“‘From a very early age, perhaps the age of five or six, I knew that when I grew up I should be a writer,’ said George Orwell in his essay, Why I Write. And there you have it in a nutshell: why I write. I write because it’s the only good thing I’m good at. Of course, people who’ve read my books might say I’m not even good at that … I can’t paint landscapes or do heart transplants, and jigsaw puzzles are beyond me. Writing is the only bare-knuckle craft I’ve ever shown any particular ability in. Creating characters from a naked canvas is almost god-like, and depending on my mood swings, I can, just like god, inflict terrible retribution on them, sometimes even horrible deaths. And get away with it. Sweet. Where else would you get this dark satisfaction? I write because I want to prove the rejection letters wrong. I write that one day a stranger might stop me in the street and tell me he/she read my latest novel – and loved it. Even if the critics despised it. But most of all I write because I love to …”Sam Millar’s Bloodstorm will be published in spring 2008.
