If there was anything any Radchaai considered essential for civilised life, it was tea.

One of the awesome things about being a writer is that I can research nearly anything - tea? Bubblegum? Ants? Neurology? Chocolate? Textile production? It doesn't matter. It's all productive work.

I can't see potato chips being popular where there's not land to grow potatoes in or where frying in lots of oil isn't easy or convenient.

It all goes around
It all goes around
The planet goes around the sun
It all goes around

My mother said it all goes around
It all goes around
The ship goes around the station

'Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell' by Susanna Clarke is a big, thick book. About a thousand pages in paperback. I've heard several people say the size alone intimidated them.