I don't remember the feelings you describe about 1968 and all that; or about US folkies admirable political activism. I was too young and it was too far away from me. The events that influenced Bold As Love, the "what if" idea of a Countercultural Revolution, come from a later date -- things that were happening in England in the early 90s. But a fantasy about rock and roll has to be rife with references to the 60s, if only for the enduring quality and the romance of that music. Take it from me, it's not just that you were younger, Jimi Hendrix was truly extraordinary, and not only for his utter mastery of his instrument. "Little Wing" is not a trivial piece of music. Keeping things in proportion, I wouldn't say any 60s rock'n'roll star was the equal of, say, the great Romantic piano composer/performers (who were certainly the rock stars of their day). But Bob Dylan, Bob Marley, Hendrix, Lennon and McCartney were not trivial artists, and nor have they been discarded by the globalized culture of today. Hordes of teenagers the world over still worship at those shrines; and many music lovers who are not teenagers. The kids even still flock to see the big Metal bands of ancient vintage, and place a high value on them... I think I'm saying that music didn't stop because you walked out of the room, Dave. It's very much a living force.

Artists nowadays comparable to Dylan and Hendrix? Maybe this will surprise you, but top of my list has to be Noel and Liam Gallagher. They had the tunes, the lyrics, the physical talent, Noel can play guitar, and they have the star quality, without which any artist blushes unseen.

Have you seen the animated version that was never completed? Much superior.

Seriously though, no, Dave, I don't worry about getting misconstrued. I know what I'm doing when I write about horrors: I mean to shock people, I mean to frighten them, and I find it works better with as little explicit description as possible. I think it's quite likely that I did shock Mr. Hough. I hope so. I hope I chilled him to the bone. 21st century science fiction and fantasy abounds in lip-smacking, blow by blow scenes of torture and abusive sex, which are there purely for entertainment. I don't do that. I'm not averse to the thrill of mayhem (hey, I've played Grand Theft Auto...), I'm not above tugging at the heartstrings. But I want to make my readers think, and feel. If that sometimes leaves me open to malice and stupidity, so be it.

So, you asked me a question, didn't you? About the meat and the tiger and the wolf? Well, firstly, the characters in Bold As Love are not there to make a point about gender roles. I've written plenty of the kind of science fiction where the characters are really pieces of equipment in the mental experiment, with no independent existence. This project is different. The concept is that Ax and Sage and Fiorinda are, sort of, imaginary people, you may have heard of that? So, as a smart, sarcastically-inclined young woman in the post-feminist² 21st century, Fiorinda makes a note about her likely role in the minds of her boyfriends... Look at it another way, people have strange sexual fantasies all the time, and get a kick out of the oddest ideas, even being eaten. Look at it yet another way, in at least one of the world's major religions, God is the food of our souls, and our bodies too. You may have noticed, Fiorinda often gets identified as God: making Ax and Sage her animal-natured servants, demiurges who manage the world for her, and "eat" her in the sense that she's the source of their power. (NB, I wouldn't want to push the last one too hard: I'm just messing around, because you asked the question.)

I think the classic ménage à trois involves two straight men, who are close friends, sharing a girlfriend, probably not even in the same bed, and the story is about where this is going? I wanted to make the relationship real, so I gave its troubles space, but I had to cut to the chase, or cut the Gordion knot, or something, to make room for the fantasy adventure... Interesting that you see it from Sage's point of view. D'you think he was sneakily the instigator? Could be. He's a manipulative bastard.

I wrote about the "gender wars" because from where I stood then, obstinate failure to solve the problem of gender roles was the biggest challenge the world faced. But those were halcyon days. This is an age of deliberate war-mongering, of highly-coloured plots, hordes of feared and hated refugees, dire environmental problems ignored; the collapse of three hundred years of the Enlightenment project. The humanitarian, bleeding-heart issues have been relegated. (And I'm not saying Mr. Bush, Jr. is the Antichrist, Dave, but he surely isn't part of the solution.) That's why in Bold As Love we're heading for the dark ages at a gallop, and that's why Fiorinda, the young woman who is still a child of 20th century liberalism, keeps saying: this is not my world, and there's no part for me as a human being in this movie. In the dark-ages action-fantasy where she is doomed to spend her life young women are going to be chattels, at best closely guarded treasure. She's not built to play Red Sonja, but even tho' it turns out she does have power, she's trying to stick to her idea of normal behaviour. She's saying no, she won't kill anyone. She doesn't do things like that! Err... have you ever killed anyone, Dave? Well, who knows, maybe you have. But you see what I mean.

I'm an equal opportunities writer, I always have been. The men also try to protect and nurture people, and they get a rough deal too, including anal rape, remember. That's the dark ages for you. But I consider Fiorinda to have the starring role in Castles Made of Sand because she keeps her people alive and doesn't lose her head. She goes on thinking tactically, as if small gains matter, when her world has turned to hell, and to me that's heroism of a high order. But I don't think she's a martyr for "refusing" to use her magic in the Lavoisiens' camp. I think if he had the choice of exploding a very dirty nuclear device, with himself at ground zero, even Tom Cruise might think hard about waiting for the cavalry to come over the hill.