If anything can go wrong it will.
What interests me is the surprising enormous extent to which most people accept the fate that's been given to them, and find some dignity.
But then, I suppose, when with the benefit of hindsight one begins to search one's past for such 'turning points', one is apt to start seeing them everywhere.
I think of my pile of old paperbacks, their pages gone wobbly, like they'd once belonged to the sea.
Memory is quite central for me. Part of it is that I like the actual texture of writing through memory.
Typically in my novels the narrator tells a story by remembering, and the memories are colored by this and colored by that. So the whole universe of the novel tends to be framed by the narrator's memories and thoughts.
Perhaps one day, all these conflicts will end, and it won't be because of great statesmen or churches or organisations like this one. It'll be because people have changed. They'll be like you, Puffin. More a mixture. So why not become a mongrel? It's healthy.
First prepare the ground, then prayer happens on its own accord. Prayer is something that you cannot do. Meditation is something that you can do because it has something to do with your mind.
It's unbelievable what one squadron of twelve aircraft did to tip the balance.
I think it's okay to ask questions. I don't think everything is answerable though.
There are any number of magical creatures, mostly female, whose singing can bring about horror and death. Sirens, undines, banshees, Bananarama tribute bands. . .