"When I read a daring book or listen to rebellious music, I feel like I've found what freedom really means."

"Please, never tell me what 'horror erotica' is. Real #art is being lost in a bizarre swamp of over-processed, sexually exploitative garbage."

"Nearly two years of dates. Still no question. Her mother and father want to set a proper date. Still no question. Her friends keep asking, when, Natasha? When? But she still hasn't been asked The Question. It's enjoyable to be the one with all the secrets, but in her honest mind " the hidden part that's always sleeping " the secrets he keeps about when and if give her a feeling inside she's never really understood completely " a sensation she had as a child when she got to the end of a fairytale where never-ending love and happiness were all but expected and wondered whether there might be . one last page."

"All the best writers take risks, offend people often and say fuck you to the critics."

"Only men with intelligence, confidence and absolutely no empathy at all can progress upstairs."

"To Kalist, Baumauer's just a timber bridge in need of a good hot fire."

"Day after day, week after week; writing great fiction takes time, emotion, skill and effort."

"I want to question societal norms, encourage people to think in new ways."

"The only difference between writers and people who don't write is that writers aren't afraid to display their demons."

"When people say, 'you're so young to be a writer,' I always reply, 'I started young because I've got a lot to write."

"Reading and writing dangerous books lets me be who I can't be and say what I can't say in everyday life."

"Men circle like bees around honey, buzzing to communicate their sexual despair."

"I suffered my own battles. I suffer still."

"She was not alone in her respect for him. Because he is more than a boss to people. He's a religion for non-believers."

"Books are readable drugs."

"Life isn't over until you're dead. Another ultra-positive, ultra-motivational tweet to improve your day. You're welcome."

"Secrets are dangerous. Gottfried Baumauer."

"He had become the sky around the sun " alive, but not really there."

"Shush " it's silent time again."

"I became a physicist to understand the world, then I became a writer to try and change it."

"Writing is a solitary existence, especially if you forget to chat to your friends " sorry, I meant characters."

"Katie soon learned there was a problem with hope."

"There are books that change our perspectives and books that change our personalities."

"Some ancient oversight had nearly taken his sight, but this sad fuck was already blind inside."

"If I don't stay in and write, I feel like a prisoner."

"Without pride, man becomes a parasite " and there are already too many parasites."

"Welcome to Sex Media, Where Fantasy Becomes Reality!"

"The breeze around them seemed to drop " dead " like a door to the best things had just closed."

"One man's fight is another man's freedom."

"One day, I decided I was going to write books forever."

"Bravery isn't brandishing a sword. It's standing your moral ground and letting others try their best to take you down."

"You have to know your own mind inside out before you can know the minds of others."

"Self-belief is not self-centred. We can only fight effectively for others if we already believe in ourselves."

"When I write, I write obsessively. I try to pace myself, but some fires are too hot to put out."

"You're my prey tonight."

"Nader refused to bring her the feathery dream catcher " her asabikeshiinh " with its willow-web and invisible 'lady spider' apparently weaving her spells " an object Bea insisted always hung above her in bed."

"It's late and most of the clerks are at home in their beds, dreaming of swimming in pools filled with real money."

"A silence absorbed them both " a lack of sound so potent it blackened the place with something richer than hate."

"I can love what is broken."

"There are times when I can't believe how much ridiculous stuff happens to me and how brilliant it is to be in a position to write about it."

"Each day of the week, Kalist indulges himself in a different, secret ritual. On Mondays, he wears cologne. On Tuesdays, he eats meat for lunch. On Wednesdays, he places a bet after work. On Thursdays, he smokes one cigarette (but claims he's not a smoker). On Fridays, he treats himself to his favourite pastime: horse practice " he grew up with horses and likes to try and emulate their distinctive whinnies, snorts, neighs, snuffles, sighs, grunts, fluttering nostrils, the occasional aggressive outburst and the especially beautiful nicker of a mare to her foal. And, on Saturdays, lest we forget, Maxwell D. Kalist drinks wine from a chalice."

"Every time I so much as blink you get an erection."

"First time I ever put pen to paper, I had one goal " to build something no one had ever thought of before."

"Blank walls are a shared canvas and we're all artists."

"Time is not an enemy as such, but a missing person, sending cryptic postcards from the past."

"Shame comes in different doses."

"Names can hide so much."

"When I write, I try to represent the voices of people I've known who had no voice."

"It is not fiction. It is history. And both their histories match now."

"Dawn cackles as she guides me through the all-glass porch. Thinner, paler Reina shuffles about behind Dawn, watching as I slip my boots off. Although she tries to hide her hands, her fingers flicker nervously. I place my boots neatly on the floor of the porch beside the other pairs in the shadows under the coats. Music drifts through to us from a distant room " it's the Beach Boys' California Dreamin'. Dawn looks at me and I smile " they've put the record on for me. Dawn nods along happily. 'Hear you're a surfer boy!' she says and she mimics riding a wave."