H.W. Charles Quotes

If I write too much of anything for too long, I burn out on it. So it helps to vary my output from year to year.

I'm not planning a kickstarter game. And I'm not really a game designer.

I was an early adopter: have been on the internet continuously since late 1989, barring a six-month loss of access in the early 90s.

I have time to write 1-2 novels per year, and get roughly novel-sized ideas every month. I have to perform triage on my own writing impulses.

When I do get to chow down on a book, I try to read ones that are nothing like what I'm writing. So, as I'm currently working on a space opera (of sorts) I'm mostly indulging in urban fantasy.

I began my first novel when I was 15. It went through three drafts, of around 40,000 words each. If I find it, I'll burn it.

I drink tea pretty much continuously at a rate of around 1 imperial pint/hour, which sort of enforces screen/keyboard breaks.

I don't do flash fiction.

Biggest influence: my mother.

What I've learned during my life is that the near future is 90% identical to the present - if you buy a new car today, it'll probably still be on the road in 2022.

I don't keep anything on paper (except within an actual novel in progress, at which point I need a file to keep track of plot threads, characters, and so on).

My favourite movie is: "Dr Strangelove". (I haven't seen any films released in the past 2-5 years, I'm afraid: I don't do TV/cinema).

For a sampler, you could try my short story collection "Wireless". Which contains one novella that scooped a Locus award, and one that won a Hugo, and covers a range of different styles.

I write almost entlirely on Macs, because: Windows gives me hives.

It's usually quite easy to shrug and write something else instead.

I'd like to be proven wrong on the difficulty of handling the medical side-effects of long term exposure to deep space (both microgravity induced illnesses and radiation damage).

The trouble is, if you go too far towards being polite, the label that applies is "doormat".

Book depository is nothing new; there've been outlets selling books internationally via mail order for many decades - the only change is that it's now easier to find and use such services.

Writing your own story around the same ideas is not plagiarism; at worst, it's being unoriginal.

The problem with ebook filesharing is simply one of scale. But I think the "piracy" problem is massively over-rated.

People want to buy mp3s but can't? Piracy ensues. Then Apple strong-arms the music studios into the iTunes store and music piracy drops somewhat. The same, I believe, is also happening with ebooks.

I'm told that a couple of my Russian translations are just plain terrible, though, and there may be others.

I'd like to be proven wrong firstly on the difficulty of building a self-sustaining closed circuit ecosystem in space that can support human life.

I sit alone at present, dreaming darkly of a Dun.

Should ever anything be missed - milk, coals, umbrellas, brandy - the cat's pitched into with a boot or anything that's handy.

The auld wife sat at her ivied door, (Butter and eggs and a pound of cheese) A thing she had frequently done before; And her spectacles lay on her apron'd knees.

But ah! disasters have their use; And life might e'en be too sunshiny.

But what is coffee, but a noxious berry, Born to keep used-up Londoners awake?

Precious to me - it is the Dinner Bell. Oh blessed Bell! Thou bringest beef and beer.

Oh Beer! Oh Hodgson, Guinness, Allsop, Bass! Names that should be on every infant's tongue! Shall days and months and years and centuries pass, And still your merits be unrecked, unsung?

Meaning, however, is no great matter.

War is a positive, precise and specific evil, of gigantic proportions ...making within the sphere of its influence all true grandeur impossible.

I am without religious feeling.

When the whistle blew and the call stretched thin across the night, one had to believe that any journey could be sweet to the soul.

The wonderment of humanity leads to its greatest discoveries.

I definitely think moving around helped shape me and has helped me be a better player.

I think everyone needs competition in life, whether it be myself, you, the President.

Look at politics; they're always in competition over an election, who wants to win. It's just who we are, it's what we do.

I firmly believe as an author you have to go out in life and hear the stories of people. In pubs in the UK or a retirement home in the US it is the stories of others that bring a book to life.

I often speak to returning service people about their experiences while serving. Whether in 1915 or 2005, the core issue of facing death on a daily basis remains.

During high school I worked in a retirement home. I spent many wonderful hours hearing from service men and their widows about WWI.

My great uncle fought in WWI. His stories fascinated me.

I was a corporate trouble-shooter for many years, and I know what it is like to walk very carefully into a hostile environment.

The cool blade Severs between coolness, apple-rind Compelling a recognition.

In all pursuits men complain of failure when they have not attained the measure of success they proposed to themselves.

To many men, moderate success is only another aspect of failure.

False zeal is every day bringing true zeal into disrepute.

There are portraits and still-lifes And the first, because 'human' Does not excel the second

Though the computer can correct anything, a bad image is a bad image.

If it can be done digitally, do it.