She lifted the drooping muzzle with both hands...It was a special embrace saved for special occasions.

Though my books are written from a historical perspective, I have goon so far back that I am in the realm of prehistorical speculation rather than simple historical fact to weave my stories around.

You learn to write by writing, and by reading and thinking about how writers have created their characters and invented their stories. If you are not a reader, don't even think about being a writer.

Life sometimes gets in the way of writing.

Life is neither static nor unchanging. With no individuality, there can be no change, no adaptation and, in an inherently changing world, any species unable to adapt is also doomed.

I think of my books as mainstream and that's were most people who read them look for them in book stores.

Of the two, I would think of my work as closer to Science Fiction than Fantasy.

I have heard Science Fiction and Fantasy referred to as the fiction of ideas, and I like that definition, but it's the mainstream public that chooses my books for the most part.

I don't write for publishers, certainly not for critics, and not for readers, But I am delighted that so many people have found my books enjoyable and want to continue to read them.

From the beginning, when I first got an idea for a story and wondered if I could write it, it has always been the story that has driven me.

No, my publisher has always done the marketing.

Once you realize that the imagination is non-fiction, the world is yours

Confidence is overrated. It's when we're uncomfortable and looking for answers that we learn and grow the most.

Being broke is against my religion.

Be certain that he who has betrayed thee once will betray thee again.

We Icelanders are an excellent animal model for humans. This is exactly the way you find common disease genes.

I want literature to open all the doors that I can't open by myself, and to allow me to see things that I wouldn't otherwise see.

Cicero called Aristotle a river of flowing gold, and said of Plato's Dialogues, that if Jupiter were to speak, it would be in language like theirs.

The more fears we walk through, the more power we reclaim.

The desire to survive and the fear of death are artistic sentiments

We're all just a part of this large, spiraling, constantly fluid hierarchy and changing. At some points in your life, you feel crushed by that, depending on who you come in contact with.