Ever Since I Was In My Teens

We're Prisioners Of... Things.of Who We Are.

When I Was A Teenager, My Father Went Bust. He Could Have Declared Himself Bankrupt, But He Was An Honourable Man And He Insisted On Paying Back All His Debts. That Almost Ruined The Family. I Was Aware That My Mother And Father Couldn't Control Things Anymore. I Guess I Was Afraid That We Would End Up On The Street.

For Many Years, It Seemed As If Nothing Changed In Norway. You Could Leave The Country For Three Months, Travel The World, Through Coups D'etat, Assassinations, Famines, Massacres And Tsunamis, And Come Home To Find That The Only New Thing In The Newspapers Was The Crossword Puzzle.

When I Propose A Candidate For A Job I Don't Do It Because The Person In Question Is The Best But Because He Is The One The Client Will Employ. I Provide Them With A Head That Is Good Enough, Placed On A Body They Want. [...] The World Is Full Of People Who Pay Serious Money For Bad Pictures By Good Artists. And Mediocre Heads On Tall Bodies.

I Have Questioned Myself About The Brutality In The Last Few Novels. Actually In The Leopard, In Hindsight, I Feel I Went A Little Bit Too Far With Screaming Blood. There Are A Couple Of Scenes That I Regret And Wish I Had The Chance To Rewrite. Phantom Has Less Blood.