My college roommate gave me her copy of 'Lord of the Rings,' and I read that probably five or six times - not because I think it's the greatest thing ever written, though some people certainly think it is - but the world he creates is so vivid. So real that he designed its own languages, history and mythology.

For the 'Rai-kirah' books, I began with the image of Aleksander riding the great wastelands, and that quickly morphed into the desert. Because I wanted my slave market cold and miserable, I chose to set the opening scene in the empire's summer capital in the mountains.

I would love to have written Roger Zelazny's first five books of 'Amber.' What a great idea he had about the shadings of reality!

One of the things that put me off writing for a while was that piece of advice everybody gives new writers: 'Write what you know.' Nobody would ever want to read about my boring life! But I do know a lot of things about different societies' cultures and mythologies. The way people were and are.

In my family, if I talk back to my dad, I get in trouble.

I've always prided myself on being the lowest-profile member of the Bush family.

Philip's story is the most interesting in the royal family - his background is the opposite of what you'd think. Everyone has this idea that Philip is this bumbling, deliberately posh sort of man who says the wrong thing.

Every time me and A Boogie connect in the studio, it's just always good vibes. It's like me being with one of my brothers or me being with one of my cousins or my family members.