Whether you're choosing for yourself or for a character - or for a child - names have baggage of their own. Nick Harkaway baggagecharacterchild Change image and share on social
Steampunk appeals to the idea of uniqueness, to the one-off item, while every mainstream consumer technology of recent years is about putting human beings into ever more granular, packageable and mass-produced identities so that they can be sold or sold to, perfectly mapped and understood. Nick Harkaway appealbeingconsumer share on social
If you ask who I aspire to, well, if a single line of mine was as funny as P. G. Wodehouse can be, that would be great. Nick Harkaway aspirefunnygreat Change image and share on social
I wanted a pseudonym partly because I'm quite shy and private. I know that sounds ludicrous, but if I should be lucky enough to make a hit, I wanted to be able to shrug off the mantel of Nick Harkaway when I got home. Nick Harkaway harkawayhithome share on social
In both 'Tigerman' and my first book, 'The Gone-Away World,' there are characters who never really get names. They're too fundamentally who they are to be bound by a name, so I couldn't give them one. Nick Harkaway bindbookcharacter Change image and share on social
The First World War was a horror of gas, industrialised slaughter, fear, and appalling human suffering. Nick Harkaway appallfearhorror Change image and share on social
I make up names for people all the time - it's part of writing. Very often, the name comes with the character, along with of a sense of who they are and what they do. Nick Harkaway charactermakename Change image and share on social
The market, as we're all painfully aware in the aftermath of the banking crisis, can be an idiot. It has no perception of right or wrong, or even sensible or insane. It sees profit. Nick Harkaway aftermathawarebank Change image and share on social
I know that when I talk to my parents and my friends, there's a strong feeling of the world out of control and damaged. Nick Harkaway controldamagefelt Change image and share on social
I'm not an absolutist about free speech. Intellectually, I believe that most of the time it's better to let things get said, argue them, and put lies and stupidities to rest. Practically, I know that newspapers rarely issue corrections with the same prominence they give to denouncements - and Twitter, by its nature, never does. Nick Harkaway absolutistarguecorrection share on social