I Had Been Afraid Of Breast Cancer,

I Think Probably The Scaredest I've Ever Been Was In Somalia. I Arrived There When The Episode That Became Known As 'black Hawk Down' Was Still Taking Place. The Americans Were Still Pinned Down Under Fire. And Everybody Else Was Basically Going The Other Way, And I Was The Only One Putting My Hand Up For A Flight In.

Certainly I'm Still Mining My Experiences As A Journalist. I Think It's No Coincidence That All Three Of My Novels Basically Are About How People Act In A Time Of Catastrophe. Do They Go To Their Best Self Or Their Worst Self?

Because I Worked As A Newspaper Reporter For About 14 Years Before Attempting My First Novel, I Learned To Write Under Almost Any Circumstances- By Candle Light, In Longhand, In African Villages Where There Was No Power, Under Shelling In Kurdistan.

And So, As Generally Happens, Those Who Have Most Give Least, And Those With Less Somehow Make Shrift To Share.

To Know A Man's Library Is, In Some Measure, To Know A Man's Mind.