“'Sanctus' was done on speculation. I had no agent or publisher. I was ...” — Simon Toyne Quote

'Sanctus' was done on speculation. I had no agent or publisher. I was being sensible, I suppose, by writing a standalone novel. I figured if that one didn't work, no one would be interested in reading a sequel.

The largest two books I've ever read more than once are 'Bleak House' by Charles Dickens and 'The Stand' by Stephen King, about 1,200 pages each.

'Sanctus' deals with creation myths in every culture. It fascinates me that all cultures, evolving independently, have similar models of mankind's origins, of a Greater Being, of the flood, and so on. It's amazing how they crop up time and time again.

We can make a concerted effort to stop poisoning the planet: that would be a good way of appeasing the gods.

In rural communities, people are upset with the government, upset with what they see as business as usual. They saw Obama as a change agent, and they saw Donald Trump as a change agent.

I mean, I've always had scattered interests, but I never went on stage to get an agent or anything like that.

I read that book, 'Lonesome Dove,' and I told my agent that they were gonna make a miniseries out of it and I wanted to be in it. I didn't care what part.

No one guided me through it, but here is how it happened: I was in New York doing a play, and an agent got in touch with me and said he wanted to take me out for lunch. In the theatre, they never want to take you out for lunch, so I thought, 'Yes!' I went, I ordered steak, and he told me he thought I should write for TV.