I didn't believe in spiritual homelands, and found God as readily in a strip mall as in a mosque.

'Butterfly Mosque' came out of the emails I wrote to family and friends back home after moving to Egypt.

I tend to deal with characters who are sort of at that same point of wrestling with, 'Who am I going to be as an adult? What do I believe? How am I defining myself in the context of my culture and my peer groups, my family?'

I discovered I was a monotheist... That rules out polytheism. I have also had a problem with authority, which rules out any religion with a priesthood or leader who claims to be God's representative on Earth.

Real tolerance means respecting other people even when they baffle you and you have no idea why they think what they think.

Be careful with this one" said Dina, bending down to greet the cat. "All cats are half jinn, but I think she's three quarters.