A lot of times, I faced bullies - or the 'big dogs' at school. What I wanted 'Red Rising' to be is not necessarily an indictment on bullies, but it reflects my experiences and attitudes that I had with bullies growing up.

I was learning the craft; I didn't study writing in school. Rejection was my motivation, and failure is what taught me.

When you look at a lot of the military histories, and even modern military history, everyone pretty much refers to each other by nicknames.

My editor's main job is to cut down my worldbuilding. There's so much fun stuff in there, you know?

Football games are on TV, and it doesn't affect stadium attendance at all. It's the same with movies. People who really love movies and like to go out on a Saturday night will go to the movie theater.

My neighborhood, Coconut Grove, we always played in the streets. It was corner against corner. We all had football teams. Different neighborhoods.

Being in politics is like being a football coach. You have to be smart enough to understand the game, and dumb enough to think it's important.

My brother-in-law was a Tottenham fan. He introduced me to football and brought me to Tottenham. At the time I just wanted to play football so I would go anywhere to play.