Fantasy is nearer to poetry, to mysticism, and to insanity than naturalistic fiction is. It is a wilderness, and those who go there should not feel too safe . . . A fantasy is a journey. It is a journey into the subconscious mind, just as psychoanalysis is. Like psychoanalysis, it can be dangerous; and it will change you.

“Blue is a mysterious color, hue of illness and nobility, the rarest color in nature. It is the color of ambiguous depth, of the heavens and of the abyss at once; blue is the color of the shadow side, the tint of the marvelous and the inexplicable, [and] of desire…”

“Do you know how much thinking and feeling I’ve done? It’s terrible. And nothing’s come of it.”

Who to rent myself out to? What beast should I adore? What sacred image is being attacked? What hearts shall I break? What lie must I maintain? — What blood shall I trample?