Louise Nurding

There's nothing worse than looking as if you've tried too hard or preened to within an inch of your life. If I'm wearing a strong item like a really beautiful dress, then I'll play down my shoes and accessories and make my hair really natural.

I know people who've had a nose job, and they've walked out feeling a million dollars, and their confidence is tenfold. Good on them! Natural beauty comes in all different shapes and sizes, but if you think surgery would right something you have a problem with, then why shouldn't you do it?

What I look for when I see a piece of art for the first time is some kind of emotional, intellectual experience, that's a combination of both of those things and is informed by my knowledge and something new that I see the artist doing.

The historical novelist has to consider what has actually happened, while the SF writer is dealing in possibilities, but they are both in the business of imagining a world unlike our own and yet connected to it.