Chum was a British boy's weekly which, at the end of the year was bound into a single huge book; and the following Christmas parents bought it as Christmas presents for male children.

As a child, I loved Christmas only for my parents presents. Now that I'm an adult, I love Christmas only for my parents presence.

I figure that that has a ten year cycle. At the end of that ten years, I began to get worried that I would run into what is known as the writer's block, the feeling of not being able to do these things.

I first read science fiction in the old British Chum annual when I was about 12 years old.

It's difficult for me to feel that a solid page without the breakups of paragraphs can be interesting. I break mine up perhaps sooner than I should in terms of the usage of the English language.

In a sense, there's a great truth to that, but, also I was a great reader.