I dislike literary jargon and never use it. Criticism has only one function and that is to help readers read and understand literature. It is not a science it is an aid to art.

I have been a reader of Science Fiction and Fantasy for a long time since I was 11 or 12 I think so I understand it and I'm not at all surprised that readers of the genre might enjoy my books.

Science fiction readers probably have the gene for novelty and seem to enjoy a cascade of invention as much as a writer enjoys providing one.

The world would be a very sad place if readers could only love one story.

I know what the attitudes of the readers are: These are guys who love women and respect women.

Writing can sometimes be exploitative. I like to take a few steps of remove in order to respect the privacy of the subject. If readers make the link they have engaged with the poem.

I didn't want to be a writer but I became one. And now I have many readers in many countries. I think that's a miracle. So I think I have to be humble regarding this ability. I'm proud of it and I enjoy it and it is strange to say it this way but I respect it.

This is the point being missed by readers who lament Liquor's lack of hot sex scenes probably because they aren't old enough to understand that a passionate relationship could be about anything other than sex.

Teenage readers also have a different relationship with the authors whose work they value than adult readers do. I loved Toni Morrison but I don't have any desire to follow her on Twitter. I just want to read her books.

This is the most intimate relationship between literature and its readers: they treat the text as a part of themselves as a possession.