Becoming a mother cannot help but change things. An author's life is reflected in their writing, whether they want it to be or not, and parenthood is one of the biggest life changes there is.

When I'm not at the keyboard, I'm generally reading, practicing tai chi or middle eastern dance, or cooking.

First and foremost, The Quiet Invasion is a first contact story. What would we do if we actually found evidence of alien life out there? It's also about politics.

I have a better internal and intuitive understanding of folklore and myth than science and technology, so in that way fantasy is easier.

Actually, after while, finding the ideas is the easy part. Sorting them through and turning them into stories, now, that's the hard work.

I have to do more close research and fact checking for the science fiction. This is not however to say that writing good fantasy does not involve doing good research.

My joking answer to this question is that I leave a bowl of milk out on the back porch every night for the Idea Fairy. In the morning, the milk is gone and there's a brand-new shiny idea by the bowl.

I graduated from the University of Michigan with a BA in Communications and left formal education behind.

Fantasy is, of course, booming, and I think it's beginning to stretch its range as well.

Octavia Butler, of course, is brilliant and disturbing.

The Lord of the Rings movie set an entirely new standard for fantasy in the movies.

The motive for marriage must be eternal not just temporal.

...most systems end up by making imagined humility into a form of vanity, so they end up with vanity just the same.

The Invisible is movingSoftly and soothingI feel it insideIt is youIt is my feeling for youI want to give it lifeMy whole life

Public housing is more than just a place to live, public housing programs should provide opportunities to residents and their families.

You're heading for a breakdown. Why don't you pull yourself to pieces?

We are not separate. So if one being hurts, I also hurt.

I try to visualize geometric shapes and patterns slowly spinning and expanding into infinity.

Poetry is an act of peace.

Control over the use of one's ideas really constitutes control over other people's lives; and it is usually used to make their lives more difficult.

There were so many pretty girls coming into the salon as clients, and others working in the salon. And I thought, 'Hmm. This is rather nice.'