Bob Mayer

As fiction writers, we are entertainers.

First novels tend to be blood-lettings, and they're focused on you, not the reader.

I read so much science fiction when I was young. I believe science fiction is the genre for exploration and to learn about possibilities via book.

Another thing that freaks me out is time. Time is like a book. You have a beginning, a middle and an end. It's just a cycle.

It's good to like yourself, and that only comes from hard work, from doing. But vanity is dangerous; it can trip you badly.

I studied international relations and economics at the University of Virginia. I paid my way by working as a bartender in the summer and at three part-time jobs during the year.