Fantasy gets a mixed reception - a lot of fantasy is formulaic but most of the award-winning fantasy on the contrary tends to be the stuff at the edges of the genre, rather than swimming in the middle.

The poetry and transgression that was so much of surrealism's anarchic force has been recruited into mainstream culture. It has been made commonplace by television and magazine merchandising, by computer games and Internet visuals, by film and MTV, by the fashion shoot.

It's just that to a lot of British people George Bush represents the worst of all things American. He's the right-wing Christian crusader, the toxic Texan who refused Kyoto, the poll-cheat eel who undermined democracy on the back of something called 'chads,' a notion we've never entirely grasped.

My story reflexes come less from fantasy or horror than from the darker sort of psychological thriller - not as plot-driven as most, rather more mood-driven. My interest in the supernatural is a complication - though I am less interested in ghosts than in people who see ghosts.

My older siblings and I all work in 'the industry'. So obviously we have hectic schedules, but we make it work.

I still sing, because that's my true calling. This basketball thing is only for, what, I think another year or so. And then I think I'm gonna switch over to my singing career.

Thought is powerful in all phases. Even in my career, even in my life, things end up exactly how I visualized them.

A lot of family members worked in the joint commodities family business. It was a classic case of capitalism at work and socialism at home.