to you and what you could keep out.”