Guy Gavriel Kay

When we work with history, to a very great degree we are all guessing. But by using motifs of time and history in a fantasy setting, we are acknowledging that this educated guesswork, invention, fantasy underlie our treatment of the past and its peoples - and we are not claiming a right to do with them as we will. ”

Even if we remember the past, odds are good we'll still repeat it. ”

I've spent my whole literary career blurring boundaries between genres and categories. ”

As many have noted, the peril for authors is that our work space is too easily our play space. ”

I don't plan ahead; each book finds me. History itself, the resonance of the past with the present, is the common denominator in all of them. ”

Writing is never, ever easy but I wake up every morning grateful for the gift of being able to do this. ”

Liu Fang is a truly gifted, world-famous player of the pipa and the guzheng, classical Chinese stringed instruments. ”

It's worth being suspicious of writers - or anyone! - who does that myth-making thing. There's always a tendency to retrospectively impose structures on a life. Life as it's lived has a far more complex shape. ”

When I am reading for research and making notes, I use a cleverly designed curved lap-desk, and I sit up dutifully, mindful of ergonomics and suchlike concepts. When reading for pleasure, I take advantage of the 'recline' in recliner. ”

I had been obsessed with the Arthurian legends all my life, and I knew that that would work its way into any trilogy I wrote. I was fascinated by the Eddas, the Norse and Icelandic legends, Odin on the world tree. ”