I didn't read much of anything till I was 15, except Alistair MacLean and Michael Moorcock - the sword and sorcery novels - when I was about 13 or 14.
I read H.P. Lovecraft. I also like Sword and Sorcery stuff, Arthurian legend.
I've always fancied being a bit of warrior, on a horse swinging a sword around, sorting out the men... Oh yes, that sounds lovely.
A sword, a spade, and a thought should never be allowed to rust.
I've always been in love with samurais, that kind of classic idea about a hero who has a sword with an intense skill and is very stoic and doesn't talk much.
Indulge not thyself in the passion of anger; it is whetting a sword to wound thine own breast, or murder thy friend.
'Glass Sword' has several set piece scenes that I plotted out or visualized before I wrote them, but I always knew they were coming. They anchor bits of the story.
Without the Empire we should be tossed like a cork in the cross current of world politics. It is at once our sword and our shield.
