Night poured over the desert. It came suddenly, in purple. In the clear air, the stars drilled down out of the sky, reminding any thoughtful watcher that it is in the deserts and high places that religions are generated. When men see nothing but bottomless infinity over their heads they have always had a driving and desperate urge to find someone to put in the way.

I do note with interest that old women in my books become young women on the covers... this is discrimination against the chronologically gifted.

Juliet's version of cleanliness was next to godliness, which was to say it was erratic, past all understanding and was seldom seen.