Ian Rankin
His eyes beheld beauty not in reality but in the printed word. Standing in the waiting-room, he realized that in his life he had accepted secondary experience -- the experience of reading someone else's thoughts -- over real life.Collection: Life
Was it all inevitable, John?" Reeve was pushing his fingers across the floor of the cell, seated on his haunches. I was lying on the mattress. Yes," I said. "I think it was. Certainly, it's written that way. The end of the book is there before the beginning's hardly started.Collection: Lying
War created bizarre allies, while peace itself could be divisive.Collection: War
I love short stories - reading and writing them. The best short stories distill all the potency of a novel into a small but heady draught. They are perfect reading material for the bus or train or for a lunchtime break. Everything extraneous has been strained off by the author. The best short stories pack the heft of any novel, yet resonate like poetry.Collection: Short Love
It seemed to him a very Edinburgh thing. Welcoming, but not very.Collection: Edinburgh
[About a tiresome colleague]: He could bore for Scotland.Collection: Scotland