I've always preferred writing about grey characters and human characters. Whether they are giants or elves or dwarves, or whatever they are, they're still human, and the human heart is still in conflict with the self.

I prefer to work with grey characters rather than black and white.

I like grey characters; fantasy for too long has been focused on very stereotypical heroes and villains.

Unlike the heart or kidney, which have a small, defined set of cell types, we still do not have a taxonomy of neurons, and neuroscientists still argue whether specific types of neurons are unique to humans. But there is no disputing that neurons are only about 10 percent of the cells in the human brain.

There is a savage beast in every man, and when you hand that man a sword or spear and send him forth to war, the beast stirs.

There are some examples of medieval kings who were terrible human beings but were nevertheless good kings.