Beyond that I seem to be compelled to write science fiction rather than fantasy or mysteries or some other genre more likely to climb onto bestseller lists even though I enjoy reading a wide variety of literature both fiction and nonfiction.

When I started in the business there was a thing called adult fantasy but nobody quite knew what it was and most publishers didn't have an adult fantasy list. They had science fiction lists which they stuck a little bit of fantasy into.

It seems to me that socialists today can preserve their position in academic economics merely by the pretense that the differences are entirely moral questions about which science cannot decide.

Here in the United States our profession is much maligned people simply don't trust or like journalists anymore and that's sad.

In the early days of Christianity the exercise of chastity was frequently combined with a close and romantic intimacy of affection between the sexes which shocked austere moralists.

I thought perhaps it should be recognized that religious people including fundamentalists are quite intelligent many of them are highly educated and they should be treated with complete respect.

The fundamentalists are increasing. People afraid to oppose those fundamentalists shut their mouths. It is really very difficult to make people move against a sensitive issue like religion which is the source of fundamentalism.

I think the real problem for American religion are those minority of fundamentalists who try to identify political policies with religion.

My relationship with the journalists who covered the campaign was complicated. I often hid from the critical eye of their cameras and their omnipresent digital recorders wary of the critique implicit in every captured moment. But I also grew to respect and understand their passion for their work their love for the journey we were sharing.

Sometimes negative news does come out but it is often exaggerated and manipulated to spread scandal. Journalists sometimes risk becoming ill from coprophilia and thus fomenting coprophagia: which is a sin that taints all men and women that is the tendency to focus on the negative rather than the positive aspects.