Luckily, I'm not a stand-up comedian, so I don't get the fear of standing on stage in front of a dead audience: my humorous pieces have to make it past an editor before they get exposed to the public.

Science fiction was rocket-mad for about 40 years until aerospace hit a brick wall about 1970. I would not write off space colonisation or exploration completely, but we are profoundly ill adapted for going boldly into outer space.

I write more for the children of the computer revolution, who are also interested in speculation and exploring the human condition, but approach it from an information perspective.

History is another country and might be full of fascinating incidents and places to go visit - but as a destination for emigration, it has some problems!

I got married about three years ago again to a wonderful German woman. Her name is Monika and she is beautiful. She is one of the biggest women Zappa fans I have ever met in my life.

In any relationship, even when it came to my relationship with Usher, when it was time to make a move, I had to do that. I don't care how much my heart was hurting, sometimes you're just supposed to be with people for a reason, and it's not always a lifetime. Even if you want it to be, it just doesn't work out that way.

I don't particularly think marriage is a sane thing.

Marriage has historically been in the domain of the States to regulate.